Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

I certainly do not accept anything of the sort. We have inherited an economy in which under the stewardship of the Deputy's party unemployment rose from 4% to 14%, an increase of 10% in a three-year period. A total of 300,000 jobs were lost under that regime. The economy's underlying structure was severely damaged and there is a lot of work to be done to fix it. Nobody ever indicated that this would be fast or sudden. We have a huge amount of work to do in fixing the banking system, the public finances and access to finance, as well as getting small companies back on track, and the Government has confronted that. For the first time, the public service is holding itself to account in every quarter for the delivery of targeted measures to improve the employment area. That is having an impact.

Private sector employment is now growing in this economy after years of decline. The IDA has had a record year and two years of significant employment. Figures for the year to date indicate that it will replicate last year's record performance. Enterprise Ireland is also turning the corner in terms of the expansion not only of exports but also of employment among the companies. We are making headway, but it will be a slow process. The Government always recognised that.

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