Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Acting Chairman for allowing the supplementary questions. I wish to make it clear that we are undertaking a massive transformation, as Deputy Tóibín pointed out. Construction collapsed and 60% of employment in this sector was wiped out. A total of 160,000 mainly male employees became unemployed. There is a huge job to create a new economy that will absorb people from the sectors that, as we know, are in decline. They grew too big and the policy that supported them was not sustainable. We know that about banking, construction and so on. So we have to create the new economy that builds the opportunities. That is what we are doing. Last year, the IDA had the best year in a decade. It created the most new jobs in a decade and had the lowest level of job losses for a very long period. International investment in Ireland has returned and we are seeing a jobs dividend from that. As I also pointed out in the reply, we have reversed the dramatic collapse that was occurring in indigenous export-oriented companies. That has been reversed and Enterprise Ireland companies are now growing employment.

We have seen a huge turnaround but I do not underestimate the scale of the challenge. It is a huge challenge and we are working on it with determination. The merit of the action plan for jobs is that every year, every Department focuses on what changes can be made this year to make a practical contribution to the target. That is the approach we need to take and that is the one we are implementing.

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