Anthony Lawlor (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the economy. Most of the points I will raise concern the budget and, like the previous speaker, I like to think in a positive way about the future. The strange thing is that when the negativity comes out, it initially comes from the media, which have a terrible habit of starting off by giving a piece of good news, at the end of which there is the word "but", and it suddenly expands into what they want to put out, which is a negative message. The negative message is then permeated through the Opposition. We rarely hear anything positive coming from the Opposition. This is a real opportunity for it to come forward with positive ideas on the economy and the budget.

I will speak on two issues: that of jobs, and that of the housing and construction sector. While we have a high unemployment rate of some 15%, we actually have the fastest growing workforce in Europe. Each year there is an increase in the workforce of 1.1% and, as a result, the generation of 23,000 jobs per annum just maintains the number on the live register. To reduce the number on the live register, we must increase the net number of jobs by more than 23,000 each year.

The announcements of recent weeks have been very welcome, particularly in my own constituency with regard to the Kerry Group moving into the Millennium Park in Naas. What we need to do now is to take advantage of the situation created by a large indigenous company such as the Kerry Group generating 800 jobs and look at the potential to generate associated jobs, which is huge. It is vital that bodies such as Enterprise Ireland work closely with the Kerry Group to determine exactly what it needs in regard to spin-off companies that might potentially start up as a result.

A group of transition year students from Naas CBS visited Leinster House earlier and we had a brief discussion. They have an opportunity to decide the direction of their future with regard to the subjects they will choose for the leaving certificate next year. Obviously, given the fact that companies such as Kerry Group, and other indigenous companies on the high-tech side, are setting up in the Kildare area, I mentioned that they should focus on the STEM subjects. They said they would do their best to consider the science subjects and the jobs that might come up in the IT sector, but they made the point that not all of them would be involved in these areas and that, for example, some would go back to farming or potentially become young entrepreneurs. When I looked at the Macra na Feirme website later, it dawned on me that although we have so many schemes available through the budget for young farmers, we have nothing for young entrepreneurs. One of the points I raised when the microenterprise loan fund legislation was going through the Dáil was that we should ring-fence funding within that for people under 24 years of age, as unemployed young people aged between 18 and 24 would need an opportunity to access seed funding for ideas they may have. I hope the Minister will include some measure in the budget that will ring-fence funding for young entrepreneurs.

My second point concerns housing and construction. The Minister introduced a scheme last year to allow mortgage relief for first-time buyers and I would like him to extend this for another year. The advantages are clear. We have a depressed housing sector at present and only around 8,000 new houses will be built this year, which is well short of what is needed, with the result that a shortage will arise. I ask that the Minister extend this scheme for another year.

The Minister for Finance and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform have a difficult job ahead of them with regard to the budget and I wish them all the best. I encourage them to listen to the points I have raised and try to introduce them into the budget.

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