John Perry (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is now in place with the partial loan guarantee. We cut the lower rate of VAT, halved the lower rate of employers' PRSI and increased the employers' PRSI exemption. We introduced numerous initiatives and I can go through the action plan for jobs outlining each measure.

One of the first things we did was reform the wage setting mechanism. We extended employers' PRSI, encouraged all accountancy, taxation and legal services to lower their costs, brought in support at regional and local level to identify opportunity and we are listening to retailers. I was in Malahide last night at the meeting of the Retail Federation of Ireland and recently attended meetings in Kilkenny and Waterford. We have €3.5 billion lined up in the two main pillar banks to support viable companies. Banks are not going to give money to companies that will not repay it and it is our job to build competence and increase credit.

We are trying to raise confidence in the domestic economy, a difficult task. The last Administration left a legacy of 55,000 job losses in the retail sales sector due to low consumer demand. That is the problem in the whole sector, be it services, restaurants or hotels. That is the situation we inherited, a sector on the floor because absolutely nothing was done by the last Government for retailers.

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