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

A significant number of training places are available. FÁS provides 90,000 and the VECs provide more than 100,000. SOLAS, which comes under the remit of the Minister of State at the Department of Education and Skills, Deputy Cannon, will bring a new strategic focus to the delivery of training that is relevant to emerging job opportunities. Much change is ongoing to deliver a more effective service to those who are out of work. The Deputy should table his questions to the Ministers who are driving the reform.

In the situation in which we found ourselves, much work was involved in fixing the banks. Credit had collapsed for SMEs. We had the second highest refusal rate throughout Europe. A considerable amount of work was required to fix what was broken in the crash we inherited. That is why one cannot have a neat calculus and say that so many actions will generate so many jobs. Much work remains to be done to fix what was damaged. The work is being done and we are seeing the success of the plan in the figures in employment. The IDA has had its best year in a decade. Enterprise Ireland has had its best year in five years. Exports are reaching record levels. There is double-digit growth in exports by indigenous companies. Those are a measure of the changing performance.

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