Arthur Spring (Kerry North-West Limerick, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Lasts night's debate was robust but I did not find its tone particularly helpful.  The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Bruton, and the Minister of State, Deputy Perry, were passionate in describing what they are trying to achieve for the betterment of the country in terms of creating jobs and ending the blight of emigration.  This Private Members' motion is not helpful.  Instead of identifying areas in which we might act further, it claims we are acting wrongly.

  On my first day in this House I endorsed the Cabinet and identified the acronym of TEAM - tourism, energy, agribusiness and microenterprise - as the four core competencies on which we could build our recovery.  However, the overwhelming momentum for the country was negative.  We were dealing with a banking collapse and a lack of confidence throughout the country.  People were taking their money out of their accounts and crossing the Border to lodge them in bank accounts in Newry.  The country was locked out of the bond market and people did not see any potential for growth.

  The self-employed have played a central role in creating jobs.  We need to breed entrepreneurs like Gerry Kennelly, who operates a youth entrepreneur programme in County Kerry.  That is the way forward.  Our public sector is quite good by European standards but we also need entrepreneurs who are knowledgeable and who can be ambassadors.  The people who will leave these shores on behalf of IDA and Enterprise Ireland over the coming weekend are doing a great job promoting the country as a place to do business and showing off the calibre of the Irish people.  We are intelligent, hard working and passionate.  We are Anglophones with a good corporation tax rate and, most important, we want to win.  We want to give ourselves a proper standard of living and a future for our children.  We will none the less have to address the issues of reskilling and retraining.  We cannot simply move people from construction to information technology.  We need not only commercial initiatives but also infrastructure projects backed by the State and the European Investment Bank.

  Unfortunately, I come from a county which has an infrastructure deficit.  The European Union provides a regional aid programme for Ireland but County Kerry has the second lowest level of disposable income of the 32 counties.  Unemployment rates in the county have increased by 160% in the past five years.  The south west regional authority is the second most efficient and prosperous in Ireland, after Dublin, but if Cork and Kerry are separated the latter is the least looked after county in the country.  The BMW region is able to attract foreign direct investment as a result of the incentives it can bestow on foreign companies.  Other than a technology park in Tralee which employs 400 people, Kerry has received only two visits which were orchestrated by Government Deputies.  The strategy on jobs is Dublin centric.  The best way to achieve equalisation is to find out what we are most capable of doing.  We need to work with the institutes of technologies and universities.  We plan to push for university status for Tralee but we also need a plan for expanding industry.

  This has been a good day for mortgages.  Two key issues arise for my generation, namely, unemployment and personal indebtedness.  I welcome the statement by the Minister for Finance on dealing with personal indebtedness because it will give people head space as well as pocket space.  We also enjoyed success in raising money in the markets earlier today.  Two years' ago there was no way we could have raised €3 billion.  We were oversubscribed by 400%.  More than 400 private investors endorsed what we are doing.  The bond market is the lifeline of the country.  We have been endorsed for doing the right thing but austerity is not prosperity.  We cannot fix everything immediately but the momentum is in the right direction.  If the Deputies opposite will not help they should get out of the way but otherwise they should get onboard to push in the right direction and get the people of our country back to work.  There is no point in speaking in this House unless one contributes something positive.

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