Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

This is particularly so since I have served in this House since 2007, longer than the Deputy yonder. I know I have earned my place here. Over the past two nights, there is no doubt that we have had an interesting and passionate debate and valid points have been made by both sides. Sometimes it turns a little bit raucous and many interventions have been quite rhetorical. In response to some points made by parties across the benches, if we are talking about the restoration of this economy and society, one must take cognisance of the fact that for the past decade or so, investment was primarily in construction, which fuelled the economy across many sectors. When that sector collapsed spectacularly along with the creation of the credit crisis, this Government when it came into power had to set out a new foundation and start investing in new areas so that one can upskill and retrain the very workers who have lost their jobs and now have to emigrate and about whom Sinn Féin is talking. One must put in place a set of new ideas that will begin new investments in a myriad of new sectors across the economy.

If we are to have a motion in this House about labour market activation, I would rather the parties opposite interrogated Springboard, Momentum, the ICT skills conversion courses, the redundant apprentice placement scheme and schemes of that nature. If there is a critique of those schemes, I would like to hear it. One either agrees that the schemes are necessary or one does not. If we do not have schemes of that nature, we will not provide opportunities for those people, mainly young men who relied on the construction sector, to get back into work.

In the two years that this Government has been in existence, we have put a myriad of schemes in place of which there has been a large take up. They have been quite successful, particularly JobBridge where a number of people have secured full-time jobs. I agree with some of the points made by Members opposite in respect of certain areas of Ireland where we have not had the foreign direct investment that is so necessary to sustain those areas. It is a pity I have only one minute left because I am only getting started.

I have offered Sinn Féin a chance to sit down with me and interrogate each of our policies, many of which I cannot articulate because of the limited time I have on this motion, and I think it will take me up on this offer. I have offered it a chance to go through and critique each one of those schemes as long as it is an objective critique and not rhetorical and empty so that we can work with parties opposite regardless of their hue to get us out of this crisis. Sinn Féin may score points but that is its prerogative as an Opposition party. This is the boxing ring and that is the job of Opposition but if it is going to interrogate the Government, it should not use empty rhetoric and at least come to us with something specific that critiques the policies we are putting forward. It must acknowledge that there has been real growth in the economy, that there has been an net increase in jobs, that we are continuing to win the type of investments that are necessary across a myriad of sectors and that we are investing in these sectors.

I attended an InterTradeIreland event last week. It is a North-South body created as a result of North-South relations. I met with a representative from Sinn Féin at that conference. There is an acknowledgement that if this island is to flourish, it must be on the basis of building cross-Border and bilateral links with our neighbours. The more we can embed that within the system and the more opportunities we can create through agencies like InterTradeIreland, the more we will raise the economic ship of this island. I apologise for the fact that I do not have enough time to respond to all the points raised.

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