Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I encourage the Deputies opposite to listen to the National Competitiveness Council which has stated there are severe infrastructural gaps which significantly reduce competitiveness. Six months ago my team and I met the troika which also acknowledged that there were infrastructural gaps. Fixing them would create sustainable efficiencies and enhance competitiveness in the future, making Ireland a better and more attractive place in which to do business and attract foreign direct investment. ln a counter-cyclical fashion, it would put people back at work.

I refer to those who were hit hardest by Fianna Fáil's mismanagement of the economy.

Sinn Féin has identified €13 billion of investment that could be accessed and put to productive use. When we met the troika, we asked if this money is available. The troika acknowledged that it is available. Government priorities and a lack of political will are the only things delaying matters. We identified feasible opportunity-costed projects such as those relating to broadband provision, transport infrastructure, sustainable energy, energy efficiency and regeneration and also school and health care capital development projects. These investments would create 150,000 jobs now.

Sinn Féin wants to tackle the major market distortions the Government has allowed to remain in place, including the use of upward-only rents, the continued existence of cartels and excessive utility, legal and rates costs. The Government is rolling up procurement contracts and thereby making it impossible for small companies to access new business. It has ignored Sinn Féin's policy on progressive commercial rates, which would make it easier for struggling businesses to survive. The Government is closing down the county enterprise sector as it currently exists and is lumping it in with local authorities. It is doing so against the wishes of every major organisation that represents small and medium enterprises.

The lack of action on upward-only rents is reprehensible and is delivering the killer blow to many retailers that are teetering on the edge. This week it is the turn of Monsoon Accessorize, which is about to close ten of its 18 stores. As a result, the majority of the company's 269 workers are under threat of losing their jobs. The Government must tackle this problem as a matter of urgency. The difficulty is that many of the Government's benefactors and backers are large landowners. It is they who represent the vested interest in this instance.

The Minister of State at the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Perry, who previously said upward-only rents are not leading to business closures, last night indicated that there is no such thing as forced emigration. Those who operate in the real economy are genuinely concerned about the Minister of State's ability to do his job. The level of disconnect between Deputy Perry, who has responsibility for 78% of the jobs market, and reality is absolutely staggering.

The Government has sought to create unsustainable competitive advantage through the erosion of worker's rights, the creation of inequality, the introduction of wage reductions and the maintenance of single-figure effective corporation tax rates. Sinn Féin is seeking sustainable competitive advantages in the areas of education, transport, broadband and energy efficiency and independence. Time is running out in respect of this matter. If the current rate continues to obtain, some 250,000 people will emigrate on this Government's watch. Unless this Administration changes direction, it is going to be too late.

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