Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It restored the minimum wage and reduced the rate of VAT, which sustained and increased employment in the hospitality sector by 10,000. Moreover, the Government has made available a range of opportunities in order that small and medium-sized enterprises can grow in Ireland. The latter is an issue on which the Government will concentrate because I recognise that were one to bring in 1,000 industries next week, the competency and range of skills that exist on the live register clearly should be perceived as a resource and not just as someone's intention to regard it as a dole queue in waiting, because these are people who have experience and competence and who in the vast majority of cases wish to contribute and to get the job. In that sense, it will not change unless there is an incentive and opportunity for that kind of development to take place. This is the reason the Government unashamedly has gone after requiring banks to have new lending for small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as for specific sectors with the microfinance or the partial loan credit guarantee. I also refer to the implications for small service contractors through the stimulus package of €2.5 billion and the opportunities that lie ahead. This is where one must get the economy moving again and where one seeks to have tradesmen and contractors out working, namely, by building schools and through the provision of primary centres, as well as the opportunities that will exist under schemes such as a retrofit for energy efficiency for residential homes.

Deputy Higgins should note this will be achieved through creative ways of looking at how it can be provided.

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