Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I do not accept Deputy Ó Snodaigh's assertions at all. What I gave him were some of the actions that have been taken and implemented during the course of the past number of months that are having an impact on our problems here.

I had the opportunity to visit Sligo with the Minister for Social Protection to open one of the first Intreo offices. The office contains a combination of personnel from the Department of Social Protection and the HSE, along with community welfare officers. For the first time, I saw the value of an integrated system under which people with different experiences are able to deal with persons who are unfortunately unemployed, in whatever category they may be. The live register, far from being some sort of instrument under which people just go and receive the dole, is a resource dealing with people who have an enormous range of skills and competence and who, in the vast majority, are willing and want to work. In contrast to the old system under which people would go in to sign on and draw money, there is now the opportunity for group interviews and individual interviews to see what their experience, talents and particular areas of expertise might be, to see what their wishes and ambitions are, and to try to fit those into the opportunities that are being created and will arise in the time ahead. I must say genuinely to Deputy Ó Snodaigh that I detected a sense of energy and enthusiasm I had never seen before in social welfare offices, which are now called Intreo offices. Another group of these offices are to be opened in 2013, and the Minister for Social Protection is in very close contact with the Office of Public Works and reports to Cabinet on the progress being made to ensure this can become a reality.

The spend on social protection is €20.3 billion. This is money that goes directly into the economy in all its various sectors and phases. It is true to say the Government has kept its commitment in honouring core pay rates. It is a commitment that has and will be honoured and it is a very important element.

The number on the live register on 19 April was 420,000. Less than one year ago, people were talking about the number exceeding 500,000. This is much too high but it is an impressive response from the Minister for Social Protection and across the Government in the opportunities that are being created. The question and challenge for the Government is to deal effectively with the live register. That is why I am glad to note that, with the continued line of strong investment coming into the country, the Department of Social protection now has a competent potential employee list that is available for any body, whether Enterprise Ireland-backed small and medium enterprises, foreign direct investment in the form of multinationals or otherwise. Such bodies now have available to them a resource within any locality. People have been more than surprised at the quality and range of talent and expertise that exists out there.

The question of upward-only rent reviews is something the Government has not been able to deal with. This was an intention of Government but, as I have said before, the formal legal advice from the Attorney General was very clear in that regard.

I ask Deputy Ó Snodaigh whether I missing something here. Last year, 2012, was the most successful year for job creation by the IDA since 2006. I had the opportunity to engage with American investment personnel in Washington, New York and right across to the west coast, from Seattle down to San Francisco. Among the biggest companies that have invested here in the recent past are Apple, PayPal, Eli Lilly, Amgen, SAP, Cisco and, from Ireland, the Kerry Group. More than 13,600 new jobs were created in 2012, some 12,500 of which were created by IDA clients, which was the biggest number ever. We have also put in place the €19 million microenterprise loan fund scheme, which we hope will create more than 7,000 jobs. By the end of March, that scheme had supported 44 microenterprises and 116 jobs from the approximately 149 applications that were received. There was the launch of the €450 million credit guarantee scheme, which has the potential to create 4,000 jobs, and over €3.1 million was guaranteed under that scheme by the end of March. As the Minister of State, Deputy Perry, will know, one of the crying complaints I get is that small and medium-sized enterprises have no access to credit. This scheme was created as part of the infrastructure to help small and medium-sized enterprises to do their business and to expand. That is why we also published legislation to make it easier for viable SMEs to restructure their loans. Some €300 million has now been invested in seven new world-class research centres that are to be located in Cork, Limerick, Galway and Dublin and will support more than 800 scientists-----

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