Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The health committee met three times to deal with health issues and actually called in the HSE to ask it about the position on dealing with the exceptional cases of refusals of medical cards and appliances as highlighted on television and radio and in the newspapers. It asked how it would sort out a system that would work effectively and in a caring way for those who needed medical cards.

In 2013 the social policy committee met six times and is due to meet again on 27 November. It will continue to meet in the new year and beyond.

Everyone recognises that a system in which young men and women leave secondary school and get on to the conveyor belt of unemployment assistance only to be left there is not healthy for society or the young people in question. When Deputy Martin is going around the country, he should pay a visit to an Intreo office to see how it engages with people now. Those on the live register are asked what job would they like to do, what experience have they and what courses or apprenticeships they would they like to take. Supports are then provided for them accordingly.

The numbers of young people in work have increased in the past 12 months. It is not all down to emigration, as some claim all the time. We are now in a happier position, with in excess of 3,000 jobs a month being created in the private sector. Last week at the Dublin web summit I noted the energy coming from the young people and companies in attendance. Some will fail, but some will succeed to an enormous extent. Owing to the fact there has been an increase of 30,000 people in employment since we launched An Action Plan for Jobs, I want to see the Government in 2014 focus relentlessly on what else can we do to create employment. We need to ensure small and medium-sized enterprises, the indigenous economy, know what State agency supports are available to them and the incentive for them to take people off the live register. I have great faith in the measure introduced by the Minister for Finance for the reconstruction sector. Many qualified tradesmen and smaller contractors, over 100,000 of whom were unemployed in the past few years, will be able to find work with a tax credit over two years. This will also assist those householders who want to avail of energy conservation retrofitting. This measure will pay dividends across the country.

Employers told us the tax relief scheme for taking on workers from the live register was far too bureaucratic and filled with red tape; therefore, we scrapped it.

Now, if one employs somebody who has been out of work for 12 months there is a direct injection of €7,500, and one receives €10,000 for a person who has been out of work for two years. It helps cashflow, is very simple and operates well. That, together with the other programmes such as Momentum, JobBridge and JobsPlus, give people the opportunity to get into something they might be interested in and that, hopefully, might lead to a more permanent position.

One would like to wave a wand and put everybody back to work, but that is impossible. However, so many opportunities are building up that if we achieve the 2% growth rates projected by the Government - others have forecast higher rates and it remains to be seen what 2014 will bring - we will be out of the programme with whatever decision the Government makes. The rest of Europe will make its own decisions. If the eurozone can rise it will be important for us as exporters and suppliers of indigenous elements of services.

It is a case of not lying down under this challenge. We do not have all the answers by any means, but elements of those answers come from engaging with people. The ideas and proposals that come from people are listened to and if they are worthwhile they should be implemented. There is an element of challenge for the Government to make employers and potential employers aware of what is available. We need to work on that constantly.

I met with Connect Ireland representatives 18 months ago and they said there are Irish people working in companies all over the world - in Australia, South America or wherever - from receptionist to chief executive. Many of those companies may want to expand into Europe. Some company representatives may never have heard of Ireland. All we say is, "If you are going to invest in Europe, think of Ireland." That pipeline is very busy. When one gets ten jobs in Kinvara or 80 in Portarlington, or other places around the country where the IDA, with due respect to it, may not have a particular focus, that is important. I would like to think we could have a full pipeline of such investment coming through and follow it with our indigenous economy where the support the Government puts in will help employers take on two or three more employees. That is why it is important to be able to say with some degree of certainty that there will be no income tax or VAT increases for the next period, so they can plan within that range how they might improve the situation.

In due course the people will decide whom they wish to elect, but we will strive with all our might and main to open those doors in the period ahead. I hope that when we exit the bailout, put up the shutters behind us and move on in a different way, we will send a signal to our people that we are never going back to that sort of culture and that we will move forward by sending signals to the markets internationally that this country is on the move and that we see an opportunity for brighter days ahead. That is the challenge of politics and everybody here contributes to that in their individual ways.

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