Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I mean it in the best possible way. I am sure people have said a lot worse to the Minister.

Running a small business is difficult. Ministers should try to look at the business people we have, who are creating a job for themselves, jobs for family members and jobs for their neighbours and friends. This is important. A person who creates between two and ten jobs is every bit as important as Apple or any other company because these people are the backbone of the country. They were there in the past and their mothers and fathers before them created a few jobs here and there. We should try to make their lives easier and make it more acceptable for them to employ more people. Other Government measures are not friendly towards those people. Decisions taken by this Government have not helped those people, who are the backbone of rural Ireland and urban Ireland. They go without to pay the wages on Friday. The Minister is more experienced than many Members, myself included. He knows what I am talking about. If we can make their situation better, and if every person creating jobs can increase the number of jobs by one or two or three, it will have a massive impact on employment opportunities in our country.

We do not want to see our well-educated and lovely young people having to leave our shores to go to Australia, Canada or America. If we can help keep youngsters at home by creating an environment for work at home, it is most welcome. The worry I have is that when we lose young people, although a certain amount of them will come back - I hope they do - statistics over the decades show that a large percentage will not return. It is very sad because we do not lose just that generation but also the children they will hopefully have. We lose several generations, which is sad. In bringing a Bill before the House and in his work, the Minister is playing his part in the creation of jobs in rural and urban Ireland.

I represent places that are disadvantaged because of their location. While I am a Member, I hope I am doing my best to highlight the plight of places such as the Black Valley, Sneem and Glencar. They are disadvantaged through their location but a proud group of people live in those areas and work very hard with very little to create a livelihood for themselves and their families. The legislation will play a role.

It is important, as I stated already, to protect the State's investment. We have seen the debacles that have happened in the past, such as with the sale of State assets. I am thankful the Government took on board the Opposition's opinion on the sale of State assets like Coillte. There was a U-turn on that.

See this speech in context