Pat Deering (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Like a number of my colleagues, I was elected to this House for the first time just over three years ago and am honoured to be here. In the 2011 general election, the main issue on which we campaigned was trying to fix the economy. We were given a mandate as a party of Government to fix the economy. We faced a number of other issues as well. The famous five point plan was used regularly. The number one issue was fixing the economy, the second issue was jobs, the third issue was reform, the fourth issue was health and the fifth issue was the banking sector.

Three years ago, as we all know, this economy was in rag order, mainly due to the neglect caused by 14 years of inept government. The troika had been brought in, we had lost our sovereignty, and for the second time in my short lifetime, the country was bankrupt. Where are we now three years later? There is no doubt we are in a more solid and stable place than we were three years ago. The troika has gone and we are back in business on our own terms. We no longer need stabilisers to give us any assistance. No one could dispute that we are in a better state.

We still have a long way to go but we have made substantial progress in stabilising the economy, which is the important issue.

Our second priority during the election was the creation of jobs. Despite the fact that we hear the Opposition's daily rhetoric about the type of jobs that are being created, some 61,000 jobs have been created in the last year which is a substantial number. That is 1,200 jobs per week compared to losing 1,700 jobs per week during the time of the previous Government. Those 61,000 positions are real jobs but there are still far too many people unemployed and far too many people have emigrated. We need to get those people back into country again and back on the workforce. It is a key issue to get those people back to work as quickly as possible.

Even though 61,000 jobs have been created, we need to get more jobs back into rural areas. In my own area of Carlow, for example, I was disappointed to learn that we have had only seven IDA Ireland site visits in the past three years. Regional areas need to be recognised more substantially in future. One good thing that the Celtic tiger left us was the country's good road network, so Ireland does not finish at Newland's Cross anymore. It is necessary to get more foreign direct investment down the country, even though I realise it can be difficult to do so.

In his speech, the Minister mentioned the new local enterprise offices, or LEOs, which constitute a positive move. They should be efficiently resourced, however. While I do not wish to be parochial about the matter, in my own area of Carlow I understand that a minimum of three Enterprise Ireland employees are needed in these LEOs. Carlow has only two such employees at the moment and an extra one has been sought for a while. It is important that every LEO should be on the same footing so that every area will have an equal advantage in terms of job creation.

Jobs are important in rural Ireland and nowhere more so than in Carlow which has a high unemployment rate. Two main industries which have left the area in the past ten years have not been replaced. It is a crying shame that the sugar factory and sugar beet industry have left our shores. The Acting Chairman, Deputy Wall, has a lot of knowledge in that regard. The closure of the sugar factory in Carlow affected not just the local area, but also hauliers and others who were indirectly affected. At its peak, the Braun Oral-B factory employed 1,100 people. Those industries need to be replaced, so I would encourage the Government to ensure that we have as much foreign direct investment as possible.

Agriculture is a key area of employment. In the so-called Celtic tiger years, agriculture was not highly thought of. Bricks and mortar have now been replaced by agriculture and it is sexy again to talk about the agri-sector. Much work has been done in that regard over the past three years. Last year alone we had substantial exports in that sector of over €10 billion. In addition, the Common Agricultural Policy has been renegotiated with a €12.5 billion stimulus package coming into this country in the coming period. While CAP has been important, there are challenges ahead which need to be negotiated in order to try to achieve the full Harvest 2020 targets.

I wish to bring to the Ministers' attention the relationship between large multiple retailers and primary producers. It is a subject that has been dealt with extensively by the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine. That area needs to be addressed in the short term, so I would encourage the Government to introduce the consumer and competition Bill as soon as possible. That legislation will provide for a statutory code of conduct for the retail industry. We should have an independent arbitrator to ensure that the sector is streamlined and works properly.

As the Minister rightly said, on 23 May we will have the biggest reform of local government in the history of the State, which is welcome. In addition, Dáil reform needs to move on further, despite the fact that we have Leaders' Questions on Thursdays, Topical Issue debates, Friday sittings and longer sitting hours. The Oireachtas committee system is essential and does much valuable work. However, the idea of having to run back and forth from committees to the Dáil Chamber must be addressed. I propose that we should have a committee week once a month whereby the committees would report to the Dáil at the end of that particular week. We could thus do away with moving back and forth from the Chamber to the committees. Members who sit on a number of committees would have an opportunity to contribute to all of them. The Government should examine that proposal.

The Order of Business in this House also needs to be examined. It is farcical for Members to ask what is happening concerning forthcoming legislation, even though they have the details in front of them. Such matters could be dealt with by a letter to the Ceann Comhairle because at present it is a waste of time. Everybody should have an opportunity to use the valuable time here to raise as many issues as possible.

We should also consider reforming the Whip system, even though it has operated thus for many years. However, we should first consider reforming the committee system where valuable work is done, but everybody should be on the same wavelength.

The recent statements on the Government's priorities for the year ahead are valuable in setting out a stall outlining what has been done in the past three years and also what needs to be done during the next couple of years.

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