Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

A previous incumbent of the chair in which I am sitting made a remark for which he had to apologise to the effect that if people thought the housing boom was going to end, they should commit suicide.

Deputy Adams mentioned two things that are fundamental to Irishness, emigration and partition. He rightly states that this has an impact on our psychology and the kind of people we are. He also clearly made the point about where I come from myself and asked how one gets back 400,000 people. I said in reply to some of these questions previously that, on the trade mission to Japan, I spoke to 16 or 17 young Irish engineers who were working in Osaka to build turbines for gas energy plants. Their contribution to engineering at the very highest level and changing its frontiers does one proud. It was because of their talent and their skill. There are thousands who have availed of their ability and potential. Yes, I feel sorry for those who feel they are forced to go away.

I grew up in the west of Ireland. Last Saturday, I happened to be the patron of a fund-raising project for breast cancer research, which involved arduous cycling. On the way to Achill, I passed a sign noting the twinning with Cleveland, Ohio. When I was a child, it was more typical and logical for people from that part of our country to go to Cleveland as had happened in pre-Famine and post-Famine times. It was more logical to go to work in Cleveland than in Westport. That is in the people, although I am not saying it applies now as one does not want it to. The trend of emigration and what the fear Gaeltacht Deputy Adams spoke to from the Blaskets said are part of our psychology and personality. I agree with the Deputy on that. Some of my own extended family worked in the copper mines in Butte at the turn of the last century and raised their families there. Many of their descendants came back just last year as part of the Gathering. Long lost unknown connections were re-established to foster new relationships.

To deal with this requires an economy that is in shape, well run and provides opportunities for growth and new ideas. This morning, people in the retail sector were talking about different ideas to give vent to that creativity and capacity.

We cannot do it unless there is openness and willingness to give an opportunity for it to happen. For small and medium-size enterprises to access credit through the local enterprise offices, which are now in the local authorities with new devolved responsibilities, hopefully it will be a success and people will get proper and accurate information, mentoring and the connections they need to follow through so that the processes, through the Action Plan for Jobs and access to credit, will help them get on the rung of the ladder.

I would love to see people coming back. I spoke to a young man from the south of Ireland last year. He was drawing a social welfare payment of €188, then went to Australia to work for 15 months, cleared almost €100,000 and came back and put his little transport company on the road. I admire the young man for his initiative, hard work and dedication to wanting to come back and getting the means to do so. Not everyone does that. We must ask whether we can put our country in a place that we have the invitation and the opportunity for people to come back. It is not easy for married people who have families to leave when work is not available locally because they have been caught in negative equity or mortgage distress. When the Government produces its construction programme next week, I hope it will add some dimension of an incentive to have registered contractors carry out works all over the country to provide employment and opportunity. We can follow that with a construction stimulus, given the scale of what we must do over the period ahead.

I share the broader analysis of the Deputy on what partition and emigration meant to the Irish, particularly emigration. Having had discussions in Washington, I hope discussions between Republicans and Democrats in Washington result in legislation being brought through to deal with the undocumented Irish, many of whom want to go to live, work and contribute to the economy of the US and, at the same time, have the opportunity to travel back for family circumstances, such as weddings, funerals or other occasions. These were not discussed directly in Davos but the issue of transatlantic trade and investment partnership talks, for which Ireland through its Presidency got a mandate from the European Parliament and the Commission to go ahead with, was followed immediately by the response of President Obama at the G8 summit to get on with it. There have been constructive and successful meetings to date. Some of this gets very complicated but there is an opportunity for a couple of million jobs on either side of the Atlantic and the setting down of conditions for world trade for the coming generation given that the two greatest trading blocs on the planet are involved.

In meeting some of the personnel involved, many of them have interests in Ireland because of headquarters from a European or world point of view or their investment through the services and products they provide. These are all part of the mix and we would like to think that things will be way we aspire to have them more quickly. There are serious numbers of unemployed people at European level and, given the difficulties many Governments face, it is not easy to get decisions through the European Council in the way we would like. These are matters we must work hard at. I hope we can have an opportunity in the future to discuss the second of the pillars because of its impact on our people and what it means for our history and for our future.

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