Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

That is a mistake. We should do it in step with other countries but the Minister has chosen otherwise.

The improvement in the employment situation is very welcome. I agree with the Minister that the people who suffered the most in the economic collapse were those who lost their jobs.

We all want to see further jobs created in the economy. While progress has been made, the real issue now in terms of job creation is tackling the stubbornly high number of people who are long-term unemployed. The real bottleneck in the jobs system is the 180,000 on the live register for one year or more. The Government pays a great deal of lip service to the idea of supporting SMEs, but it has done precious little to help them in practical terms. If one travels outside Dublin, one sees that towns and villages across the country are dying on their feet.

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