Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I disagree with Deputy Tom Fleming's comment that there is no hope at all. There is a proven record of stabilising and growing many sectors. For example, the Government reduced the VAT rate in the hospitality sector from 13.5% to 9%. It stabilised the industry and created another 25,000 jobs. We also abolished the travel tax and implemented the concept of the Wild Atlantic Way, with a direct impact on the Deputy's county. These are demonstrations of how the Government can benefit the creation of jobs and the economy throughout provincial Ireland. The intention is to spread it throughout the country. During our Presidency of the European Union, we negotiated a very strong programme for rural development, more than €2.5 billion, which awaits approval from the European Commission for the various programmes throughout the country. The abolition of milk quotas has had a very beneficial effect in terms of money flowing through the system for land acquisition and leasing. The Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, has made a number of changes in the last two budgets to impact directly on the agriculture sector, which created more than 5,000 jobs last year.

I disagree with the Deputy about the IDA. It is a world class model for the introduction of potential investors to this country and the pipeline is very strong, with 15,000 gross, or 7,500 net, new jobs created last year. It is held up to be one of the foremost organisations of its kind globally. Our talent pool, the tax system we now have, with the ending of the stateless concept and the double Irish, our technology and our track record are second to none. Enterprise Ireland deals with small and medium enterprises, where the emphasis is on growing all those numbers on the backs of small companies that are able to export or service multinationals while they are here. The approval of the Connect Ireland scheme for very small operators could benefit any county. The scheme incentivises people from Ireland who are working for companies outside the EU that want to invest in Europe to connect the company with our country. Far from being despondent, I see 2015 and beyond as years of great opportunity, and the Government will focus relentlessly on making it more attractive for more jobs to be created.

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