John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I hope I have more than the one minute and 34 seconds displayed on the monitor although I do not have a major contribution to make. However, I feel I should respond to a few points that have been made by some of the previous Opposition speakers.

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Bill and most of its provisions. The previous speaker, Deputy Troy, prefaced his comments by saying the Government had done good things in terms of unemployment. He then proceeded to get into a rant, which he said he would not do, about the level of unemployment in the country. It is a bit rich for someone who was elected to the Chamber on the back of Fianna Fáil increasing unemployment to almost 16% to lecture the Government which is responsible this year for a decrease in the unemployment rate to below 10%. It is still far too high but more than 100,000 additional people are in employment in the four years since the Government came to office. That is, arguably, the most significant achievement of the Government. The reduction was much faster than most of the economic commentators and economists predicted. In fairness, great credit is due to the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Bruton. The latest provisions of the Action Plan for Jobs were announced this week which led to a series of actions by the Government. This week’s focus was very much on the regions. I partly acknowledge and agree with what Deputy Troy said about unemployment levels not decreasing at the same rate in some regions. However, the recent figures for the regions generally are impressive. There was a 19% reduction in the unemployment rate in County Kilkenny in the past four years. The reduction in the unemployment rate in County Carlow was 14%. They are the two component parts of my constituency if I am allowed to be parochial for a moment.

Deputy Troy is about the same age as me and none of the Members present was around for the famous election campaign in 1977 bar you, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle, and perhaps Deputy Sean Fleming in another place.

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