Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am not quite sure. Maybe Deputy Carey can tell me. The Kerry Group is welcome, as were Hewlett-Packard and Intel before it. We cannot stay static, however. County Kildare is growing rapidly and is one of the fastest-growing counties in the country. As a result of the growth in population, we must see a corresponding growth in jobs. The Minister of State alluded to some statistics. Those on job creation and job losses in County Kildare were interesting. The statistics on IDA Ireland-supported companies show - Deputy Carey is correct - that 1,522 jobs were created in the course of 2012, 2013 and 2014, which is very good. However, in the corresponding period, 1,526 jobs were lost in IDA Ireland-sponsored companies. As far as IDA Ireland is concerned, we in County Kildare have been left with a net loss.

The Minister, Deputy Bruton, appears in mass media every day to tell us about all the jobs that are being created. We cannot see those jobs; they are not tangible. The points made by Deputy Coppinger are very relevant and correct. Between 86,000 and 90,000 people are in various job activation schemes. It is good that those people are being activated, but let us not fool ourselves about the fact that they are in need of full-time employment. An additional 124,000 are in part-time employment, but aspire to achieve full-time employment. The ambition of some 250,000 people is to achieve full-time employment and they do not fall into the category to which the Minister, Deputy Noonan, alluded to in the past week or so. Such people want to go to work, as do the majority of people who are unemployed.

Can the Minister of State tell us what will be done to ensure that those in activation schemes can progress from them to more meaningful employment? What will be done by the Government to address the plight of those people in part-time employment who want to work full-time? What will be done to ensure that State agencies such as Enterprise Ireland reach out and become far more active in encouraging employers to locate in the regions where their activity is badly needed?

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