Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for bringing that to my attention. I have not looked at that recently but I certainly will do so.

I am quite happy to debate the 100,000 net new jobs that have been created since February 2012. When that target was announced, I remember Members on the Opposition benches stating it was overly ambitious, it would not be delivered and we would be looking at 2017. The plan was that over 100,000 jobs would be created in the economy by 2016. We have done that this year, a year ahead of schedule. In fact, there have been 104,464 net jobs created in the economy. I thank Deputy O'Dea for acknowledging that. Certainly, the best way out of poverty is getting into work and for those who have taken up employment, it has transformed their lives. Sadly, there are not more jobs. There are far too many still unemployed but we are rebuilding the country from the mess that we were left with.

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