Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy mentioned buzzwords. She referred to entrepreneurship, construction and talent drive. The jobs of the future are going to be created by people of initiative who are prepared to invest and who have the confidence to invest. We cannot do that unless we have stability in an economy where there is the opportunity to be able to invest in business and create jobs. They tell us that 50% of the jobs to be created in the next decade will be in companies that have not been set up yet and which will trade products that have not even been conceived. That is why we have the national Action Plan for Jobs, which is proving successful. The fact that jobs are being created and numbers expanded by firms speaks to a new level of confidence. The consumer confidence index, for what it is worth, shows that consumer confidence is now the highest it has been for nine years. Clearly, with interest rates having fallen from unprecedented heights, ease of access to credit, the removal of a good deal of red tape and the setting up of local enterprise boards in every local authority, it is easier to create business, set up companies and employ.

How is that focused on the young Irish who have left? I have met many of them myself. For example jobsireland.ieis a fully searchable jobs board run by the Department of Social Protection. It allows employers to add their vacancies and jobseekers to search by a range of criteria. Young people worldwide are accessing this on a regular basis. The website itshappeninghere.ie isrun by the Irish indigenous software sector and supported by Enterprise Ireland. It serves to help promote career opportunities in Irish-owned software companies. The website gradireland.comis Ireland's official graduate jobs and careers website and is run by the Association of Higher Education Careers Services and GTI Ireland. The #allaboutjobssection on the Government's news website merrionstreet.ieis accessed on a regular basis by young people. It captures the latest information available about new jobs being created as well as new opportunities.

The Deputy referred to construction and a talent drive. We lost 100,000 jobs in the construction sector here.

Those affected went to America, England and Australia, as they did before. A couple of weeks ago I was talking to representatives of a firm that was bringing back civil engineers from New Caledonia, beyond Australia, to work on road projects here. I was talking recently to a young employee in a company beyond Sandyford who had returned from Australia having lived there for ten years. Last year I spoke to 100 young people in the United States, 50 of whom are coming home because they want to do so.

Let us consider Deputy Lucinda Creighton's comment on the talent drive. This means that as the frontiers ahead are changing rapidly, companies are looking for very particular skills. The job requirements now outlined are vastly different from those outlined five or ten years ago and completely different from what they were 20 years ago. When one speaks to innovative companies based in Ireland, they always remark on the capacity of young Irish people to meet the challenge and have the bar set higher continually. That is why I am so proud of the young people working in plants all over the country. Many of them have come back from abroad with added experience, adding immeasurably both to the reputation of their company and the success of their own careers.

We make no apology for having a talent drive. It is very important. Bearing in mind the presence of Minister of State, Deputy Damien English, I draw attention to the new Apprenticeship Council which is determining where new apprenticeships need to be offered. While there will always be a need for traditional apprenticeships, there will be a need for digital apprenticeships and so many others, including in financial services and other changing sectors.

The best thing the Government, or any government, can do is provide jobs at home for young people in order that they may have an opportunity to come back home to do work in which they are interested. This means that some of the other matters to which the Deputy referred must be dealt with. Clearly, the taxation system is one. Levels of tax are very high here by comparison with those in some other places. I noticed the changes made by the Chancellor of the Exchequer across the water in respect of becoming more competitive. However, one cannot address all of these issues unless one has a functioning economy that is driving the capacity of the country to do what we know has to be done. I say this in the context of our having had to borrow €22 billion just a few years ago to run the services of the country. This figure has fallen to €5 billion or less and will be eliminated by the end of 2017. It is important in this regard that 500,000 lower paid workers will not have any requirement to pay universal social charge this year. We set out the strategy for the path ahead in the spring statement. It might not be of any great interest to young people, but what they want to know is whether there are jobs available, the opportunities available and whether it is time for them to come home.

Everybody agrees that we are way behind in the supply of houses. That is because the construction sector collapsed completely during the recession, with 100,000 jobs lost. The Government has responded by offering local authorities a real programme for social housing worth €2.2 billion. The Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly, made that announcement. There is a real focus on trying to get the private construction sector and local authorities to invest in the housing programme, which is so important for young people and others in the State. No one wants to see a continuing increase in the number required to be in bed and breakfast accommodation or hotel rooms because of increasing rents. That is not appropriate. The focus of the Government has been very much on that issue.

I reject the Deputy's assertion that there are secret deals involving the public service. The Deputy, as a public representative, is well aware of the contribution made by the public service and its very many employees in playing their part in meeting the challenge in moving the country forward. As the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Brendan Howlin, set out clearly, putting in place the Haddington Road agreement in the first instance was very difficult in gaining the acceptance of the trade unions. Obviously, the Government was intent, in respect of the flexibility on offer economically, on beginning to give back what could be given back to members of the public service who had played their part.

The Deputy mentioned nurses. Clearly, young nurses have travelled abroad in considerable numbers. I spoke to three recently. One was moving to Australia, one to America, while one was staying here. When I asked the two young women who were proposing to move abroad about their intentions, one said she was going to work in a hospital in a location in America where she had a close relation, while the other said she was moving to Australia because she wanted to travel for a couple of years and work. The third was quite happy to work in a local hospital. An incentive is being made available by the HSE and the Department of Health in order that young Irish trained nurses of exceptional calibre can stay at home and work.

I referred to the national action plan for jobs. However, it is important to say also that we established the national Health Innovation Hub. It is located in County Cork and operating on a pilot basis to facilitate clinicians in hospitals, health care companies, researchers and other innovators to work together for the benefit of patients in the health care system. Over 1,000 trading online vouchers have been given to micro-businesses and small businesses to support them in increasing their number of employees, some of whom will be from abroad.

Today is Tuesday. On Thursday I believe-----

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