Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy again refuses to recognise what every international publication has recognised - that Ireland has improved its competitive position consistently. Forbes magazine recently listed Ireland as the best place to do business in the world, at No. 1 globally. All of the various competition rankings show Ireland consistently improving its placing and, importantly, in areas that matter, such as skills, innovation and technology, where we have targeted improvements. The Deputy is correct that we cannot take recovery for granted and that there are international pressures which could change it. That is the reason our focus is relentlessly on building a strong enterprise base, strengthening our innovation and expanding the number of countries to which we export and the range of goods and services we export. That is what builds a robust base to be strong in the face of any changes.

The Deputy is simply wrong about activation schemes. Many of these schemes have nothing to do with the CSO's record of people at work. Some of them do, such as back-to-work enterprise. There has been an increase in the number of people who are setting up their own enterprises on returning from the social welfare code. That is to be welcomed. Overall, however, with regard to the number of extra people who might be on schemes, there are 8,500 more people on schemes than when we launched the Action Plan for Jobs. Over 93% of the jobs are real jobs in the private sector. The vast majority are full-time jobs with good conditions.

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