Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate that my time is up, but I remind the Chair that the Minister was given an additional seven minutes. I would greatly appreciate it if I could be given one more minute.

Approximately 68,000 jobs have been created in Dublin since 2011. In the same period some 8,000 jobs were created in the mid-west, while just 1,600 were created in the west. We have an economy that is phenomenally lopsided. It is really important for the Government to get to grips with the need to achieve a balance in that regard. No part of the State has reached peak levels of employment. Employment in Dublin is approximately 4% short of peak levels. Employment in the mid-west, the Border region and the west is approximately 12% lower than it was in 2007. I mention this to point to the massive difference.

I will conclude by speaking about the improvements that need to be made. I ask the Government to prioritise investment, the level of which fell from €9 billion to approximately €3 billion during the tenure of Fine Gael and the Labour Party. Investment is really important if we are to rebalance the economy. We also need to make sure we have public banking systems that are empowered to deliver credit to small businesses around the country. This includes the credit unions which have a better geographical footprint than the banks.

Go raibh míle maith agat, a Chathaoirligh, as ucht am breise a thabhairt dom.

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