Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim comhghairdeachas leis an Aire nua agus guím gach rath uirthi. Tá súil agam go mbeidh muid in ann obair as lámha a chéile. I congratulate the new Minister. I welcome the invitation to work with her and share good ideas that we have.

Like other speakers, I also welcome the drop in the unemployment rate. To analyse the effects of this, one must put it in context. Only two speakers referred to the damning report issued yesterday by Unite. Will the Minister read the report and come back to us with her response? As has been pointed out, the truth about Irish wage levels reveals that the highest paid private sector workers earn almost four times as much as the lowest paid employees. It also reveals that, taking wages into account, PRSI payments were 6% below the EU average. Ireland has the second highest level of wage inequality - the most damning part of the report - with regard to the difference in wages from top to bottom.

There are many good ideas in A Programme for a Partnership Government, which I have read, on job creation and rural development. It is welcome that we now have a Minister with responsibility for regional development and rural affairs. That is extremely important. What Mr. John Moran said lately, that we could not afford to look after rural Ireland and that we should move towards development in cities, was appalling. Ireland's population is one of the most rural in the European Union, with 42% of Irish people living in rural areas compared to the EU average of 27%. I did not know this. More than one third, or 35%, of Ireland's population live in cities, while one quarter of live in towns and suburbs. People living in towns and suburbs are also at greater risk of poverty and social exclusion.

If we place the Minister's speech and A Programme for a Partnership Government with regard to jobs and rural development in context, we must look at what has happened in the casualisation of work. We are all aware of the unpredictability of income and jobs. This is intimately and integrally tied up with housing and the difficulty in accessing affordable rents or mortgages. With insecure jobs we have insecure lives, which leads to difficulties with health and housing. Everything is interrelated.

I welcome the positive aspects, but we cannot wait all of the time for the economy to pick up. It must be driven by sustainable jobs. I see this in reverse to the Minister, but perhaps we are not that far apart. Sustainable jobs should lead the economic recovery. There are many good ideas on pages 43 to 54 of A Programme for a Partnership Government with regard to village and town renewal and capital investment, but there are also absences. The commission for economic development in rural areas came up with many good ideas, but it is not mentioned. Will the Minister specifically address it and its recommendations? The University of Limerick study is not mentioned either. It was a study of the prevalence of zero-hour contracts, if-and-when contracts and the appalling situation in which employees found themselves. It made 14 recommendations, but it is not mentioned. I know that it is difficult and that the Minister did not have time, but it must be addressed and we must have timeframes.

With regard to sustainable development, Deputy Bríd Smith mentioned indigenous industry and I fully support her. It should be the driving force for economic development. There are many opportunities in alternative energies, as she pointed out, and the seaweed industry, on which we are awaiting a report. It could create many sustainable jobs. I was at a conference in Trinity College Dublin recently, at which a farmer businessman from Quilty, County Clare, pointed out that 18 jobs had been created in the production of seaweed products which were keeping people in the local area. The fishing industry has not been mentioned. The quota system has left fishermen without sustainable jobs from County Donegal to County Kerry on the west coast. This issue must be examined. These are simple matters.

If we go back to youth unemployment, which Deputy Broughan has mentioned, it is at 15%. Apprenticeships are vital, and I would like to see a review report on them as to where they are going. To be parochial again, but also to make a general point, I live in Galway, where the city council has seen its staff drastically cut back. There are no summer jobs for young people. If we were seriously interested in young people, we would have summer schemes so that they can remain at work.

Any rise in employment figures is positive but must be seen in the context of emigration figures, which are still appallingly high. Last year alone 35,000 Irish people left this country. The figure for the last five years is, I think, more than 250,000, so any improvement must be seen in this overall context.

Finally, I must mention the Leader programme, which is something about which I would like to come back to the Minister. FORUM Connemara, which has 25 years' experience and expertise on the ground, is finding itself being removed from the programme.

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