Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish the Minister, Deputy Mary Mitchell O'Connor, and the Minister of State, Deputy Pat Breen, every success in their respective briefs. I welcome the opportunity to speak on this topic in light of the new unemployment rate published this week, of 7.8%, which is the lowest since October 2008. Although the outgoing Government did not do everything right and mistakes were made, the Action Plan for Jobs was a very positive initiative and has been a huge contributor to the growing economy that we are now experiencing.

I will critically evaluate the road we travelled during the past five years. In 2010, Government spending was running 50% ahead of income, our unemployment rate was 15% and 300,000 jobs had leaked from the economy. The then Government's priority was initially to create 100,000 jobs. It exceeded expectations, creating 135,000 jobs. There was a reduction in part-time working, meaning all jobs created were full-time jobs and 95% of jobs were not on schemes. Additional jobs are estimated to be putting €13 billion back into the Exchequer and €6 billion back into communities.

We constantly hear, including in the Chamber, that Ireland is benefiting from international factors. Let us review this. A review of EUROSTAT data for our EU counterparts shows unemployment rates in Greece of 26.5%; Spain, 22%; Portugal, 14%; and Italy, 13%. This clearly shows the policies pursued by the Government are working. We still have a long road to travel and we now need to prioritise our rural areas and provincial towns. I welcome the strategic investment fund supporting 18,000 jobs, of which 60% are outside of Dublin. The report on this was issued today. In my constituency, Longford-Westmeath, employment levels have been lagging behind the national average. However, although 1,594 jobs in Industrial Development Agency, IDA, and Enterprise Ireland companies were lost from 2008 to 2010, in just three years, we have won back 1,145. Major progress has been made.

I have suggestions which will support sustainable employment in the midlands region and I encourage a co-ordinated approach across all Departments. We await the deliberations of An Bord Pleanála on Center Parcs, a €250 million project at Newcastle Wood, Ballymahon. Some 750 jobs will be created during the construction stage with a capacity to create 1,000 permanent jobs when the business is up and running. Center Parcs has the capacity to increase our GDP by €32 million, €1 billion over the next 20 years. However, we need to plan to encourage local sustainable employment now. We must run courses and provide training for Center Parcs to ensure maximum benefit by way of local sustainable jobs. Athlone IT and the enterprise and training boards must urgently introduce and prioritise tailor-made courses to support the project. We must focus on skills development to support the project with a start date of next September. A year later will be too late.

We must focus on our strengths in rural areas and invest in sustainable and community-friendly renewable energy projects. We must promote biomass production as an alternative energy production. We must advance projects such as anaerobic digestion plants and work on getting the renewable heat incentive finalised to ensure such projects are sustainable.

I welcome the review of JobBridge under the commitment given in Pathways to Work. Two out of three participants were still in employment five months after completing the scheme. There are problems in this area, for example, 400 HSE staff could be on internships at any given time. The core principal of any internship is that career progression routes are clearly identified and set out. However, under the recruitment moratorium there was no opportunity to issue contracts on completion of internships and people on schemes were replaced by other participants. This must be amended in the review and I encourage cross-party thinking on it.

The IDA needs to up its game regarding marketing the individual regions. There is a 70 acre fully serviced IDA site in Mullingar and we must attract sustainable employment into the site to ensure a balanced, sustainable employment. A well-established company, Patterson Pump Ireland, has committed to creating an additional 32 jobs on the site and there have been good news stories in the region. The Government has a plan in place to increase and build on the progress made and with greater resources than we had in 2011, we should be in a position to make real progress and reach full employment if given the chance.

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