Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate as it is important that we have statements on a crucial issue such as sustainable employment. I welcome the opportunity to wish well to both the Minister, Deputy Mitchell O'Connor, and the Minister of State, Deputy Breen, in their new roles.

I was heartened by the Minister's speech last week in Longford where she stated that the regions will not be forgotten. Whether we like it or not, they were forgotten by the last Administration and that has to be acknowledged. Sometimes I am disappointed and infuriated by what I hear. No Government creates jobs. Entrepreneurs and captains of industry create them. The men and women who take the risk, who invest their own money and who take the chances are the ones who create them. No Government does. What a Government can do, however, is create an environment which will support job creation.

As a country, we are overly bureaucratic. We have not done enough to ensure that there is available credit for the captains of industry. When a person looks to start a business at present, the first burden we impose on him or her is rates from the local authority, which is a disincentive. Then we start looking at charging them commercial rates which take no account of a person's ability to pay. Our energy costs are among the highest in Europe despite the fact that these costs are falling. While it is welcome that there has been improvement in terms of job creation, the 300,000 people who are unemployed today can take little comfort from that. We have seen in the first quarter of this year where the number of long-term unemployed has increased to over 100,000. We need to focus on how we can address that.

The Minister's speech in Longford last week in terms of the regions was welcome because over the past five years of the previous Government, only 2.3% of the IDA Ireland visits were in the midlands. My constituency colleague rightly identified Marlinstown IDA park in Mullingar. It received no visits over that period of time. The business park was constructed and funded during the last time Fianna Fáil was in government and Patterson Pump Ireland is the only factory in it. I am glad to say I played a leading role. At the time I had to argue with IDA Ireland to let that company into the park because I suppose it was not the authority's preferred business for it. Having got agreement to sell a site there, the first thing that happened was that company was laboured with significant levies and charges by Westmeath County Council. This was not the fault of the local authority as it was merely implementing national policy. It is something we must look at if we are to support indigenous businesses.

The Minister visited Longford last week. It was a welcome development to see a family business that started from nothing create 50 new jobs, but we, as a State, are giving that business minimal supports. We are only putting in a fraction of the capital investment in it. That is not fair, it is not right and it is something the Department needs to address. Indigenous Irish business, when making significant investment and creating numerous jobs, should be supported.

I also wish to raise an issue regarding community groups that come together. We have a community group in Athlone, of which my colleague will be aware, called Opportunity in a Million where a number of professionals came together. They offer up their services free of charge from a mentoring point of view. They have gathered sponsorship from local companies so that they can pass it out to young people who wish to start up a business and in the past two years they have supported the creation of 77 jobs. It may not seem a lot in the general scheme of things, but it is a lot in the town of Athlone. Last year, they wrote to 12 Departments and Government agencies seeking support and not one of those supported them. That is not right and again, it is not fair. I would like to elaborate but I do not want to encroach on my colleague's time. It is an issue I will send over to the Department as we should look at supporting it in the future.

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