David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I raised this issue in response to the Central Statistics Office quarterly household survey figures on unemployment, which show the unemployment rate in the south east is at 12.5%, compared with a rate of 8.4% nationally. The Minister may be aware that in 2013, as a Senator and a member of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, I was a rapporteur for a report called the South East Economic Development Strategy. I worked with the Minister of State, Deputy English, who has just left the Chamber and who was the Chairman of the joint committee at the time. It was an all-party report that made a number of key recommendations that must be acted upon if the south-east region is to be given the tools and ability to create the jobs it can create.

However, I also wish to draw the Minister's attention to a report published in June 2016 by a number of academics in Waterford Institute of Technology called the South East Economic Monitor. It states the south east has experienced improved consumer and business sentiment, which the authors welcome, but goes on to state that "when compared to national economic performance, and peer regions in Ireland, the data illustrates how the South East’s economy continues to be characterised by persistently high levels of unemployment, deprivation and ... lower job quality". It then refers to two datapoints which explain why this might be the case, namely, low educational attainment and low higher education capacity within the region, as well as the lack of new IDA-supported jobs over the past 25 years of a kind that have built greater capacity in other regions. This may be one reason they are performing better at present. The report continues by stating that in Waterford and the south east, the recession really kicked in in 2002 and was exacerbated by the national recession, which hit in 2007. The key figures in that report are similar to the type of issues I encountered when I did my work in 2012, during which time I engaged in many meetings right across the south-east region with stakeholders. These issues include 14 years of stagnation, 7,260 missing higher education places, 6,312 missing IDA-supported jobs in the south east, had it been given the same level of input from the IDA as were other regions, as well as low-quality jobs that are replacing high-quality jobs which were lost. All these pointers demonstrate real structural problems in the economy of the south east. Consequently, a number of measures are necessary, the first of which is the enterprise agencies tasked with creating jobs across the State must take a more regional approach. This does not appear to be the case in the south east. While there have been some improvements in recent years, a great deal more work must be done. Consequently, the IDA and Enterprise Ireland must step up to the plate for the south east. Figures and facts do not lie and the region simply is not getting enough of those jobs to support real economic improvement.

A joined-up strategy also is required and I had a meeting recently with the president of Waterford Institute of Technology, who spoke of the lack of a joined-up approach between the Government's regional job strategy and the institute's capital investment needs, such as the need for an engineering block and increased capacity in the laboratories to make sure it can meet the needs in this respect. As the Minister is aware, the university is a critical issue.

Finally, I received an answer to a parliamentary question to the Minister, Deputy Ross, in respect of the airport. One promise made as part of the programme for Government was an extension to the runway at the airport, which has been sold by a number of local Deputies who state they had it included in the aforementioned programme. However, in response to the parliamentary question, the Minister stated:

Development projects at the airports which are designed to expand capacity are a commercial matter for the airports themselves. In the case of the proposed runway extension at Waterford, I understand that the airport authorities are pursuing local interests for funding in relation to that project.

On reading that response, it does not seem to me as though millions of euro are being made available to Waterford Airport. The Minister might be able to respond to some of those issues, if possible, but the general issue is the high levels of unemployment.

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