Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies. This is an interesting debate, and one that we should give more time to.

I echo Deputy Durkan's comments. It is only 20 years - it is not that long ago - since there were 3.5 million in the country and 1 million people at work. We now have 5.1 million or 5.2 million people in the country - a 50% increase in population in 20 years or so - and 2.3 million or 2.4 million people at work, a more than doubling of the number of people at work in Ireland. That is extraordinary. With that there are other consequences, such as a shortage of housing and significant strains on the infrastructure, but it is good that as a country our population is rising, people want to come to live here, our birth rate is still healthy and there are more people at work than ever before.

Going back to the Luddites, there were people predicting that automation would eliminate employment. That is not my view at all. We are offering work permits to a great many people to come here to work on very low wages in jobs that can be automated and we need to think about that and the logic behind it.

I take the point Deputy Ó Cuív made. We have looked at all these issues around workforce needs and demands in sections and silos and maybe we need to do something more in the round. The point the Deputy made in that regard is a good one and I will take it into consideration.

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