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

I thank the Deputies for their questions. I join Deputy Bacik in welcoming the decision today to grant the Land Development Agency planning permission to build another 800 homes in Dundrum in south Dublin. This will be in addition to those under construction already by the LDA not too far away in Shanganagh. It will include a mix of social and affordable-for-purchase homes. As I do not know the answer to the Deputy's question on the Poolbeg site, I will have to come back to her when I have the facts.

Deputy Barry raised an industrial relations dispute. I am not aware of the details of the issue. We do not have any mechanism to prevent companies from offshoring and moving jobs to other jurisdictions. We benefit from this as well. Many companies that are not Irish bring their jobs to Ireland and we need to bear this in mind. All those losing their jobs are entitled to proper information and consultation. This should happen. They are entitled to a redundancy package. The Government can step in and offer help with job searches, education, training and other opportunities to help people to go back to education or set up a business. All of these things will be made available.

With regard to upskilling I agree with Deputy McDonald that Springboard works extremely well. We will increase the amount we invest in upskilling and lifelong learning in the period ahead. When it comes to the National Training Fund, it is a good idea to build up a substantial surplus in it. There will come a time when unemployment is not as low as it is now and we will need a surplus in the National Training Fund to retrain people. We will need a surplus in the Social Insurance Fund to cover increased jobseeker costs.

My concern when I listen to Deputy McDonald and Sinn Féin is that any time they see a surplus, they want to spend it all now. What happens in five or ten years' time if we face, for some reason or another, high levels of unemployment? Who will pay for the reskilling? Who will pay the jobseeker and welfare supports?

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