Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for the opportunity to speak in this urgent debate on the jobs crisis on the northside of Dublin. I raise this issue on behalf of the people of Coolock, Edenmore, Whitehall, Marino, Fairview, Beaumont, Artane, Raheny, Killester and Clontarf.

There are now 400,000 people unemployed, thousands of whom live on the northside of Dublin. I stand up for them tonight to put their case to the Minister. In recent weeks, there have been great debates about banking and pensions. Tonight, I put the question: "Who is talking about the unemployed and those losing their jobs?" This is why we need a jobs strategy now. We also need new and radical ideas to develop that strategy. I accept that €30 million was made available in support of companies on the northside of Dublin, especially in my area of Dublin North-Central, and I was part of pushing that agenda. However, we must do a great deal more. We need new ideas and this is why I warmly welcome the www.thinkirish.ie campaign to create 20,000 new jobs. This campaign is excellent. It is a new consumer campaign and a crusade which is going from strength to strength. I call on everyone in the Oireachtas to lend their support to help make it stronger. The thinkirish.ie initiative is a not-for-profit, grassroots initiative that encourages Irish households to switch €20 of their weekly household spend to Irish-made goods and services in an effort to create 20,000 new jobs.

The organisation was not established by corporate Ireland or any industry or interest group, but by a group of concerned citizens who wish to see the economy back on track. It is an example of real people-power at work and it is beginning to gain traction with ordinary people the length and breadth of the country. Ultimately, we wish to see stronger indigenous industry generate more jobs and take people off the dole queues. Success in the domestic market is critical for all these companies if they are to expand and take on the risks associated with entering export markets. Their success is intrinsically linked to the support they receive from Irish consumers. This is why I wish to stimulate and prompt debate on the issue and tonight's debate is part of this process.

A key part of the campaign is the recent launch of Ireland's first and only comprehensive on-line directory of Irish-made and Irish-grown products. Consumers may access independent information on goods with a genuine Irish provenance. While recognising that official Government aid for the campaign may be difficult to reconcile with EU competition law, I believe we are uniquely placed to assist in generating additional momentum behind the campaign. I raise the issue because I believe it is very important that all Members get behind the campaign and I call on everyone to support those involved and to make people aware of it. Perhaps politicians could include details of the campaign in their local newsletter or e-mail details to constituents. We should also encourage local producers and manufacturers to list their businesses in the directory. Product listings are provided free of charge and offer a superb promotional opportunity for local businesses. I urge Members to champion the cause with people they believe may help with their campaign in whatever capacity is appropriate. This is a bootstrap initiative with a great need for additional resources. Everyone involved in the campaign would welcome assistance, especially by the Minister, in the campaign to create more jobs.

I urge the Minister to support sensible plans to create jobs on the northside of Dublin. I urge all politicians to stop bickering over small things and to focus on employment. If we wish to get out of this economic mess, we need jobs and investment to assist in dealing with the national debt. Management means doing things right. Leadership means doing the right things. I urge the Minister to act now on the jobs crisis on the northside of Dublin.

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I am very pleased to reply to this debate because I understand the sincerity with which Deputy McGrath addresses this issue. I also know something of the crisis in this area because, as Deputy McGrath will recall, I took some personal criticism when I designated Ballymun as the place to receive 500 jobs from IKEA some years ago. As usual, the prophets of doom suggested the country would grind to a halt. However, local people are working there now. I commend Deputy McGrath for his personal contribution to that fight and to other fights on behalf of constituents.

The Deputy will be aware that the live register is not designed to measure unemployment. It includes part-time, seasonal and casual workers entitled to unemployment benefit. It collects data from a wide range of sources. In the past year the live register has increased by 18% in north Dublin, in line with the overall increase for County Dublin, which is quite shocking at 19%, a point seldom adverted to in debates. The highest annual increases in the local social welfare offices were recorded in the Navan Road, Finglas and Coolock offices, areas to which the Deputy referred.

For the purpose of promoting investment and jobs in Dublin, the enterprise development agencies do not distinguish between individual postal districts. According to the latest figures available, there were 1,957 Enterprise Ireland-supported companies in Dublin city, employing 5,036 people. In 2009 and to date in 2010, almost €37 million has been paid out to Enterprise Ireland client companies in the Dublin city area.

In terms of foreign direct investment, Dublin has been something of a success story with a critical mass of population, a skills pool, educational infrastructure, international access connections, existing business activity across all sectors and extensive property solutions for future activity. The latest figures show that in 2009, some 482 IDA-supported companies employ 47,726 people. Deputy McGrath might make the point, and if he did I would probably agree with him, that one of the things he is talking about is people with lesser skills and the need to look after such people.

Traditionally, Dublin has been a centre for manufacturing industry for foreign direct investment but in recent years there has been a shift away from manufacturing, due to cost competitiveness, to more knowledge-based, value-added projects in fund management, e-commerce, software and so on. Recent job announcements in the north Dublin area include the establishment of IBM's first smarter cities technology centre, which is expected to create 200 new jobs and an announcement by eBay in March that it expects to create 150 new jobs at its European centre of excellence in Blanchardstown. Deputy McGrath laid a specific emphasis on the need to create a local focus, a point on which I agree.

The northside of Dublin is also served by the Dublin City Enterprise Board and the Fingal County Enterprise Board. As part of the 35 city enterprise board network, these boards have an excellent track record in tapping into local entrepreneurial potential. Increasingly, their focus has been on the development of sustainable growth-orientated local enterprise which can deliver high quality job creation without displacement or deadweight. The current parameters within which the enterprise boards operate enable them to deliver valuable assistance to business start-ups with good growth and employment potential. Through the provision of financial and non-financial support, the boards have assisted many micro-enterprises to develop their growth and export potential as well as bringing them to a stage at which they have sufficient mass to access the services of Enterprise Ireland. More than 30,726 jobs were created in community enterprise boards between 1993 to end 2009. Within these totals to date, Dublin City Enterprise Board and Fingal Enterprise Board have assisted the micro-enterprise sector with the creation of 2,923 jobs.

Through its network of training centres and its services to business unit, FÁS works closely with the enterprise boards. It is providing many support services in north Dublin. In particular, FÁS employment services, Dublin north, has responded to collective redundancies in many organisations, including SR Technics, Cadbury Ireland and IBM. In the case of SR Technics, FÁS employment services interviewed in excess of 800 staff on-site.

The Government submitted a provisional application to the European Commission in October 2009 for co-financing support from the European globalisation fund towards the cost of a personalised package of retraining, upskilling, entrepreneurial supports and educational opportunities for the workers made redundant from SR Technics. I assure the Deputy that the State agencies promote Dublin as an attractive location for employment and investment opportunities and continue to make their full range of employment, training and guidance services available. I will conclude by adding to a point that was well made by Deputy McGrath. If Deputies in the Dublin area, in particular, were to focus in their newsletters on initiatives like those he mentioned, nothing but good would come from it.