Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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I welcome the opportunity to raise this important matter. I refer to the threatened loss of 30 jobs at the Simpson Strongtie manufacturing plant in Killorglin, County Kerry. I understand the company informed IDA Ireland recently that it had decided to exit the European safety bolt market. It subsequently announced its plans to sell its European business interests which include the facility in Killorglin. If a new buyer is not lined up by the end of the year, the 30 jobs at that facility will be lost. The plant was first established by Liebig in 1970, before being bought by its current owners in 2008. As a result of the global downturn in the construction industry, workers at the facility have been on a three-day week for much of last three years. Unfortunately, it seems that the end will come at the end of this year if something is not done. I am calling for action to be taken to make sure every effort is made to try to find a new buyer for the plant, preferably a buyer that would maintain the 30 jobs in question.

This situation is unfolding in the middle of the country's substantial jobs crisis. At the end of August there were almost 16,000 people on the live register in County Kerry. In a small town like Killorglin, the loss of 30 jobs would have a significant impact on the individuals in question, their families, the local community and the local economy. Everybody would feel the loss. Given that those who have seasonal jobs in the tourism sector were in employment in August, it is clear that the number unemployed in the county will increase in the coming months. I remind the House that the live register figures do not take account of the many young people who have been forced to leave the shores of County Kerry in search of work in last few years. There is a massive problem in the county. Companies such as Aetna which operated a call centre in Castleisland and Amman Industries which was based in Tralee have closed their local facilities in recent years. There has been a virtual collapse in the construction industry in County Kerry. I have been reliably informed by Kerry Country Council that the number of new applications for planning permission will be well under 1,000 this year. This is remarkable considering that the equivalent number was as high as 5,000 or 6,000 six or seven years ago. That is a fair economic indicator.

I ask the Minister to liaise with his colleague in the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation to ensure everything possible is done to save these jobs. If they are lost, it will be a massive blow to the mid-Kerry area.

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. The facility in question which manufactures safety and anchor bolts used in the construction industry has been in operation in Killorglin since establishment by Liebig in 1970. In 2008 the business was acquired by Simpson Manufacturing, a California-based manufacturer of metal fixings and hangers used in the construction of wooden frame housing. As a result of the construction downturn in the United States and Europe, Simpson Manufacturing has decided to consolidate its business units and concentrate on the market for traditional products and markets in the timber frame sector. As the Deputy is acutely aware, the construction downturn has meant that the Killorglin facility has been on a three-day week for much of the past three years. At a meeting with the management of Simpson Strongtie on 13 September, IDA Ireland was informed that the US-based parent company had decided to exit the safety bolt market in Europe. The company plans to sell as a going concern its European business interests in this sector, which include the Simpson Strongtie manufacturing plant in Killorglin and a sales, research and development facility in Germany. Management personnel have confirmed that the plant will close by the end of the year, with the loss of 30 jobs, if a sale is not successfully concluded by then. Obviously, this decision is very unsettling for the employees and their families. I know that IDA Ireland will continue to be in contact with the company in the next few months with a view to ensuring the best possible outcome for the Killorglin site and its employees. Staff at the company have been informed of the decision to sell the operation and the consequences if the planned sale is not successful. Management will now begin a formal process of consultation with staff and unions.

On the wider issue, job creation is central to our economic recovery. The programme for Government has job creation at its core. Obviously, the Government does not create jobs; entrepreneurs and successful businesses do. However, the Government has a key role to play in providing an environment in which businesses can start, expand and create jobs.

In the context of that role, the Government implemented a jobs initiative aimed at rebuilding confidence in the economy, providing opportunities for re-skilling for those who had lost their jobs and assisting people to get back to work. Building on the jobs initiative, the action plan for jobs, which was launched earlier this year, aims to transform the operating environment for business in order to support enterprise growth and job creation. The Government will achieve this objective by systematically removing obstacles to competitiveness, putting downward pressure on business costs, promoting innovation and trade, supporting new and existing businesses to develop and expand and deepening the impact of foreign direct investment in Ireland. The Government has also identified in the action plan a number of key sectors where Ireland can gain competitive advantage in global markets.

A major element of the Government's response to tackling unemployment is the Pathways to Work initiative, the aim of which is help ensure that as many of those jobs as possible are filled by people from the live register. The role of the Department is to ensure we have the right policies in place that will support and grow our enterprise base in order to facilitate both job creation and job retention. The programmes supported by the Department and its agencies will be critical in achieving economic growth and I know that the agencies - Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland and the county enterprise boards - will continue to promote Killorglin and the surrounding area for industrial projects and enterprise development. These activities will, in turn, create and protect existing jobs in the area.

I am convinced that the actions we are taking across Government through this process will result in improvements to the operating environment for business and bring about a reduction in the numbers on the live register.

Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister for his response. I point out that we have some success stories in Kerry, namely, Liebherr, which is a crane manufacturing facility in Killarney and a huge employer in Kerry, and Fexco, which is a fantastic success story, as is the Kerry Group. We also have opportunities to expand our tourism industry, particularly into the winter months. In addition, the Shannon LNG project would provide a huge number of jobs if it actually got the go-ahead. I ask again that this project get every possible support from Government to ensure it becomes a reality. I know my colleague, Councillor Jim Finucane, has been a huge advocate of this project on Kerry County Council. I would like to see every effort made in this regard.

There is a huge plant in Killarney sitting empty, the old Pretty Polly plant, in which there is the potential to create jobs. I know Killarney Town Council is working on this and I ask that the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation would liaise with the town council to see what can be done in this regard. It would be a good idea if both the Minister, Deputy Bruton, and the Minister of State, Deputy Perry, visited Kerry to see the good, the bad and the opportunities. They should see the old plants such as the Aetna plant and the Amann plant which have been closed, as well as those which are working well such as Liebherr and Fexco, and also see the potential of the Shannon LNG project and the Pretty Polly plant. That would certainly be a good start and I would like to see it happen.

I take this opportunity to call for a debate in this Chamber before the budget where Deputies from all sides of the House would be given an opportunity to give their proposals and ideas on job creation throughout the country. We need to do more than what is being done at present, with 450,000 people on the live register and so many thousands more abroad who want to come home. Every idea, no matter how ridiculous it may sound in the beginning, needs to be considered in the context of the forthcoming budget to try to bring those people who are abroad home and to try give those who are on the live register at present some hope and an opportunity to reach their full potential in this country.

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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It is important to remember that Ireland continues to be competitive in attracting new investment. Over 1,000 multinational corporations have chosen Ireland as their strategic European base. Multinationals currently employ 146,000 people directly and many more indirectly. In spite of the latest CSO figures, the positive impact of the Government's policies on job creation are beginning to show. The year 2011 saw a net increase of 6,000 jobs in IDA-supported companies and a number of major foreign direct investments have been announced so far this year. IDA Ireland has announced the creation of over 1,000 jobs this month alone, including the expansions of the relatively new EA Games facility in Galway and Northern Trust's financial services operation in Limerick.

The immediate outlook for Ireland's foreign direct investment portfolio is positive, with a strong short-term pipeline in place. IDA Ireland is confident of securing further investments, particularly in life sciences, which will include a number of capital intensive investments involving significant construction projects. Enterprise Ireland companies achieved €15.2 billion in exports last year, the highest level ever, and employment in the agency's client companies stabilised in 2011 after 30,000 job losses in the period 2007 to 2010. In 2011, jobs in exporting companies started to grow again for the first time after three years of contraction and the Government is determined to build on this by improving supports like the establishment of a new potential exporters division in that agency. Employment in the tourism sector also increased by 6,300 in the period June 2011 to June 2012, supported in particular by the measures taken in the jobs initiative which lowered VAT rates and halved employer's PRSI on earnings up to €356 per week.

The Government will continue to deliver on its commitments in the action plan for jobs, which will be an annual process setting out clear targets to be delivered each year to support job creation. We hold fast to our parallel ambitions to make Ireland the best small country in the world to do business and to create the environment where the number of people at work will reach 2 million by 2020.

I know my colleague, the Minister, Deputy Richard Bruton, is committed to job creation and I will certainly pass on the invitation to visit Kerry to him and to the Minister of State, Deputy Perry. In regard to Shannon LNG, I can assure the Deputy that the Minister, Deputy Deenihan, has brought up this issue on numerous occasions at Cabinet.