Margaret Cox (Fianna Fail)

I am delighted to have an opportunity to contribute to the debate. It is funny how times change. I did a course in industrial relations in the National Institute of Higher Education, Limerick, in the 1980s and I recall writing a project on whether there would be another agreement and what it would be called. I do not recollect what I thought it would be called but I predicted there would be another agreement. Nobody at the time, including the gurus in the Departments of Finance and Industry and Commerce, failed to predict the success of the agreements and the difference they made to the economy and Ireland's position in the global economy. The history of the agreements needs to be borne in mind.

I pursued a part-time course in Limerick and worked full-time for a recruitment agency in Galway, which paid my tuition fees. There was significant unemployment in the State and the agency more or less ran a social service for the unemployed. I recall letters landing on my desk from numerous public representatives asking for help for various individuals who came from great families. There were no jobs.

Digital had a plant in Galway and used a temporary workforce. It was great when people got a three-month temporary contract to work for the company because they experienced a manufacturing environment for the first time. They were able to include that experience in their CVs and seek alternative work if their contracts were not renewed for another three months. The opportunity to work at the coal face of a multinational organisation made a difference to people in the west.