Michael Finucane (Fine Gael)

I wish to express my concern regarding potential job losses in the mid-west region, particularly at Procter & Gamble and Thompson Scientific, which is based in Limerick. Only a few years ago there was a major announcement about the opening of Thompson Scientific which was hailed as a firm with great potential for the Limerick area. Many of the employees in Thompson Scientific are software engineers who came from the University of Limerick. Not only has the west-Limerick area had job losses in recent years in food processing but we are losing in a high technology market. In this case the company is moving to India which has millions of graduates in various disciplines.

We need to debate the issues of competitiveness, broadband and high energy costs. We should not be blind to the fact that many large companies have come before the Joint Committee on Communications, Marine and Natural Resources and voiced concerns about energy and other costs here. We should not take those industries for granted. If they find a more attractive marketplace for their business they will drift to those countries. This is a matter of great concern.

It is up to us to tackle those issues with a view to making this a more attractive economy. When announcing potential job losses it is not good enough for a Minister to say a large number of extra jobs have been created. Extra jobs have been created in the service sector and we are grateful to the emigrants for supporting those jobs but at the higher end of the market we are losing jobs.