John Carty (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State, my county colleague. He is a regular visitor to this Chamber and is always worth hearing. I also compliment the Tánaiste on her wide-ranging speech. It gave a comprehensive outline of what has been achieved in very difficult circumstances.

I welcome the contributions from Opposition Members. They highlighted certain actions they believe should be taken but they also gave recognition to what has been achieved by the Government in very trying times. The levels of employment and unemployment have been outlined. It is disappointing that unemployment has gone so high but it is impressive that the figures have stabilised and, indeed, are on a downward trend, which is welcome. Hopefully, this trend will continue. I have little doubt that it will, due to the policies being put in place by the Tánaiste and the Government.

I received some material from the IDA which shows that it is still contributing significantly to the economy. It is still recognised as a body that has the trust of many companies. Client companies contribute significantly to the economy and account for €110 billion in exports, or 70% of our total exports. That is welcome. In 2009, a total of 125 direct investments were secured, of which almost 70% were from existing IDA clients. We should not underestimate this as it shows that this country's record of tax incentives and so forth is recognised by these companies. A total of 49% of the investments was from the research and development sector. The number of new companies investing in Ireland for the first time was 11% more than in 2008. That is welcome. That is the aspect we should consider instead of always pointing out the negative things that have happened, which may continue for some time.

FÁS has run some good programmes and is doing quite a lot of work but because of recent events in FÁS it might now want to begin a new period of regulation and implementation of rules, some of which may be too strict. I have raised with the Minister here on a number of occasions the issue of young men and women doing apprenticeships with companies that have now folded. They were in the final phase of getting their papers in order but they could not complete that process. If they had continued for another 20 weeks between attending college and working with the company they would have that piece of paper which would entitle them to do that. I ask the Minister to contact FÁS and get something done about cases like that. He should apply the new rules for young people coming into the process but it is unfair to the young people who have done three and a half years of a four year course only to find that the parent company they were with has folded and they cannot do the last phase of their work. I know the Minister will take that in hand and try to get the matter rectified.

Much has been said earlier about energy costs and a reduction in rates, both of which have taken place to a substantial degree in the past year. The price of gas and electricity has come down, which should help the people providing employment. There has been a reduction in rates also. In my county there was a 2% reduction, which appears to be happening throughout the country. It is all very well to say there has been a cut in the payment to county councils or local authorities but we must also remember that the cost of everything has come down. Value for money is the new phrase. What happened in the boom years cannot continue. We now must get value for money and there are opportunities for that, whether in terms of roads projects or whatever. Costs have come down and we must factor that in and not always say that money is not coming from central Government.

An aspect of life in the west and other parts of Ireland concerns small retailers. There is much talk about the minimum wage. I would not like to see a cut in the minimum wage. There should not be a thought of doing that. I watched a television programme during the week which showed people who had been working for up to 20 years in retail companies who were still on the minimum wage. If there was no minimum wage one wonders what they would be earning. I do not want to hear any more talk about reducing the minimum wage.

I want to refer to small businesses in local towns. When some young people leave school they go straight into the retail sector, whether hardware shops, clothes shops or whatever. They work in those businesses for a number of years. A phrase often used in my part of the country - I do not know if it is used in other areas - is that one is never at a shop boy's funeral. When they were good they always ended up buying their own business in another town.

There is a way of getting around this problem, which I ask the Minister to examine, namely, that these people would take up an apprenticeship at €5 or €5.50 for the first year, which would be increased in the second year and they would then be on the minimum wage by the third year. That would create a good deal of employment for those young people while giving them the experience they need. I welcome the Minister of State to the House and ask him to consider those suggestions.