Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on job creation. Last week, we had a debate on unemployment, which is obviously the biggest issue facing the country at present. I welcome the opportunity to make a few new points and to reiterate others that were made in the last couple of debates. This is a subject we must discuss on a monthly basis at least and if people can suggest new innovative approaches, they should be listened to with an open mind by the Government. I am sure that will be the case.

First, it is important to acknowledge that the latest unemployment figures are a cause of relief, if not celebration, given that when the figures are seasonally adjusted they show there has been a reduction of 2,300 on the live register. That is the most positive news we have had with regard to unemployment for the last couple of years. I hope it represents a stabilisation, but there is a long way to go when one considers that approximately 12.8% of people are unemployed and that 28.4% of those are under 25 years of age, which is the highest rate of youth unemployment in Europe.

The Government has undertaken a number of good initiatives. There was the IDA announcement earlier this week about its focused approach and the prioritisation of gateway cities under the national spatial strategy. I welcome this very much. It is a shame that after the national spatial strategy was launched seven years ago to much fanfare we did not follow that blueprint in a more rigid fashion. Occasionally, there were Government announcements which made reference to the national spatial strategy when it suited but more often than not they avoided mentioning it if, as was the case in many instances, the policies being pursued or the announcements were not necessarily in line with investing in the nine gateway cities and the hubs.

Over the last couple of debates I have had the opportunity to highlight some of the things I have worked on, such as a paper on entrepreneurship education for Ireland. I will not discuss all the proposals highlighted in the paper but Ireland is one of the few countries in the developed world which has not embraced the need to introduce an integrated policy of entrepreneurship education to run from primary school through to third and fourth level education. I hope there will be more progress in that regard. I have spoken to the Secretary General of the Department of Education and Science about it and the Minister of State, Deputy Kelleher, and the other Ministers responsible for enterprise are favourably disposed towards it.

Last week, there was also an opportunity to discuss an integrated labour policy. There are anomalies between the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment with its focus on employment and the Department of Social and Family Affairs and its responsibility for unemployment. We must have a single integrated Department for labour where unemployment is not seen as a social welfare issue but as an employment issue, on which FÁS and employment assistance is focused. There are abuses and we must be cognisant of that, and if it was a Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment rather than social welfare issue, we could be more focused. I have been given two anecdotal examples from sources I believe in my constituency of Sligo-North Leitrim. One is a crèche which interviewed 29 people for three positions. No individuals were prepared to take a full-time job. They preferred to work for three days so they could claim social welfare for the other two as they liked the lifestyle that would result. That is fundamentally incorrect and we should not facilitate it.

There is also the anomaly whereby an adult with an adult dependant on the minimum wage gets approximately €340 per week whereas an adult dependant who is not working but is on social welfare get approximately €10 less than that. I am not arguing for a decrease in the minimum wage or for increasing unemployment assistance but there is an issue in that regard. That has been demonstrated in Sligo today, where people have said they would prefer to work for just three days and claim social welfare for the other two. That is wrong and an abuse; it should not be allowed. Ireland does not have much of a future if we work on that basis. There is also anecdotal evidence of a transport company which put all its employees on a three day week. Now that the company is a little busier very few are prepared to go back to a five day week because, again, they prefer that lifestyle. They can work for three days and claim social welfare for the other two. These are the issues on which we should focus.

I am pleased to be involved in an analysis to be undertaken of the allocation of resources towards entrepreneurship policy in Ireland. This involves Dr. Tom Cooney, who is a research fellow with Dublin Institute of Technology, DIT, Professor Anders Lundström, founder of the Swedish Foundation for Small Business Research, and Professor David Storey, professor of entrepreneurship in the University of Sussex. I was pleased to meet with the Tánaiste and other Ministers last week about the research programme. It will carry out an analysis of all entrepreneurship expenditure across all Government Departments. The results will be known later this year and will assist the Government in targeting expenditure and maximising the outcomes from expenditure in the enterprise area. I welcome this analysis.

I will now turn to retail employment in the Border counties. A very serious situation has emerged in the last number of months, if not years. There are a number of anomalies such as a differential of approximately 30% in the minimum wage, the sterling-euro exchange rate, a difference in VAT rates, although the 0.5% decrease in our VAT rate has improved matters since the last budget, and the fact that people are crossing the Border to shop. I do not and cannot blame people for seeking value for money. However, this is a very serious issue for the six Border counties and must be addressed. I call on the Minister to consider actively the introduction of commercial rates subvention for retail businesses in those counties. That could be done through a fixed percentage decrease in rates by each of the local authorities in those areas, which could be refunded to the local authorities through an increase in their allocation from the local government fund so they are not penalised for supporting retailers. This would be of great benefit to retailers in those areas and ensure that retail employment can continue. In Sligo alone, 2,500 people are connected with employment in the retail sector. However, like shops in all the towns throughout Ireland, many shops are having difficulties and this has been exacerbated in Border counties by the price differentials as a result of the minimum wage, VAT and so forth. Directly subventing commercial rates would be an innovative approach and something tangible the Government could do for retailers in those six Border counties. Indeed, Sligo Borough Council reduced rates by 2.5% for businesses this year.

Another initiative in Sligo, which other counties might have mimicked, is what is called the Fair Dealer campaign. The trade union movement has joined with the chamber of commerce and a number of retailers to focus on where they can reduce prices and directly compete with cross-Border shopping. It is an innovative campaign. In Sligo they have introduced a "Love Sligo" retail card which is distributed to all members of the trade union movement, students in the institute of technology and anybody else who is prepared to take it. It gives discounts in the participating stores. In fairness to the innovation and commitment of those retailers, who are trying to save employment and support enterprise in the area, the Government should be seen to try to match that. Obviously, it cannot reduce the VAT rate for just those six counties or give that type of assistance. We could reimburse the local authorities, through the local government fund, which would give the retailers concerned additional resources to help them further reduce prices and compete with colleagues on a cross-Border basis. As a republican, I am a strong advocate of a united Ireland but until we have a universal VAT rate and minimum wage, we will have these difficulties in the Border counties. Many initiatives have been taken to create employment. Let us ensure we can maintain them in the retailing sector in the Border counties through innovative approaches such as a subvention in respect of commercial rates.