Donie Cassidy (Fianna Fail)

Senators Fitzgerald, O'Toole, Alex White, Walsh, Buttimer, Cummins, Ormonde and Mooney expressed serious concern about the challenges facing the Government in job creation. I join Senators in wishing the Taoiseach well. As Senators Mooney and Hanafin said, the Government's top priority is job creation and the Taoiseach is doing everything he can. The new Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation has attended the House to outline the current position. I wish them well in what they are trying to achieve. I also join Senator Hanafin in welcoming the announcement by Tesco of 750 new jobs.

Senator Coghlan asked about the Dublin mayor Bill. The up-to-date position is that the Bill is at an advanced stage and will be published in the late summer or early autumn.

Senators Fitzgerald, Coghlan, Mullen, Walsh and Hanafin commented on the announcement yesterday by the Minister for Finance that €6 billion would be invested in SMEs in the next two years. This is the start of getting cash flowing again in the private sector. I wholeheartedly welcome the Minister's announcement. I am surprised there was little mention by Members of this significant press conference yesterday. The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation and the Minister for Finance told the people how rigid they will be in monitoring the distribution of this €6 billion per year over the next two years.

On the ESRI report, it is important we have these reports from time to time. I look forward to the announcement to be made by the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív, on training and upskilling and agree with that aspect of the report. However, I remind Members of previous ESRI reports and urge them to recall those of early 2007 when all the party manifestos were being fine tuned and of how out of touch it was in its projections then. Perhaps it is also out of touch in certain areas with this latest report. We welcome the hard work being done by the ESRI, its expertise and its projections. I fully agree with its recommendations on training, but point out that as far as our finances are concerned, the most important factor currently is the international and global market and how it views us. The order of the day for us must be to do whatever must be done to ensure we hold the confidence of the international market.

Senator Walsh welcomed RTE's excellent and outstanding programme last night on the Dublin bombings. I agree with his sentiments on that. Senator Buttimer spoke about the appointment of board members. As we all know, appointments to boards are made by the Government, on the recommendation, in most cases, of Ministers. I have no difficulty in allowing a debate on aviation.