John Paul Phelan (Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister of State for his comments on my proposals. No copy of his speech was circulated, which is unusual. The sentiments expressed in the Government amendment are not very different from those expressed by Fine Gael in the original motion. The Minister of State spoke about how the Government's endeavours are not aimed at any particular sector or group within the economy. We are talking about the 800,000 people who work in small and medium-sized enterprises. That is more than half of private sector jobs. The Government should be focusing on that area because those jobs are in every parish.

Successive Governments, including those led by my own party, have focused on attracting large industries from overseas to provide huge numbers of jobs. There was a good announcement in Ballina in that regard this week. If we are to affect real communities everywhere in the country, however, the SME sector is the one that deals with real people. I have listened to comments made here and in the other House. We are talking about the local shop or pub or the local carpenter who has a few people working for him. The Government should be focusing on that group.

The Minister of State and speakers in the Dáil referred to John Trethowan's comment that the worst is over. I wish we had a euro for every person who said the worst is over.