David Cullinane (Sinn Fein)

I welcome the Minister. I join Senator Cummins in supporting the 575 people in Waterford who have lost their jobs in TalkTalk. I attended a meeting with the Minister earlier this week when we had a discussion with public representatives on ways to support the workers, Waterford city and the south-east region. I also express my disdain for the way in which the company treated the workers. I do not believe the Government was responsible for the job losses. I will give an example to show how badly the company treated its staff. It was negotiating with them on improvements in pay and bonuses which were to be introduced in October in full knowledge that they were to be let go at that time. This is an example of the contempt the company had for the workers. It is absolutely shocking.

There was much concern about the 30 days notice given to the employees. That is the minimum requirement. I ask the Minister to examine this issue with a view to putting new legislation in place to compel companies to give 60 or 90 days notice in order that a similar situation does not arise. We must not simply cry crocodile tears about the workers at TalkTalk. We must ensure this does not happen again.

Senator Cummins has spoken very well about the jobs that have been lost in Waterford and the south east during the last ten years. The south east has taken very heavy hits and lost many jobs. I link this issue with innovation. Waterford and the south east are a perfect example of an area that was overly dependent on foreign direct investment and manufacturing. This has meant we have not had a sufficient level of interest in innovation and entrepreneurship which has left the region exposed. The loss of jobs in manufacturing has left a huge vacuum and a crisis, with too many people out of work.

I ask the Minister to consider what can we do. We all accept that there is a difficulty in supporting small and medium enterprises in the export sector. We all know that we need to move away from dependence on foreign direct investment, that for whatever reason the south east is not getting its fair share of employment, and that companies are not locating there. It is interesting to note that when the Minister went to Waterford, he spoke about the need for a strengths and weaknesses analysis of why this was happening and for agencies to come up with proposals to counter some of these problems. A similar problem arose in 2001. Senator Cummins spoke about Strategy Waterford. At the time the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Ms Mary Harney, also spoke about the need for a strengths and weaknesses analysis and to direct enterprise agencies to examine the reasons companies were not locating in Waterford, yet we are here ten years on and the problem is worse for the people of Waterford. We need to foster a culture of innovation in order that people can create the jobs that they want to create. I will provide a few examples in this regard.

The digital media hub in Dublin is very good. I chair a working group of the city development board in Waterford, the "Doing it for yourself" working group. It was set up by the city manager to look at bringing people together such as entrepreneurs, those involved in the third and fourth level sector as well as the community sector to see what jobs we could create, the things we could do for ourselves and bring to an end the dependence on the Government. One of the things we looked at was the need for a digital hub in Waterford to bring together people who have skills in gaming, animation, programming, design and so on. They would have a place to work in together to sow the seeds of future employment. These are the innovative proposals needed. Every time something like this comes up, the issue of finance and support from the enterprise agencies presents a problem. The Government could improve the position by bringing some of the enterprise agencies within the remit of local government. I know that this is something the Minister is examining. However, if we look at city enterprise boards and the enterprise departments of many local authorities, they simply do not have the power or the teeth to do enough. I have always said local people are best placed to solve the problems.

We have had numerous discussions in Waterford in the last few years about how we can kick-start the local economy, how we can change things and how we can get people back to work. We have suffered job losses at Waterford Crystal, Bausch & Lomb, GlaxoSmithKline and all the other companies mentioned by Senator Cummins. Many spoke about the dependence on manufacturing which meant that people went from secondary school into these jobs. This meant that the drive for entrepreneurship was absent. That is possibly one of the reasons we do not have such skills in Waterford and this kind of opportunity is not available. One of the ways we can deal with this is to have proper enterprise modules in secondary education. We have to foster among young people the need to be creative, to think outside the box, to know that they can make it, that they can establish businesses and receive support. The Government should support young people especially and give them opportunities, the tools and the power they need to create the jobs of tomorrow.

I spoke about graduates. We have a wonderful facility in Waterford, the Waterford Institute of Technology. We also have the TSSG which does huge amounts of work. We have people coming out of it who are experts in programming, animation, gaming and so on. However, do they have the entrepreneurial skills required? Do they have the business skills needed to be able to set up businesses? Are there links between graduates and business people? Are we marrying all of this to make sure that can create the indigenous industries that we want to create? Instead, in recent years, many of those talented people have moved into the multinationals and there has been an internal brain drain. What we need to do is to empower many of the peoplej concerned to create the jobs of tomorrow.

I cannot let the Minister go without mentioning the need for a university in Waterford. This issue was also raised by a previous speaker. We cannot accept second tier status or a name change. We need Waterford and the south-east region to be in the top tier of third and fourth level education. A technological university, which would simply involve a name change, would not be enough to deal with the disadvantage from which Waterford and the south-east region have suffered for far too long. What does Waterford and the south-east region have to do to get what we deserve as of right, a university for the people and the business community to ensure there will be a level playing field? What are the criteria to be used? What does Waterford Institute of Technology need to do to become a university? No one is telling us. We are talking about a process, at which experts are looking. Will somebody, please, tell us what more we can do? Huge investment has been made in Waterford Institute of Technology, yet, for some reason, political or otherwise, the required decisions are not being made. The people of Waterford and the south-east region will not rest until they get what they deserve, a university for the south east. I call on the Minister to put the focus on Waterford and the south-east region and make sure we act this time, rather than leave reports lying on shelves, as occurred in the past.