Catherine Noone (Fine Gael)

I welcome Senator O'Donovan's approval of the two initiatives announced by the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Shatter, which are certain to create jobs. It is worth elaborating further on these initiatives in the context of our recent debate.

The first initiative is the immigrant investor programme, which will grant visas to participants on a five year basis. From the outset the level of investment is expected to range from €400,000 to €2 million, with an average of €1 million. The type of investment envisaged is the purchase of low interest Government bonds, capital investment in Irish business and, in some cases, the purchase of property from NAMA. The second initiative is the start-up entrepreneur programme, which will provide immigrants with good business ideas in the innovation economy with exportable prospects and funding of €70,000 residency in this State to develop their businesses. These initiatives highlight the Government's commitment to job creation. We are ahead of the curve with these creative approaches and they will reap rewards for us.

The various ideas suggested during the debate on job creation have been forwarded to the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation but I am interested in getting feedback on what he proposes to do with these ideas.