Catherine Noone (Fine Gael)

I welcome the news today that 800 jobs are to be created by Sky in this constituency. It has been rare in recent years to hear of the creation of such a large number of jobs in one day. As well as expressing concern about job losses, we need to also acknowledge when there is an announcement of jobs to be created. This is a positive development. I congratulate Enterprise Ireland on bringing these jobs to Ireland. Sky announced the creation of 1,200 jobs between the UK and Ireland. It is a testament to the work of Enterprise Ireland and to how the country is doing that despite the difficulties we are experiencing, two thirds of those jobs are being created in Dublin.

The World Bank's global economy standing list today ranks Ireland as number ten of the countries in which it is friendly to do business. The top ten countries are the only ones released in the headlines and we are ranked among the top ten. That is something of which we should be proud and it is difficult to believe considering the difficulties we are experiencing. The list refers to the fact that we were experiencing difficulties and are under an EU programme but we are still ranked among the top ten business-friendly countries in the world. That is something we should acknowledge.