Colm Burke (Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister of State for taking time out of her busy schedule to be with us today. Figures show 70% of people involved in research and development from outside the European Union go to the United States to work. Can we take a positive approach during our Presidency to dealing with that issue by making Europe a more attractive location for research, especially in the health field? There is a need for more co-ordination across member states on health care.

When I was an MEP back in 2009, I raised the issue of the decrease in the number of people working in the construction industry, from 270,000 to 106,000. In 2009 there was a proposal for a 5% VAT rate across Europe for small jobs in the construction industry with a value of less than €15,000. There was to be a co-ordinated approach across Europe to get people back into work and to eliminate the grey economy in this sector. The European Globalisation Fund, which is an innovative training fund, was introduced a few years ago. We need to do something in these two areas during our Presidency in 2013.