Colm Burke (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Tánaiste to the House and thank him for giving leadership in the referendum treaty and making a major contribution to ensure the right decision was taken. It was a very positive decision from an Irish point of view and copperfastens our commitment to involvement in Europe by leading the way in terms of the European agenda.

Speaking in Cork last week, Bill Clinton remarked that Ireland is the only EU country that has a younger population than the US. That is an interesting point. It is clear from the growth in the birth rate in the past ten years that the number of births per annum has increased from 55,000 to 75,000. As there are major challenges ahead, the importance of the growth agenda is very important. Senator Paschal Mooney referred to the need to take on major infrastructural projects to create jobs in the short term. There is a need also to do much more in the long term, particularly in the area of research and development. The EU is very much about working together in this area. Are we doing enough in this area? I said previously that 75% of those involved in research and development are from outside the EU and want to progress and end up working in the US. That is the reality. We need to give leadership in this area. In areas such as health care, there is little real co-operation in respect of the sharing of services across Europe, whereas in the US and China there is much more co-operation within those areas. That is an area we need to grow and develop. We can play a major role in giving that leadership.

When I was a Member of the European Parliament from 2007 to 2009, cross-border health care was agreed. This was an agreement whereby members of one member state could travel to another member state for health care purposes if it was not available in their own member state, provided it was part of the policy of their own member state. I understand that agreement will be transposed into Irish law in the near future. A great deal more could be done in respect of the sharing of information and services within the EU.

If we are talking about a growth agenda, we must give leadership not only in the area of job creation, we must begin also to look at the long term. That is where research and development can play a major role. While we are doing a good deal, there is a need for much more co-operation and long-term development in the EU.

As a country, we can be the net beneficiary because we have a young population. Even though we have a good education system, one of those involved in "Dragons' Den" has said there are many jobs here for which we do not have the people with the necessary qualifications to take them up. People with those qualifications are available from outside Ireland and the EU. We need to examine that area which would create the spin-off jobs if those people are working. In the financial services area in Dublin, it has been stated that there are of the order of 1,600 vacancies for which the relevant personnel are not available in Ireland to fill them. That is an issue that needs to be examined. We need to focus not just on short term but on long-term job creation and be part of the agenda in the EU for next 12 months in planning for the next five, ten or 15 years.

I again thank the Tánaiste for bringing forward the Bill which has the full support of the House. It is just another part of the jigsaw in our involvement in the EU.