Sean Barrett (Independent)

Yesterday, Enterprise Ireland issued its annual report. I am afraid that on page 7 it reported that expenditure of more than €110 million resulted in only six net jobs being created. It touched on issues we have discussed in the Chamber and the Leader has facilitated these discussions, such as that grants are not the solution to Ireland's employment problems. There is a range of issues involved such as energy policy, sheltered sector costs, competition policy in which we made efforts to encourage the Minister, Deputy Richard Bruton, to take a more radical approach than he was indicating, education reform and public sector reform and value for money. In five regions - Dublin, the mid-east region, which is Kildare, Meath and Wicklow, the midlands, the south east and the north east - employment is declining in the companies that received the €110 million. I ask the Leader to arrange a debate on industrial policy in the widest context, given the high levels of unemployment we face which show that one cannot rely on giving grants to companies, because one ends up with a mere six additional jobs.