Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

With other colleagues, I welcome the significant job announcements in the mid-west this week. There was the announcement of 400 jobs in Northern Trust in Castletroy, County Limerick. This is the largest job announcement since Dell announced a few years ago that it was scaling back its operations. Some 24 hours earlier there was the announcement of the creation of 300 jobs at the games company Electronic Arts in Galway. Therefore, between counties Clare, Galway and Limerick a total of 700 jobs have been announced in the past week. Like Senator Michael Mullins and others, I echo the need to support small business. Senator Labhrás Ó Murchú put it eloquently when he mentioned the many businesses throughout the country that employed five to eight people, struggled with the bureaucracy, the Revenue Commissioners and the banks. The good goes out of it because at the end of the day there is precious little with which to pay those who create the jobs in the first instance. As a society, Government and country, we need to support small indigenous industries. We need to create an environment in which industry, enterprise and small businesses can thrive. We had this in the 1970s, the 1980s during the previous recession and the 1990s and we need to foster it again. I, therefore, ask the Leader to provide time for a debate on small indigenous businesses and the practical steps the Government could take to support them.