Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the Seanad. Everybody has been praising him here, but we who are in the same party tend to work him to the bone.

The budget is coming up soon and we are doing well in the export market, but we are not doing so well in the domestic economy. Does the Minister have some job creation projects in mind to boost the domestic economy? Senator White mentioned that we had the Nobel laureate economist, Professor Pissarides, here and he spoke about boosting the domestic economy through public investment projects. For example, in the 1970s one such project was installation of central heating, but now such a project might concern the greening of public buildings. Anything that will boost the domestic economy is welcome. As the Minister knows, the construction sector is flat, as is the retail sector. The Minister should consider this. Aligned to this is the suggestion made by Senator Quinn to release pension funds. I do not know if we have got a definitive response on this yet. In these straitened times, we need to help people find more funds to invest in their local economies.

The Minister mentioned a health innovation hub in Cork. This will be useful. I do not know what it will do, but I know that we need to look at the area of health and the potential for jobs. A concept I have been looking at for some time is that of over-reliance, particularly by young people, on being employed. This is a flaw in our education system. We need to educate more for self-employment and for entrepreneurship. I would like to hear the Minister's views on this. I believe we need to run our children on twin tracks, both the academic track and the self-employment track.

Has the Minister considered the concept of an entrepreneurship hub which would help our young people to turn their qualifications into job creating outlets?

I would like to support fully what Senator Mary Ann O'Brien said about sick pay. Job creation starts with entrepreneurs. The Minister must not kill entrepreneurship. We rely on entrepreneurs to create jobs. I will not say much more on the issue because the time available to me is limited. I fully support what Senator Mary Ann O'Brien has said. I have made this point to the Minister, Deputy Burton, previously. We have to consider all of the stakeholders in sick pay - the State, the employer and the employee, who must take more responsibility for his or her health or sickness.

Some of the schemes of financial support for Irish businesses are wonderful. Yesterday, I met a quantity surveyor who had been out of work since 2008, but in the last year has hired 15 people on various small construction jobs. To take 15 people off the live register is a considerable achievement. He did not know about any of these schemes. His accountant did not inform him. I believe the accountants of this country are not sufficiently well informed about schemes like the revenue job assist and seed capital schemes.

I will conclude by speaking about the need for flexibility in the labour market. One of the things we learned from Professor Pissarides was that job subsidies which offer work experience are better than unconditional unemployment compensation. Sweden has a successful scheme which subsidises the hiring of unemployed workers to replace those on maternity leave and other types of leave. The authorities then pass the unemployment compensation to another unemployed person and pay a wage that is higher than the compensation. National insurance contributions are paid by both the employer and the employee. This form of subsidy is ultimately cheaper than supporting people on unemployment. A similar scheme in Germany has also been successful. I ask the Minister to work with the Minister, Deputy Burton, on this concept. We need to give young unemployed people an opportunity to gain experience and feel purposeful, rather than sitting on their you-know-whats while getting unemployment benefit, which is not good for the State or the young person.