David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. We sometimes suffer from groupthink in this House. A great deal of positivity is being directed towards the Minister this afternoon. Some positive things are happening. I assume the Minister accepts the reality that we have a substantial job to do to create the jobs needed to reduce the current standardised rate of unemployment, which is 14.8%. Over 300,000 jobs were created between the first quarter of 2007 and the first quarter of this year. There has been a seismic shift in the whole economy of this State due to job losses, etc. Obviously, the Minister is conscious of that. He is not responsible for the mess he inherited, but he is responsible for trying to work through it. Collectively, we all need to do our best to create jobs for the people of this State. The Minister has my support in that regard.

Three big issues are facing the State in this regard. First, we need an economic stimulus and a proper employment plan that creates the jobs we need. Second, we need a fiscal strategy that is about fair budgets, as Senator Harte said, rather than taking money from people's pockets. When we are framing our budgets, we have to be conscious of the impact of budgetary decisions on the domestic economy. Third, we need a bank deal. I do not believe we will create the jobs we need until we get these three interconnected pieces of the jigsaw right. Sinn Féin has presented a real and detailed job stimulus strategy that would involve an investment of ¤13 billion in job creation and retention. It would be funded by the National Pensions Reserve Fund, the European Investment Bank and the private pensions sector. I remind the Minister that innovative ideas are being proposed by Opposition parties, trade unions and business organisations.

I would like to make a point about regional disparities. The Minister will accept that the south east, where I come from, has an added problem because it suffers from a high level of unemployment that is 5% above the national average. There is a focus on short-term measures that will create as many jobs as possible in the short to medium term, but we also need to show some long-term thinking on the basis of where our economy came from over the last 30 to 40 years.

The south east is a good example of a region which was over-dependent on manufacturing, where students left school early and people were not inclined to be innovators and entrepreneurs because they were able to take up employment in big factories such as Waterford Crystal, Bausch and Lomb, The Foundry and so on. The entrepreneurial drive was non-existent because of an over-reliance on manufacturing. However, that is now gone, leaving a whole swathe of people, aged between 30 and 50 years of age, with no jobs and needing to be reskilled, which is only one problem.

Aside from the short-term immediate policy decisions which need to be made to create jobs now, we need to consider how we can foster a new culture of innovation among young people, in particular in areas which have under-performed, of which the south east is one. I genuinely believe that this needs to be addressed at primary and second school level. I have previously made the point to the Minister that in the case of the Young Scientist of the Year award, we need to be looking at incentives for the business sector which will encourage creativity, a thinking outside of the box and an entrepreneurial spirit. We also need to ensure people see entrepreneurship as an opportunity and are encouraged to avail of it.

The ground has shifted. We are in a completely different situation because of the economic crisis. Out of the ashes of any crisis comes opportunities. Those opportunities will only be grasped in the long term if we ensure that we are genuinely fostering creativity at primary, second and third level and that people have equal opportunities to be entrepreneurs, thus creating the jobs we need. I am asking the Minister to think long term as well as short term.