Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I share the concerns raised by Senator Quinn and also referred to by Senator Healy Eames. What Senator Quinn raised is fundamental to the Government's core policy. Will the Leader consider asking the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Bruton, to come to the House to discuss the whole area of competitiveness in the context that, on the one hand, there are several thousand jobs available and, on the other, we have a stubbornly high unemployment rate despite all the job creation initiatives the Government has launched, relaunched and relaunched again over the past two years? It seems now, on foot of a comment made in the newspapers at the weekend, that there is a need to shift away from attracting high-tech industries to attracting more manufacturing industries. This happened before in the 1990s and was one of the catalysts for growth then, a measure introduced by the much-maligned Government of the time. There needs to be some refocus on this area and it would be interesting to hear the Government’s position on this.

A week does not go by without some article in the newspapers about the number of jobs available but that there are not enough Irish people to fill them. There was a reference to a young entrepreneur from Ireland who has now relocated to Poland. If a Polish graduate has sufficient skills to fulfil these job requirements, how come an Irish graduate cannot fulfil them here? It is a fundamental question that needs to be addressed.

When does the Leader intend to introduce motion No. 35 on the Order Paper, of which he has taken note? This deals with the report of the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications on promoting a sustainable future for the post office network, which was laid before the Seanad on 26 March. I suggest to the Leader that he does more than just note it. This is a fundamental issue that needs to be debated. It would perhaps allow an opportunity for the Leader to fill a useful hour or two in the schedule.

Perhaps the Leader might be able to attract one of the Ministers of State into the House, if they can leave their EU duties for an hour to facilitate a debate here on this important issue.