Deirdre Clune (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister and thank him for his contribution. The Government today published its report on being in office for three years. If we look back three years, the economy was in a state of collapse, there was a fear that there would be a run on the banks and that we were going to fall off a cliff. We all remember the headlines and the fear, but three years later, we are not in that position. Things have stabilised and improved. There is a confidence that we are on the right track and that we now know where we are going. Most importantly, we have the headline figures to support that in terms of job creation measures. Unemployment has fallen in the past 20 months to 12%. It is still not where it should be, but we have fulfilled targets and we know where we are going in 2015 and 2016. We have had a successful re-entry to the bond markets. There have been no increases in income tax and no cuts to the basic social welfare rates. I remind Senator MacSharry that the weaker sections in society have been protected. When it came to power, the Government immediately reversed the decision to cut the minimum wage and restored it to its previous level. We forget about those things three years later, but they were all extremely positive.

The Minister mentioned the value of the job action plan and how it is focused on particular sectors. That has been very useful. We have all seen the construction sector and the way it has been revitalised in the last few months, following the introduction of the home renovation scheme. It has provided for a lot of activity in that area. People are benefiting from the scheme and are doing small renovation jobs in their homes which have provided local employment. Most importantly, it has moved all the activity out of the black market.

Builders, painters, carpenters and plumbers who work on small schemes have said it has benefit and there is real activity in that area. I congratulate the Minister on that initiative and on the retail sector. The ICT sector is also booming. I attended a conference on Friday which addressed the skills shortage in this area. I know that is not the Minister's problem but I am sure he hears about it. Much is also being done in the education sector and the technology visas are working in that area.

New supports will be provided in the agriculture and food sector which will be enormous in their effect. In the tourism sector the retention of the 9% VAT rate is welcome. Foreign direct investment will continue to be a major platform but the focus is on encouraging individuals to invest in their own businesses to try to create more jobs or to start up programmes. Recently at the Joint Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation we had a presentation on the entrepreneurship report supervised by Mr. Sean O'Sullivan from "Dragons Den". The report has identified many areas where people can be encouraged to start their own business. A strategy is needed right across the education system. As we do not have a culture of business start-ups, we need to encourage it. In terms of access to talent the report proposed the improvement of the employee stock ownership programmes to make it easier for companies to involve employees in their programmes and to make it more tax efficient for employees. It also proposed improved access to finance and incentivised peer to peer lending. It suggested that the first €10,000 of investment income for start-ups be tax free to establish diaspora supports and that capital gains tax be at the rate of 20% rather than 33%. As the Government will prepare a strategy at the end of this month I hope it will contain measures to help create jobs. It is only by helping people to create jobs that we can move forward.

In the area of competitiveness we have come a long way in improving our competitiveness ranking mainly because of reduced wage costs and public sector reform. Energy and energy prices will continue to threaten that competitiveness. There is a need to keep labour costs down. The introduction of tax relief measures is probably the way forward to keep wages at their present level to ensure the success we have had in that area continues.