Lorraine Higgins (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House to hear our views on the Action Plan for Jobs recently announced. I commend the Minister and the Government for all the hard work done in creating jobs in very difficult times. There is no doubt that we have come back from a very difficult place, bringing the country back from the brink and into a zone where we can see stability and recovery.

Before beginning I will outline where we came from and where we are now. In March 2011, we had 14.7% of the population on the live register, with 7,000 jobs being lost every month. Our economic growth was 2.5% in deficit and our consumer confidence was low as a consequence our international reputation taking a battering. All of this brought much damage to the Irish economy and to families and communities throughout the country. Thanks to the policies pursued by the Government, the ship is now being turned and all the indicators are very positive. There were 61,000 jobs created last year and it is fair to say we are moving in the right direction. The live register numbers have fallen for the 19th month in a row, with the standardised unemployment rate down to 12.1%. Economic growth has reached 1.7%, which is up from a deficit three years ago. Consumer confidence has also increased steadily, as have overseas visits to Ireland, the rate of which is almost four times what it was in 2011. We can see the enormous strides that have been made in such a short time in Government. There is no doubt that the Government and Ministers deserve praise for that.

The Action Plan for Jobs announced by the Government is full of well thought out measures which will do even more to create jobs. The rolling out of 31 local enterprise offices and additional funding to support start-ups and expansions, including a new youth entrepreneurship fund, will help drive entrepreneurial activity throughout the country in urban and rural heartlands alike. The development of a clear strategy with medium term actions for entrepreneurship through a national entrepreneurship policy statement is key to creating the conditions for job creation. I particularly welcome the framework put in place to provide necessary supports for new entrepreneurs opening businesses. The framework includes tax-based support schemes, mentoring, peer learning and knowledge sharing to develop entrepreneurial capacity. There is no doubt these funds have been allocated to inspire and encourage untapped potential among groups, including youth and graduate entrepreneurs, female entrepreneurs - as mentioned in the opening statement - immigrant entrepreneurs and those on a regional level. This will help groups that traditionally struggle to open a business, so I commend the Minister for demonstrating such foresight.

I welcome the announcement of a regionally based public competition to find the best entrepreneur in Ireland, with a €2 million total prize fund along with the entrepreneurial phD programme to train Science Foundation Ireland statements to launch businesses. As I embark on a European election campaign, I look forward to getting out there and meeting entrepreneurs in the weeks and months ahead to discuss any needs, potential gaps in Government assistance or policy and see how policies are working on the ground towards success. There is no reason Ireland cannot be up there among the most entrepreneurial nations in the world and be acknowledged as a world-class environment in which to start and grow business. The measures announced in the Action Plan for Jobs represents a significant step in the right direction.

There are two caveats that would add greatly to our job creation ideas from the past number of years. We must have proper banking competition in the country and if the Government is not mindful of setting up a new bank, the only way we can achieve real results is to encourage new institutions to set up. We have the same old banks with their legacies, and the crux is that all the banks are retail banks. There is no properly focused business bank but it is high time for one to enter the market. We need to ensure the banks are financing cash flow businesses and that officials get proper training on the consideration of business plans so that viable examples are approved for finance. We need to move away from the bricks and mortar security sought in the past. We are currently letting go the opportunity to finance some Irish businesses and entrepreneurs; if we do not correct that trend and take remedial action, we will face paralysis. We must avoid that so as to compliment all the policies pursued by the Government.

One way to tackle the issue is to grant new banking licences similar to the old ICC and ACC banks set up a number of decades ago. These were set up to provide targeted lending for agriculture and small business. The funds from KfW in Germany should not go to the pillar banks of Bank of Ireland and AIB and if we are really committed to doing all we can for small and medium enterprises, we must take inspiration from what has been done in the UK. The UK Government, through its central bank, granted a banking licence for Metro Bank, which targets almost half of its lending at the small and medium enterprise sector and commercial enterprises. That is the kind of statistic I want to see Ireland boast of.

Job creation cannot solely be about the number of jobs created. It should also be about the quality of those jobs. I commend colleagues in the Labour Party, including Deputies John Lyons, Gerald Nash, Ciara Conway and Derek Nolan, as well as Labour Youth and its chairperson, Ciarán Garrett, who are campaigning steadily at the moment to end zero-hour contracts. It is something I have come across quite a bit recently in my constituency clinics. As someone who had worked in employment law in the Law Library, I am astounded by the fact that these are on the rise. The nature of these contracts makes it almost impossible for workers to sustain a decent standard of living. They have no knowledge of the number of hours they will work every week or of how much money they will earn at the end of it. The Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 provides for compensation for workers who are on these contracts where they do not receive any hours, but such compensation is clearly insufficient. The problem must be ameliorated to ensure we have good quality jobs that enable workers to have a decent standard of living. It is incumbent on us as a Government to lead the charge and to show real leadership on this issue. It would save the State money if people were on a sufficient, set number of hours of work as there would be less dependence on supplementary social welfare allowances or income support. I urge the Minister to consider doing something proactive in this regard.

The Tánaiste, Deputy Eamon Gilmore, remarked that as Ireland moves out of the bailout, we must articulate a longer-term vision of the future. Our medium-term economic strategy sets out the objective of achieving full employment by 2020, and this is certainly complemented by Action Plan for Jobs. The clear focus across the whole of the Government has enabled us to exit the bailout and must now be brought to bear on the next target, which is to replace the jobs we have lost, implement Action Plan for Jobs and achieve full and sustainable employment. Action Plan for Jobs demonstrates the Government's commitment to job creation, and the employment indicators endorse our job creation strategy. Action Plan for Jobs will undoubtedly help more people return to work. We must consider the banking situation to encourage and help more small and medium enterprises into the market with access to finance as has been done in England with Metro Bank. Indeed, we should also look at the situation with zero-hour contracts. I am committed to the view that not just any old job will do. It is something I ask the Minister to bear in mind.