Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. The action plan for jobs is beginning to show significant delivery but I must sound a note of caution about a number of things. Obviously, we very much welcome it and the interdepartmental, front-up approach across Government Departments in terms of jobs. The Taoiseach is talking about 2014 being the year for jobs, jobs and jobs and I certainly look forward to that. There have been a number of very positive initiatives. We are now taking a more long-term, holistic view of what we are doing with the scarce resources we have. The Gathering was certainly one initiative that was prepared and put into action over 18 to 24 months. Senator Mullins mentioned the Wild Atlantic Way. Again, it is a long-term approach to creating a product of international renown. We look at the likes of the Camino de Santiago in Spain. This is something we need to take advantage of. It is part of our natural resources and the figure of €10 million should be much higher. The figure for promoting this should be in the region of €50 million to €100 million. When one talks about the great walkways of the world and "must-sees", the Wild Atlantic Way should be at the top of that list.

I am concerned that what we are seeing is the classic example of urban and rural. When there is a lift, urban areas lift but rural areas tend to slop over. We need to ensure that we have a fair distribution of employment opportunities. We are all delighted to see the big names coming in and hundreds of jobs being created but I celebrate five, ten and 20 jobs as much as 200 and 500 jobs. Twenty, 50, 80 or 100 jobs make as much of a difference in small villages with a population of 1,000, 2,000 or 5,000 as 1,000 jobs do in Cork or Dublin. We need to be very cognisant of the fact that we are a country of 32 counties, that there are more areas than the urban centres and that we need to facilitate not only the creation of jobs in rural Ireland in areas where we are strong and have products like tourism but the retention of jobs that are there. The buzzword can be new jobs but the buzzword should be jobs - both retention and creation.

Red tape has been reduced in business but, unfortunately, for every line of red tape that is being removed, we are getting another piece of white tape instead. There are too many regulations and requirements. We need to see the red tape removed. There is no reason why many things that would have taken weeks to deliver cannot be done within days and why things that would have taken days to deliver cannot be done within hours. The knowledge and information technology components and systems are there to ensure that we can reduce and eliminate red tape.

I always find it bizarre that when one goes to a little bar or coffee shop in the south of Spain, France or Italy, one can sit at a counter and have food but bars in the west of Ireland have a myriad of requirements relating to HACCP and every other kind of requirement. They must have three or four different types of toilets - men's, women's and disabled-friendly. Of course, that is important but if one wants to go to a toilet on the continent, it is the one toilet. That is just a very simple example of the difference between some of the European countries and this country yet we are all members of the EU and are told that all of these regulations and red tape result from our membership of the EU. We certainly seem to be the most compliant Europeans in Europe because if that is the case, why does it not happen in other countries? As Senator Quinn said, the challenge is to remove the red tape and that needs to be factored into the action plan for jobs because the cost of creating jobs is a factor. Governments do not create jobs but they can certainly deal with the significantly high cost of creating jobs, which in essence is red tape.

Overall, I always believe in finishing on a positive note. There is a lot happening. Unemployment is down to nearly 12%. It was much higher a couple of years ago. I believe the Minister and Taoiseach aim to lower it to 10% by 2016, which I think is very achievable. I even think they could bring it down to below that because jobs create more jobs. It does have a ripple effect. I wish the Minister well. I am encouraged that 2014 is the year of jobs and that the Government, Cabinet and various Ministers are front-loading in terms of creating jobs.