Mary White (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House for this debate on the Industrial Development (Forfás Dissolution) Bill 2013. Drawing on the Minister's speech, I note that Forfás has become increasingly involved over the past three years in the central policy-making process in the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, with the agency playing a leading role in the preparation of the annual Action Plan for Jobs. At this juncture, it is considered that combining the resources of Forfás and the Department represents the optimum use of scarce resources, particularly against a significant backdrop of significant reductions in staffing levels arising from the need to reduce the public sector people.

I wish to put on record both the steady decline in the number of people who are unemployed and the Minister's contribution as the driver in this regard. There is no question about that and one must admit it. I formally congratulate the Minister and to be honest, it is quite unbelievable as I never thought the rate would come down so quickly. However, the number of people who are unemployed remains high, with a particularly high rate of youth unemployment and a huge emigration problem. According to a report released by the CSO in August 2013, emigration levels rose from 49,000 to 89,000 people between 2007 and 2013. Complacency on matters such as this must never be an option and as I have noted many times previously when speaking of my own personal experience, the transformation in a human being when he or she got a job, be it a man, a woman, a young person, a boy or a girl, must be seen to be believed. As I have stated numerous times previously, if people can hold down a job it is not just about the money but also is about the social intercourse and collegiality of people in the workforce, which gives a person a sense of belonging. Consequently it is fundamental that as many people as possible should be returned to employment. The driving force and the mission of the country must be to get people back into employment.

Another issue that must be addressed is the reason that so many people who have jobs are leaving. On the new role for Forfás, from personal experience I think there is a distinct difference of culture between the private sector and the public sector. I have been involved in both and consequently can speak from experience. I believe we need both to be on par and driving on a trajectory of the same passion. I believe there is still a challenge for young people and those who are new to the public service, in that there should be management and their aspirations should be addressed. I refer to what they wish to do with their lives and having someone to identify their potential because in a private company, one must have everyone operating as his or her optimal level of efficiency. I believe a problem still exists in this regard for young people. This has been evident within the Garda in respect of the young people entering it and all the awful recent happenings. While thousands of people wish to work in the Garda, there appears to be a lack of management or the absence of a mission to make them feel involved and that they are serving and protecting the country. A serious challenge exists within the public sector whereby people enter the sector delighted with their job but then, from my experience and observations, there still is a distinct lack of involving them in the job they are doing, if the Minister follows my point, that is, in engendering passion for what they do.

From my own experience, I am familiar with the IDA in Padraic White's time. Incidentally, I am delighted that Frank Ryan, the former chief executive officer of Enterprise Ireland, has become chairman of the IDA. That is a brilliant move because I know from my own experience that Frank Ryan is like a missionary who, in my husband's time as head of the IDA, would go through steel to get a project for Ireland. I believe we must get the same patriotic culture that was and which continues to be within the IDA. Moreover, an important point in this regard is that the IDA has been beyond criticism. There never has been negative criticism of it, such as like what happened in FÁS and so on, and the people are very professional and dedicated. However, in the context of the amalgamation of Forfás with the Department, were I the Minister I would be addressing the needs of the people in the Department. I would be getting them to buy into this important job they are doing for the country with regard to job creation and economic policy in order that they also can become passionate about the job. I hope I am conveying my point to the Minister. Why should there be a different culture in the private sector to that of the public sector? The public sector can be as entrepreneurial as the private sector when the job's mission is to try to save our country and bring it back to full economic recovery.

On the subject of SMEs, I have dealt with the important issue of rates as it pertains to medium retail companies, as opposed to the multinational retail companies. One particular project with which I am dealing concerns Ms Breda Cahill of the Centra in Ballinteer. She has no appeal against the rates and believes the local authority, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, is draining her to keep its own organisation going. She has three shops in the area in which she employs approximately 80 people. As she has told me many times, it is not merely about trying to keep her own business going but many of the young people who work part time in the stores are educating themselves in university. It is important not just to the owner of the retail outlets but also to the families in the areas that the children and young teenagers are getting employment to pay their way through university. All the issues like this really must be dealt with. I acknowledge the issue of rates appears to go on and on and one gets nowhere with it. However, it is not simply a technical issue but must be considered more broadly, that is, from the perspective of how these rates are preventing retailers from growing and surviving.

I congratulate the Minister again on the unemployment figures, as I believe the rate has reduced to approximately 12%. However, there is an issue in respect of why people are leaving the country and going abroad. That is my bottom line. I worked the public sector myself and there was no management whatsoever therein. I acknowledge that was a good while ago but I think there is an inherent issue. I include the Garda in this regard as well and a friend who I got to know in recent years, assistant commissioner Martin Donlon, told me there is absolutely no middle management in the Garda whatsoever. There is no coterie of outstanding management-trained sergeants who can tell the young recruits or gardaí what they actually should be doing when going out on the job. I am advocating helping people in the public sector to develop their careers and in so doing ensuring that the job is exciting and that it includes a passion for our country. It is beyond me why that cannot happen.