Michael D'Arcy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I support Senator Power's view that birth certificates would be made available. That would be very helpful for many children throughout the country. I also support the call for a debate on employment. We need to do a full analysis of where people are employed. There is a massive drive to promote employment through foreign direct investment jobs in particular in Cork, Galway, Limerick and Dublin. We must put a spotlight on those foreign direct investment jobs. While much has been said about the south east being left out, there are areas within regions that are left out. I wish to provide statistics about my county of Wexford. The county has in the region of 26% unemployment, which is equivalent to Donegal and the north midlands. In terms of foreign direct investment jobs - the last year for which full data are available is 2011 - there are only 12 IDA companies in County Wexford who employ 2,060 people out of 146,000 people. That means 1.4% of those employed in County Wexford, which is one of the largest counties in the country, are directly involved in IDA companies.

In 2011 a total of 51 jobs were created by IDA companies and in 2012 a total of 111 jobs were created. That is less than 3.4% of the workforce in County Wexford. I do not want something belonging to somebody else but there are counties that are being hard done by in terms of their fair share of the cake. Those are minor statistics in the scheme of things nationally and I feel hard done by that it is the case. Not enough is being done and there is insufficient analysis on a county basis, a regional basis and even on the basis of commuters. Some areas are being neglected by the IDA in terms of foreign direct investment and to a lesser extent by Enterprise Ireland. It is something we in this Chamber could do well, namely, to provide the analysis and make the information available in order that people can see exactly where the jobs are going. I feel hard done by given that people in Wexford are on the dole who could fill the positions if they were given the opportunity were the jobs to be made available in the county.