Michael Mullins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I join colleagues in congratulating Nóirín O'Sullivan on her appointment as the new Commissioner of An Garda Síochána. While she is making history in being the first woman Commissioner, she has, no doubt, been appointed on merit, given her experience within the force, having come through a very open and transparent recruitment process and seen off competition from within Ireland and internationally. She has a mammoth task ahead of her in restoring confidence in An Garda Síochána and morale within the force. The reform of the justice and policing structures is now in very safe female hands, given that we have a female Minister for Justice and Equality, Attorney General, Garda Commissioner and chairperson of the new policing authority. I have no doubt that these talented women will resolve the many weaknesses in our systems and restore confidence in the justice and policing systems.

I refer to the findings of a survey conducted by Enterprise Ireland and Deloitte and published today in advance of a meeting of CEOs of major businesses in this country. They indicate that the level of business sentiment is rising, with 69% of the country's chief executives believing GDP will match or exceed recent predictions. They also show that the majority of CEOs are confident that Ireland will exceed the average eurozone GDP rate in the next two to three years. The survey reveals that CEOs believe the main challenges facing businesses in Ireland are access to working capital and staff issues. While 35% of those surveyed said capital was their main issue, 53% cited people issues. A total of 12% said mobility was a key issue, while 20% said the shortage of graduates was a major concern, being especially true in the areas of IT, science, engineering and mathematics. We need to discuss this issue further with the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. I, therefore, ask the Leader to schedule a debate as soon as he can in order that we can discuss the ongoing work on An Action Plan for Jobs and the shortcomings business leaders see in the country.