Michael Mullins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister and compliment him on the tenacity with which he has been driving the Action Plan for Jobs over the past three years. It is clearly working. When the Government took office, we were haemorrhaging jobs at an alarming rate. Today's CSO figures, however, show that we have the lowest rate of unemployment for several years at 10.7%. That is to be welcomed. Over 144,000 people have left the live register in the past year.

We all welcome the significant job announcements around the country over the past year in particular. We appreciate that companies will decide to locate where they see fit. We also need to address the issue of balanced regional development and ensure that the IDA is working to spread jobs throughout the country. Over the past decade, my own town of Ballinasloe has lost 1,000 industrial jobs. I was disappointed with the recent response I got from Enterprise Ireland and the IDA on the level of visits to Ballinasloe. This town is in the centre of Ireland, on the motorway and has an excellent infrastructure. It also has good housing, as well as affordable available development land much of which is State-owned. A town that was capable of attracting two major multinationals in the 1970s is not seen as capable of attracting significant industry now. That situation needs to be examined.

The issue of competitiveness has been referred to and I agree with everything Senator Quinn said in that regard. I am somewhat concerned that demands for wage increases are premature. I would prefer to see people's disposable income being enhanced by adjustments to our taxation system and a reduction in the USC. We need to do everything possible to keep business competitive so that we can continue to attract jobs at the current rate.

Online retail is getting away from traditional retail, but the latter sector is still creating many jobs in small towns and villages. We need to examine rates, parking charges and everything else that makes it difficult for the retail sector. We will resume this debate early in the new year when Jobs Plan 2015 is on stream. In the meantime, I compliment the Minister on what he has been doing so far. I urge him to continue the good work.