Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I was struck by Senator Naughton's speech when she referred to the fall in unemployment. She is correct, but she should look at the figures from 1997 onwards when there were 1 million people employed in the country. It went up to 2 million and then went down temporarily. We are working constructively with the Government, in so far as we can, to get that employment figure back up to 2.1 million. Huge progress was made under the Fianna Fái Government in that long period before the crash.
This morning, the Meath Chronicle and Cavan and Westmeath Heraldreported an imminent jobs announcement in Gibbstown, County Meath, or Baile Ghib. I suppose that is connected to Údarás na Gaeltachta as well as the Minister's Department. Can the Minister give us any details on that matter?