Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

In the last two years the number at work in the region has risen by approximately 19,000 and the unemployment rate has fallen from 19.4% to 13.7%. That is a substantial achievement. All of the agencies and, indeed, all of the public representatives in the area, including the Senator and my colleague Deputy Conway, work very hard in this regard. Obviously, Waterford and the south-east region required specific focus from the Government, and that is the reason the Minister, Deputy Bruton, developed the south east action plan. The important element of that plan is that there is an amount of local ownership and local buy-in, and IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland, the local authorities, Waterford Institute of Technology and the local enterprise office are strongly engaged in it.

The report of the Oireachtas committee is very interesting. As the Senator acknowledged, there are elements of it that are not under the direct control of my Department. However, we have an interest in it and the forum has been asked to look at the report in detail. The Minister, Deputy Bruton, is on top of that. It is also important to point out that what the Government is seeking to do, particularly the Ministers with responsibility for jobs, is to align the interests of all of the agencies and all Departments and create what might be considered a mini action plan for jobs for each region. Inspiration for that, in many ways, could have been drawn from the south east forum and how it operates.

The Senator has acknowledged the need for the alignment of local, regional and national objectives, and we are doing that quite well in Waterford, an area that was particularly badly hit by the recession. The Senator also acknowledged the good work that is being done. The economic recovery is under way but there is a great deal of work to do over the next period of time and I am aware that the Senator is on board for doing that work, along with colleagues such as Deputy Conway. We have a focus on Waterford. There are particular issues there to be tackled and I am confident we will do that.