John Gilroy (Labour) | Oireachtas source

Senator Ó Domhnaill erroneously suggested that 95% of all jobs created were in the Dublin region. The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation put the true figure on the record when he addressed the House last week. He also reminded us that if one takes a narrow snapshot of statistics, one can find any result one wishes. However, the standardised techniques through which the CSO and other agencies collate their figures show that 95% of jobs were not created in the Dublin region in the last 12 months.

The Opposition made some half-hearted criticisms of the spring economic statement last week. There was no substance to most of the Opposition contributions, however. The statement is required under our fiscal rules and it is commonplace in other European states to issue similar statements. We are, therefore, standardising our procedures with best practice across Europe. I do not think anyone could be opposed to fiscal responsibility, although I wonder about the previous governments. We have managed to break the alignment of the electoral cycle with the economic cycle.We can see how the previous Government had become masters at aligning both in the past. We can point to the infamous free money known as SSIAs, which were designed to mature in the year before the election and bring with them the undoubted electoral advantage of giving people money for nothing, a consequence of which was the fuelling of an already overheated economy.