James Reilly (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Like my colleague, I welcome the reduction in the unemployment figures which have now fallen to 6.8%, having been as high as over 15% when the leader of the Opposition's party was in power. The good news is that the majority of new jobs are outside Dublin and that the regions are starting to feel the recovery. Employment has grown in all sectors of the economy, and what is interesting is that the biggest growth is in the construction industry, so we are getting our builders back to work and are starting to impact on the shortage of houses and the shortage of office space. Obviously, from the day a shovel is put in the ground to the day one can see the finished product is quite a number of months, or sometimes a year or more, but this is a sure sign that this problem is being addressed. It is not quick enough for those who find themselves without a home and the Government and the Minister, in particular, are doing everything they can to expedite the provision of accommodation.

We now have the resources to start repairing our society and the economy is only useful to us in so far as it supports our communities, our families and our friends. We need these resources because as our population continues to grow, and nowhere more so than in Fingal, we need new schools, new health facilities and, as I mentioned in the past few days, a hospital for Swords, but the really good news, as my colleague has alluded to, is that it is rapidly becoming a jobseekers market and the quality of the jobs and conditions going with them should improve. That is not to say there will not still be individuals who may seek to exploit employees and certainly the Minister and her Department are addressing this issue in a very aggressive fashion and will be come back to us with solutions. Therefore, I reject out of hand the idea of the Senator that this Minister does not have workers' welfare to the fore in her mind.