I welcome the recent announcement of job creation proposals by Government. The only problem I have is that after four years of the 31st Dáil it is inadequate. We are still in a dire situation and have one of the longest-standing and highest long-term unemployment rates in the European Union despite initiatives such as changes to the welfare system and more training for young people seeking work. Youth unemployment is rampant at 26%, which is unacceptably high. For every job created, five people have emigrated. We have seen that reality in particular in rural Ireland where many parishes and sporting organisations are decimated and do not have the necessary numbers to make up sporting teams. Many of the jobs that have been created are low paid or temporary and 25,000 people are attending activation schemes and classified as being employed notwithstanding that they are only on short-term training schemes in reality. It does not give a true indication of their status.

An indicator is the number of people on social welfare benefits for a very long term of over three years. Over the past five years, the number of people claiming unemployment benefit for more than three years has increased fourfold, or 300% in percentage terms. When figures on the very long-term jobless were first published in 2009, there were 25,000 people in the State who had been on jobseeker's benefit for more than three years. The figures for 2014 show that almost 100,000 were in this predicament, which is more than one in four people who are now on the dole for more than three years. One of the most significant problems for those on the long-term unemployment register is that it is self-perpetuating. People who are without a job for a long period are statistically less likely to find work as employers naturally favour those with suitable skills. The Government must pursue the matter relentlessly over the remaining term of the Dáil, in particular through the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Richard Bruton, and the relevant Ministers of State. I call on the Government to pursue the matter more vigorously than it has in the past four years.

I thank Deputy Tom Fleming for his question and comments. He has put his finger on the central issue for Government and one of the twin pillars of the mandate it was given: to fix our public finances and put our country back to work. I agree with Deputy Fleming that when a person is out of work for more than a year, or for two years and longer, it becomes very difficult to get the individual to be motivated to want to go to work. There are a number of incentives in there. The emphasis of the Government as espoused on many occasions by the Minister, Deputy Richard Bruton, is to do everything possible from a Government perspective to ease entry into work, to make it attractive here for investment for the creation of jobs and so on. If one does not have stability, one cannot have confidence and if one does not have that, one will not have investment. If one does not have investment, one will not have jobs.

Since the Government published the Action Plan for Jobs, 80,000 new jobs have been created. Unemployment has fallen for almost 30 months in a row from over 15% to just over 10%. While that is a radical improvement of more than 30%, it is still not sufficient. We must continue to focus as a Government on this particular problem as the best exit from poverty is the route through a job. That is why Government has changed the social protection services and established Intreo offices in every major town where the unemployed on the live register are profiled as being suitable for particular employers who are looking to expand their businesses. More than 130,000 people came off the live register last year and the Minister has introduced local employment offices in each local authority so that small businesses and medium enterprises can access all of the advice, information and assistance that is available to them for ease of employment or credit.

I note that 250,000 people lost their jobs as a consequence of the economic catastrophe that befell our country and many of them emigrated. Of those, 100,000 were from other countries, particularly in eastern Europe, who had come here to work in the construction sector. However, many of our own left and many still leave. I listened to an interview the other day with the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and the emphasis seemed to be that if one brought back young emigrants there might be a problem. We would welcome them back. I am glad to see that there is a rise not only in interest in coming back but in people returning here with skills and new experience, which is where we want to be. In respect of the long-term unemployed, there are incentives being put in place by Government such as the housing assistance payment and child benefit for those who are out of work for a period and who go back into a job. The social protection assistance they receive will not be cut off immediately, including medical cards and so on.

The Deputy makes the point and it is central to Government that we continue to focus on creating more jobs. Our ambition this year is to have 40,000 new jobs created in the course of 2015 and to have almost 500,000 people taken out of the requirement to pay the universal social charge. The emphasis from Government is on the hard pressed 30,000 to 70,000 and, strictly, on the creation of jobs. As a Deputy from Kerry, I note to Deputy Fleming that the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation has the approval of Government to spread the benefits of a rising economy throughout provincial and rural Ireland so that every town in time benefits from the creation of jobs. Nothing is more important in the lives of people than to have the stability of a good, well-paid job. That is where the continued focus and priority of Government will be for this year.

Tell the IDA to bring jobs to Kerry.

Can the Deputy not tell the IDA?

Some of the schemes offer zero hour contracts, JobBridge positions or part-time work and they are unsustainable. Many people finish their training schemes further along the long-term unemployed list. The jobs are low-paid and insufficient. The IDA has fallen well short of its targets for attracting foreign investment, particularly in the regions outside Dublin and Cork cities. The IDA is putting all its resources and energy into getting larger companies to settle in these two areas and there is no focus on attracting smaller companies that would be better suited to the rural peripheral counties. My county, which the Taoiseach regularly visits and knows very well, received only three visits from the IDA in 2014. It is ridiculous. Several major employers in the county have been closed in recent years and nothing has been done to replace them. The county is an industrial wasteland, and we can see it in our towns, villages and communities where there has been major emigration, and allowing this to happen gives us no hope. I ask the Taoiseach and the Minister personally to take it up with the IDA and ensure we get a better deal than we have had in the past ten years in particular.

I disagree with Deputy Tom Fleming's comment that there is no hope at all. There is a proven record of stabilising and growing many sectors. For example, the Government reduced the VAT rate in the hospitality sector from 13.5% to 9%. It stabilised the industry and created another 25,000 jobs. We also abolished the travel tax and implemented the concept of the Wild Atlantic Way, with a direct impact on the Deputy's county. These are demonstrations of how the Government can benefit the creation of jobs and the economy throughout provincial Ireland. The intention is to spread it throughout the country. During our Presidency of the European Union, we negotiated a very strong programme for rural development, more than €2.5 billion, which awaits approval from the European Commission for the various programmes throughout the country. The abolition of milk quotas has had a very beneficial effect in terms of money flowing through the system for land acquisition and leasing. The Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, has made a number of changes in the last two budgets to impact directly on the agriculture sector, which created more than 5,000 jobs last year.

I disagree with the Deputy about the IDA. It is a world class model for the introduction of potential investors to this country and the pipeline is very strong, with 15,000 gross, or 7,500 net, new jobs created last year. It is held up to be one of the foremost organisations of its kind globally. Our talent pool, the tax system we now have, with the ending of the stateless concept and the double Irish, our technology and our track record are second to none. Enterprise Ireland deals with small and medium enterprises, where the emphasis is on growing all those numbers on the backs of small companies that are able to export or service multinationals while they are here. The approval of the Connect Ireland scheme for very small operators could benefit any county. The scheme incentivises people from Ireland who are working for companies outside the EU that want to invest in Europe to connect the company with our country. Far from being despondent, I see 2015 and beyond as years of great opportunity, and the Government will focus relentlessly on making it more attractive for more jobs to be created.