Jobs and broadband in Roscommon
Eugene Murphy criticised the imbalance in job creation and asked what the Taoiseach would do for counties such as Roscommon, where he said towns were seeing little employment. The Taoiseach replied that unemployment had fallen everywhere but more must be done through infrastructure, education and regional investment.
Deputy Eugene Murphy has been on the list since Thursday last, if the Deputy has a question.
Comment on this
I refer to the programme for Government which on jobs and development states "as the economy recovers it is essential that the new Government, together with the Oireachtas, puts in place measures to revitalise all of Ireland so that the benefits are felt inside every doorstep and in every community", a clear recognition that equality does not exist for all throughout the country. I revert to the good announcements of 1,500 jobs, plus 1,000 extra for Dublin. What will the Taoiseach do to bring jobs to my county? While I anticipate the Taoiseach will state in his reply that unemployment is down in the Roscommon-Galway constituency-----
Comment on this
-----no jobs are being created in towns such as Ballaghaderreen, Strokestown, Roscommon town and Boyle. All that part of the county is getting no employment from Government. What will the Taoiseach do about employment? Broadband comes into the loop as well. These are serious issues in my part of the country.
Comment on this
The Deputy is quite correct. Unemployment has fallen and employment has risen in every county over the past couple of years but we need to do more to ensure that all parts of the country share in our prosperity and join in the economic growth that is happening. The kind of actions we are taking include investing in infrastructure and in education, as well as making places more attractive for investment. Over the next couple of weeks, the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Humphreys, will be travelling to each region of the country with the Action Plan for Jobs for each region to reinvigorate that and make sure that there is employment growth in all parts of Ireland. The Deputy will be aware, from the IDA Ireland figures published a few weeks ago, that more than half of the jobs created in Ireland last year were created outside of Dublin. However, I appreciate there are some counties in Ireland, particularly in the north west, that have not done as well as they should have and that is why we need to focus on them in particular.