This is a Seanad Bill which has been amended by the Dáil. In accordance with Standing Order 118, it is deemed to have passed its First, Second and Third Stages in the Seanad and is placed on the Order Paper for Report Stage. On the question, "That the Bill be received for final consideration," the Minister of State may explain the purpose of the amendments made by the Dáil. This is looked upon as the report of the Dáil amendments to the Seanad. For Senators' convenience, I have arranged for the printing and circulation of the amendments. Senators may speak only once on Report Stage. I remind them that the only matters which may be discussed are the amendments made by the Dáil.
County Enterprise Boards (Dissolution) Bill 2013: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages
Question proposed: "That the Bill be received for final consideration."
The amendments to section 8 and section 12 were agreed on Committee Stage in the Dáil on 18 February. I thank Members of this House for their prompt consideration of the Bill so soon after that date. Both amendments relate to the superannuation benefits of the existing pensioners of the county enterprise boards and the schemes themselves.
Sections 12(1) to 12(3), inclusive, provide for Forfás, Enterprise Ireland or a local authority to accept staff into their employment who were previously employed by a county enterprise board on terms and conditions no less favourable in relation to remuneration. Current employees of the county enterprise boards will, upon dissolution, become members of the Forfás superannuation scheme, the Enterprise Ireland superannuation scheme or a local authority superannuation scheme as appropriate. This is provided for in section 12(5)(a). It provides for their entitlement to superannuation - pension benefits - to be calculated and paid by the body that accepted them into their employment. This was already in the Bill as laid down. As it stands today, Enterprise Ireland does not have a superannuation scheme but will establish one once the Forfás legislation - the Industrial Development (Forfás Dissolution) Bill 2013 - has been passed and enacted. This Bill allows Enterprise Ireland to become an employer in its own right.
The amendment to section 12(5)(b) deals with the existing and deferred pensioners from the county enterprise boards. The amendment to section 8 ensures the liability for those pensioners does not transfer to Enterprise Ireland. The amendment to section 12(5)(b) allows for the responsibility and liability of those pensioners to transfer to the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and for those pensions to be calculated and paid by the Minister. The amendment to section 12(5)(c) ensures the functions in relation to any existing pension schemes that were vested in a county enterprise board will now be vested in the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation.
It is an honour to welcome the Fighting 69th. They are very welcome. I also welcome the Minister of State.
We had a comprehensive discussion on industrial development yesterday. The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation was here for some hours and there was an interesting exchange of views on where we stood. There is genuine pleasure at the 61,000 jobs added in the past 12 months. It is an area of policy that is working very well.
I offer my support and good wishes to the Minister of State in the amendments he is proposing to the Bill. This is a very dynamic area. He needs to change his suite of policy instruments and institutions and not have them become encrusted in traditions such that they no longer fulfil roles. Retiring schemes, bodies and organisations in favour of novelty innovation is a key element of the Department, and we need innovation in the way it operates. I am happy, on behalf of the independent university Senators, to support the Minister of State's amendments.
This job is complex, as we found out yesterday in respect of the large decline in the number of young people at work in Ireland since this recession started. However, we are fighting back. The 61,000 jobs were created on a low measure of economic growth last year at 1%. To increase employment in the private sector by 4.5% with such low growth shows that many policies are working, but we cannot become complacent. The absorption of Forfás into the Department was to strengthen the Department, according to the Minister. He said it traditionally was a weak Department with very strong agencies. If the Minister of State believes arrangements at local level could generate more employment and we can add another 61,000 jobs this year, that will be a step forward. It is a pleasure that the policy is being tested and is working overall. It is very necessary. Irish unemployment is now below the European average, but we all feel the European average is far too high. A whole suite of measures is needed and the new thinking in this Bill is important.
The Minister of State, Deputy Ciarán Cannon, was also in the House yesterday. He impressed us by saying Ireland must move from a very small number of apprenticeships - I think he mentioned that there were 24 or 25 - to the German, Swiss and Austrian models, where there are more than 300 apprenticeships. Nothing stays still in the vital area of trying to ensure full employment in the modern economy. The dynamics of change are vital and we all hope the changes envisaged here work and that the local enterprise offices are a success. On that basis, I will be supporting the measures being put before us by the Minister of State.
I am pleased to support the amendments. I certainly agree with Senator Sean D. Barrett. We must continue to innovate on how we create jobs. Nothing stands still and I acknowledge the fine contribution the county and city enterprise boards have made over the years. Some very fine people worked in those organisations and it is only right and proper that we would resolve their pension superannuation and transfer those in an orderly fashion.
It is critical that the new local enterprise offices work in the small towns and villages of rural Ireland. Major industry, particularly foreign direct investment, will go into the major centres of population in Dublin, Cork and Galway. Small towns such as Ballinasloe, Loughrea, Athenry and Gort will be dependent on local enterprise offices to kick-start economic activity and encourage entrepreneurial people to get started.
I hope the one-stop shop will cut through much of the red tape and bureaucracy. The county councils need to be more pro-enterprise and pro-business. I hope the merger of local enterprise offices with the local authorities will help foster that business culture within the local authorities that may have been lacking down through the years. This is a new initiative that will be tried and hopefully it will deliver. Senator Sean D. Barrett said that although 61,000 jobs had been created in the past 12 months, we needed to accelerate the pace of job creation and instil and restore confidence in the local economy. The renewed emphasis on manufacturing is encouraging, as many of the traditional manufacturing enterprises have ceased to operate and have gone to lower cost economies in the past decade. Let us hope there will be a renewed emphasis on manufacturing in the higher skill areas.
I compliment the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Richard Bruton, and the Minister of State, Deputy Sean Sherlock, on An Action Plan for Jobs and the real commitment to driving it. What sets this plan above other plans from the past is that it is a whole-of-government approach, with every Department having an input, and the Taoiseach is driving it. That there is a real commitment from the line Ministers is significant. I hope the target of getting unemployment below the European average by the end of the year and well below 10% by 2016 will be achieved. They are measurable objectives and, obviously, Government will be held to account. This Government will be judged in 2016 on how well it has delivered on job creation and on how it has got the economy going.
We look forward to seeing the plan for the construction industry rolled out shortly. I firmly believe that without a reasonable level of activity in the construction industry we will not see economic recovery in rural parts of the country.
I am pleased to support the amendments and look forward to the local enterprise offices making a real contribution to job creation and economic activity throughout the country.
I welcome the Minister of State and wish him continued success in his portfolio. We will not offer any resistance to the amendments, but Fianna Fáil has serious reservations in respect of the overall Bill and the impact it may have on job creation. We believe it is more about the illusion of reform than the actual delivery of jobs. Whereas we have the height of respect for local authorities which do a great job in what they are qualified at - the provision of infrastructure, roads, housing and so on - we are not satisfied that they are the competent bodies to be involved in spearheading new businesses and all that involves. Therefore, we will oppose the Bill.
I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Sean Sherlock, for the final stages of the legislation. It is good to see that the issue was brought back by way of amendments which were highlighted. It is good that legislation is scrutinised in such a way as to ensure there are no gaps. When Senator Ned O'Sullivan said his party would oppose the legislation, I thought he was going to present the Japanese model as an alternative to the one we are putting forward, being an expert on how the Japanese economy operates, but, unfortunately, he did not.
Bloodstock is what I am good at.
Notwithstanding that, I understand Senator Ned O'Sullivan might have some concerns about the Bill, but having read the legislation and the various debates on it I am satisfied that the movement from county enterprise boards, which were in place for more than 20 years, as stated by Senator Michael Mullins, to local enterprise offices is a good one. Furthermore, I am convinced by the fact that an issue that was of concern - namely, that we might lose some of the expertise in the county enterprise boards - is no longer a concern, as the staff will remain with the local enterprise offices for a minimum of three years in order to bed them in, and after that other staff can be brought in from the broader local authority area.
Around 750,000 jobs are provided through small businesses. The whole intention of the concept of local enterprise offices is to enhance and grow small indigenous business in Ireland. I am pleased that local enterprise offices provide much more autonomy and accountability at local level, given the make-up of their boards. As one who cut my teeth and spent most of my career in local government, I consider it important that there be accountability to local communities. I see that happening through this legislation. For that reason, I dispel any notion of a Japanese model that might be introduced here. I support the legislation.
I thank the Senators who support the legislation. A service level agreement is in place to underpin the establishment of the local enterprise offices. The local enterprise offices will be supported by Enterprise Ireland's own microenterprise and small business division, which has established a centre of excellence that is responsible for developing an improved environment for small and medium-sized businesses, the businesses that are the core of the economy. I do not see how that could be a bad thing; in fact, it is quite a progressive move. Following the dissolution of the 35 county enterprise boards and the transfer of their functions, assets and liabilities to Enterprise Ireland, the staff will still be ring-fenced and will retain their expertise and responsibility for enterprise policy and budgets. We regard this as a progressive move. We see the establishment of a first-stop shop for entrepreneurs, existing small business owners or micro-businesses as a positive step forward. That it is underpinned by a service level agreement, ultimately with Enterprise Ireland, gives it a very firm foundation.
Question put and agreed to.
Question put: "That the Bill do now pass."
The Seanad divided: Tá, 23; Níl, 14.
Tá
- Bacik, Ivana.
- Barrett, Sean D.
- Brennan, Terry.
- Burke, Colm.
- Coghlan, Eamonn.
- Coghlan, Paul.
- Comiskey, Michael.
- Conway, Martin.
- D'Arcy, Michael.
- Hayden, Aideen.
- Keane, Cáit.
- Kelly, John.
- Landy, Denis.
- Moloney, Marie.
- Moran, Mary.
- Mulcahy, Tony.
- Mullins, Michael.
- Naughton, Hildegarde.
- O'Brien, Mary Ann.
- O'Donnell, Marie-Louise.
- O'Keeffe, Susan.
- O'Neill, Pat.
- Zappone, Katherine.
Níl
- Byrne, Thomas.
- Cullinane, David.
- Daly, Mark.
- Heffernan, James.
- Leyden, Terry.
- MacSharry, Marc.
- Mooney, Paschal.
- Ó Clochartaigh, Trevor.
- Ó Domhnaill, Brian.
- Ó Murchú, Labhrás.
- O'Brien, Darragh.
- O'Donovan, Denis.
- O'Sullivan, Ned.
- Walsh, Jim.
Tellers: Tá, Senators Paul Coghlan and Aideen Hayden; Níl, Senators Paschal Mooney and Ned O'Sullivan.
Question declared carried.
When is it proposed to sit again?
Next Tuesday at 2.30 p.m.