I thank you, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle, and your office for allowing me to raise this matter this evening. I call on the Minister for Enterprise and Employment to reverse this Government's job creation discrimination against Dublin. I am particularly surprised that an elected Dublin representative such as the Minister for Enterprise and Employment, Deputy Richard Bruton, should stand over and support incentives for job creation outside the Dublin area. This Minister's and the new IDA-Ireland policy of discrimination and bias against Dublin will long be remembered as a resurrection of the rural ritual in our capital city. This Government has attempted to strip Dublin of its much needed incentives for job creation and continued economic development.
I tabled parliamentary questions on the subject on 11 March seeking the Minister's views on the need to promote jobs in the Dublin region, to which he replied that Dublin and the eastern region generally had been successful in securing a large proportion of inward investment and went on to say that job creation on the part of Forbairt-assisted companies has also been exceptional.
On 6 March I tabled parliamentary questions asking that new or additional measures be focused on the north side of the city which I represent. In reply, the Minister made similar remarks to the effect that Dublin and the eastern region had been successful in recent years.
I draw the attention of the Minister of State to some questions I tabled to the Minister for Social Welfare on 11 March on the percentage of social welfare recipients with an address in the Dublin region. As one might expect, sadly and unfortunately, Dublin had by far the highest percentage of such recipients, over 28 per cent, followed a long way behind by Cork with 11 per cent and Galway with 5 per cent, all other areas showing single figures.
I also tabled some questions to the Taoiseach on 11 March in relation to the unemployment rate in the Dublin region. I was given an interesting figure in response to my question, showing that the relevant rate in April 1996 was 12.3 per cent compared with a national average of 11.9 per cent. The Taoiseach went on to state that the average unemployment rate for the European Union was 10.9 per cent.
Why is this Government standing over and supporting incentives for job creation outside the Dublin region, bearing in mind those facts and figures? As I travel around my constituency of Dublin North Central I am only too well aware, as are others, how bad the job scene is. There are specific areas of high unemployment in every part of Dublin and in my constituency it is in excess of 70 per cent in some cases.
On the basis of the factual information provided by the Taoiseach and Minister for Social Welfare I ask for an end to this rural ritual, this attempted rape of our struggling economy in Dublin. Dublin warrants, and I demand, a radical vision and level playing field in job creation.