During a meeting of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Affairs, I said: I do not envy the Commissioner who has a long list of questions we expect him to answer. He has the task of addressing jobs and growth. In the 1980s in Ireland there was a job creation campaign. I was chairman of a hospital at the time and the Government wrote regularly to us asking how many new jobs we had been able to create. That got us into considerable trouble because we created jobs that were not sustainable...

Let me provide one instance. I wear another hat as chairman of EuroCommerce and have met the Commissioner in Brussels on that basis.

Mr. Günter Verheugen:  The Senator gave me a very interesting book and I have read it.

I thank the Commissioner. I wrote it some years ago. My wife says there are fewer copies of the unsigned than the signed version. Every time the Commissioner referred to manufacturing, he referred to services. I remind the European Union, through the Commissioner, of the importance of commerce, because very often it is left behind. There are 31 million people employed in commerce in the European Union. They work in 6 million different outlets, mainly very small shops, most of which are SMEs as Senator deBúrca stated.

Let us consider the difference between the number and the percentage of jobs in Europe and the United States of America. In America, the higher number of jobs is in services, which is made up of wholesale, retail and distribution. This is because of recognition of the importance of commerce as opposed to manufacturing. Very often in many of the institutions in Europe and Brussels there is such a high regard for manufacturing and agriculture that the importance of commerce is almost forgotten. I put in a word for commerce to ensure we recognise the very significant potential and ability to create jobs in the sector. Every step taken that hinders that potential, makes it less likely to occur. One such step, on which I wish to hear the Commissioner comment, is the tendency towards protectionism. The removal of barriers is an essential part of ensuring the realisation of that which the Commissioner remarked on. I encourage the Commissioner to pursue that aim because it seems that unless we remove those barriers we will be unable to establish one large market.

I was in Tallinn in Estonia some time back and I visited what seemed to be a small shop. There was nothing very interesting in the shop downstairs but the owner took me upstairs, where he had 11 people working on internet shopping. He found there are different stipulations in Latvia, Lithuania and the Czech Republic, where he was trying to sell because they still maintain the older traditions including barriers to trade. We must find a way to remove these to have one single market.

My message is that there are opportunities for growth and jobs in commerce which are not fully recognised and we must remove the barriers to avail of these. One of the barriers to a single market is the tendency towards protectionism, not only in 27 different countries but even in areas within countries. It seems there are sections of countries which keep markets for themselves and do not wish outsiders to trade there. I do not refer to any countries in particular.

I refer to one instance of the creation of new jobs. I visited a new very large shopping centre in Madrid. I cannot remember how many people are employed there but there are more than a couple of thousand people. I entered one bookshop in which there were 37 people employed. Those jobs would not exist if the shopping centre had not been built. The jobs were created and people were buying books that might not otherwise have done so. Some jobs would have been created by those who manufacture the books, but others came from the distribution, the transport and the whole area of ensuring the books arrive in the market. There are jobs created through encouraging people to buy and ensuring the people in the shop sell the books. There are also jobs in the coffee bars in the bookshop and so on. Those jobs would not have been created without the shopping centre and the bookshop.

It seems that very often we regard those in commerce as parasites. There is a perception that they are not creating something and that it is only the printer which does so, but this is not the case. Many jobs are created in that area. I put in a word for the benefits of commerce and international trade and distribution at wholesale and retail level. I remind the committee and the delegation that these are the likely creators of jobs, rather than simply agriculture and manufacturing. I do not believe this has been recognised enough. However, I believe the Commissioner recognises this and I wish to stitch it on the record to ensure we do not ask the European Union to create jobs. We ask it to create the environment so that the creativity of the citizens and the entrepreneurs can create the jobs.

For the full text of the meeting, please click here: http://debates.oireachtas.ie/DDebate.aspx?F=EUJ20090226.xml&Node=H2&Page=3