It is my great pleasure to welcome you all to this morning's opening of this prestigious and fundamentally important conference for Europe, and indeed for Ireland.

Fine Gael Meath West TD and Chairman of the Oireachtas Jobs Committee, Damien English, has today (Friday) said that new figures show there has been an encouraging increase in the number of jobs in Enterprise Ireland (EI) supported companies over the last two years. The number of jobs in EI companies in Meath was up to 4,771 last year, an increase of almost 500 since 2010. Furthermore, the number of jobs in EI companies in the county is now above 2008 levels.

Fine Gael TD for Mayo, John O’Mahony, has highlighted the problems being caused by the delays in the Garda vetting system. Speaking in Dail Eireann, Deputy O’Mahony attributed some of the delay to duplication, whereby individuals are being assessed on two or more occasions.

Fine Gael Waterford Deputy, Paudie Coffey, has said news that, subject to outstanding issues being resolved, Carrickpherish School Campus will commence to construction phase in the latter half of this year, saying that the move is a step in the right direction. Deputy Coffey, who has been working on this issue for quite some time, has said this progress will mean that the new school should be ready for use at the start of 2015.

Fine Gael Cork North West Deputy, Áine Collins, has commended the work of Enterprise Ireland (EI) whose client companies have recorded exports for 2012 of €16.2 billion; the highest ever export figure recorded by EI-supported companies.

"The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has granted funding to Fingal County Council for works at Loughshinny Harbour," according to Alan Farrell, Fine Gael TD for Dublin Fingal.

The Pyrite Resolution Board (PRB) has set out a preliminary roadmap for the testing and remediation of properties affected by significant pyritic heave.

"The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has granted funding to Fingal County Council for works at Loughshinny Harbour," according to Alan Farrell, Fine Gael TD for Dublin Fingal.