The Irish promise advances on employment and growth, but can the country handle its own growing jobs burden?

Reporter: Challenges ahead for Ireland’s EU Presidency

https://api.multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/documents/20125/16179230/m003-0233-en.srt

A string of tasks awaits Ireland when  it takes the EU Presidency in January.

unfinished budgets, agricultural reform.  How will the Irish juggle it all?

By focusing on the headline issues,  they say. Growth and jobs.

Reporter travels to the western city  of Galway to discover more.

It takes a brave man to launch a small,  5,000 euro, high-tech box of tricks,

designed to save energy,  in the depths of recession,

especially when  the target European markets

are countries of zero or negative growth.

We didn't have much choice. Businesses  closed down, people were losing jobs.

There's been a large growth in start-ups  in Ireland in the last two or three years.

People had no option but to start their  own business. There were no jobs.

The miracle is, it's happened  in the midst of a banking crisis

in which credit for innovative start-ups,  in Ollie Walsh's case,

producing a device to help reduce  energy bills by up to 15%

and measure CO2 emissions,  has all but dried up.

We had a very good idea, but the funding  to get it to market wasn't available.

So we had to look for  an alternative model or route.

Partnership and collaboration  was the way we chose.

Now he and his partners  are through the worst,

he has a message  for the Irish government

when all eyes will be  on its EU Presidency.

Policies at the moment  are based around austerity.

I think we need to balance that  with growth.

There needs to be a stimulus.  There's lots of talk of focusing on jobs,

but we're not seeing the results of that.

Which is precisely  what the Irish have identified.

15% are out of work now. The domestic  property market has crashed.

Shops are slashing prices, then closing.

But this is a country of resilience  and invention.

At the National University  of Ireland, Galway,

it looks like tradition is the thing  and, indeed, it is.

But these classical lines, the warmth of  old stone guarding a deep Irish history

and preferably, in today's  knowledge-based digital economy,

In the 1990s, Ireland used the EU money  available to its poorer members wisely.

It invested in education, infrastructure,  niche high-tech R&D and industry.

It made a name for itself worldwide  and put Galway on the map.

And it gave academics a chance  to apply their science in commerce.

Gavin Duffy,  one-time marine geophysicist, is one.

Here he's running a demo  of his 3D animation technology

to students of the university's  astronomy faculty.

It's about fusing gaming and mapping  technologies. It all started well enough.

I was a typical student,  not a penny to my name.

I presented a business plan with  a novel elevated photography system.

He thought it was brilliant.  He said, 'How much money do you want?'

I gave him a figure. He'd have given me  twice as much if I'd asked.

Then the crash.  -Now I don't know any start-up business

It's very frustrating when you've got  a lot of people here in Galway

with huge amounts of energy,  innovation and ambition.

He feels the EU has behaved badly  towards Ireland

with the European Central Bank,  the ECB,

I'd expect or ask the Irish government  to be firmer with the ECB

in their negotiations  on the repayment terms.

You can see Greece has taken huge,  forced write-downs in their debt,

because it's unsustainable.  It is also unsustainable for Ireland.

But it's taking on the Presidency  saying austerity has paid off.

It says it's fulfilled the bailout conditions  almost and can now step out of them

and manage its budget without  compulsory oversight by Brussels.

Try telling that to the folk  on the hill overlooking the city

in Galway's run-down Ballybane district.

The world of innovation, reskilling for  the modern age, has passed the people by.

to try to redress the cutbacks  in community funding,

Parents are not eating. If it's a choice  between feeding the kids or themselves,

the children are getting the food.  It's the truth.

Ireland last had  the EU Presidency in 2004.

Then it was about welcoming  new democracies in Eastern Europe

to the EU family. Ireland does  the business of welcome very well,

but nine years on it knows  it can't rely on a warm welcome alone.