JOINT COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND TRADE:THE WAY out of the economic crisis was through the creation of jobs, Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Eamon Gilmore has told an Oireachtas committee.

But there was a global shortage of good jobs and that was the “competitive environment” in which the Government and its agencies were operating.

The small size of our population added to the difficulty but Ireland had “this big diaspora” of about 70 million people.

The question was: “How do we harness that?” Ireland was very fortunate in that St Patrick’s Day was one of the best-known national days anywhere in the world.

The attention commanded for free by St Patrick’s Day could only be equalled at great cost by an advertising campaign, he told the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade.

There was a systematic effort under way to take advantage of the goodwill among Ireland’s exiles and their descendants.

Many of them accepted the Government’s invitation to travel, at their own expense, to attend the second Global Irish Economic Forum in Dublin Castle last October and this was “a powerful demonstration of their commitment to Ireland”.

There was a “high level of enthusiasm among the participants” and “a deep desire by participants to make a substantial contribution” to economic renewal, job-creation and restoring Ireland’s reputation abroad, he said.

But progress so far was only a first step, the Tánaiste said. “To be successful, the forum must be able to demonstrate its contribution towards Ireland’s economic regeneration.

Fianna Fáil Senator Jim Walsh said he had “always defended” politicians going abroad for St Patrick’s Day events even when “the media took a more superficial approach”.

Domestic consumption should be stimulated: “I don’t think we’re going to see the end of this recession in Ireland before the end of this decade.

“We can’t rewrite the past but what we can certainly do is try and shape the future,” he said.