Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

One of the reasons that we are in this situation is that so much bureaucracy and red tape was stripped away. While there is such a thing as red tape that has no benefit for anyone, much of it was designed to ensure that companies behaved in a certain manner, even in their own best interests. In the past 20 years, companies have made many decisions that were not in their best long-term interests. For example, some companies are making decisions based on three-month thinking because everything is driven by the markets and what they can sell. The companies are not concerned about where they will be in five years' time. There is nothing to stop them from making decisions that are not in the interests of their long-term health. Claiming that companies that have regard to the environment and take a more direct duty towards health and safety and employment law will not be able to compete amounts to a race to the bottom. That is where we are heading in a canoe without a paddle.