Mr. Michael O'Brien:

Okay. Before the British adopted a national procurement policy similar to that which has been proposed here, there were 652 local library suppliers in the United Kingdom. Now there are two; I inadvertently mentioned their names. As friend of mine said, first we were colonised by the English, then we were colonised by Rome, then we were colonised by the banks and now we are slaves to a non-existent European Union policy. The reason say we are slaves to a non-existent European policy is this. I had the good fortune to meet the Minister of State, Deputy Jimmy Deenihan, when he was Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht and both he and the President were in London. We had a little meeting and I explained this issue in some detail. The first thing he said was that it must be the result of European Union policy. This is a default position. I told him he was completely wrong. In fact, the policy in most European Union member states is exactly the opposite of what is being proposed here. When it comes to national procurement in the European Union, outsourcing to other countries is a small proportion of the overall total. For example, the outsourcing of services from Germany to Sweden, amounts to 2% of public procurement. In Ireland, however, the figure is 28%. That is a massive drain on the economy, amounting to billions of euro. The Government's policy is shooting own goals, and it must stop now.
Elsewhere in Europe, books fall under cultural policy. A former Minister for Culture and Communications in France described culture in the following terms:

Culture is a formidable factor of growth, generating direct economic benefits that are infinitely superior to any investment mobilised. Culture must be viewed as an important tool for economic development. Culture is also a powerful factor in economic success.

In Ireland we do not look at culture in that way at all. We look at it as something for which we give very small handouts. We do not appreciate what we have. Almost all of the 27 EU member states have an integrated cultural policy. For example, many have fixed prices for books, by law, and local library procurement, sometimes within cities. This means, for example, that in a city the size of Cork local procurement to the library would be from a supplier based in the city. Elsewhere in Europe, books, tourism, information technology, arts, libraries, theatre, film and music are all stitched into one integrated cultural policy, creating millions of jobs and generating millions of euro for the economy. We must learn from other countries. The first Minister for culture in Europe was appointed in the 1880s in France, a country that is light years ahead of Ireland. The French know how to do it. We must abandon the brutal American and British race-to-the-bottom, winner-takes-all economic policies that we are mirroring. Other countries in Europe play smart and are highly effective in protecting their economies.
We must make culture an economic force. The annual budget of the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht is less than one day's expenditure in the Department of Education and Skills and is probably equivalent to about one hour's expenditure in the Department of Health. The Arts Council should receive an annual budget of €100 million, because the amount of spin-off jobs created would be way out of proportion to this. In other words, we would get more jobs for our money. Culture Ireland, which receives a budget of €3 million, should be given a budget of €20 million.

Another thing that really affects me as a publisher, because I publish writers, is the Government's decision to name two warships after James Joyce and Samuel Beckett. These are people who were drummed out of this country and could not live here. Lots of writers' works were banned. The hypocrisy of that compared to cultural policy is just mind-blowing. We should scrap the national procurement policy for libraries before it scraps us.

I feel a sense of shame for my country. I am a patriot, but I really do feel a sense of shame. Where are the strategic long-term policies from any Government, including this Government? We help generate wealth, and politicians spend it. It is important to remember that. There are very few businesspeople in the Dáil or the Seanad. Senator Feargal Quinn is an outstanding example, but they are a small minority.