John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Why is it that 16 other European countries believe it is important to have offices in Taiwan? Those countries generate trade to and from Taiwan. They have an immediate market there in view of the fact that the population of Taiwan is 24 million. Taiwan has protocols and cross-Strait agreements with China. Everybody else deals with Taiwan. In fact, New Zealand, which is in direct competition with Ireland in the context of the food industry, recently concluded a huge deal with that country. However, we are not represented in Taiwan. Mr. Sherry may say that Enterprise Ireland has three offices in China. However, these do not serve the Taiwanese market in an adequate way. There is a European office in Taiwan which looks after the interests of the European Union in general. In order to be involved in a market, one needs to have a physical presence in it. Some 16 other European countries have such a physical presence in Taiwan. Ireland is ignoring a market of 24 million people. We celebrated the notion that the market in China has been opened to Irish beef.

The market in Taiwan is open to Irish beef. I know that is not Mr. Sherry's specific area. There are 200 Irish nationals in Taiwan and some of them are employed in some of the biggest American companies. They cannot understand why enterprise bodies are not tapping into their resources and neither can they understand why Enterprise Ireland ended its presence in Taiwan. Why do the enterprise bodies not have an office there when 16 other competitors have offices? It has nothing to do with a One China policy. We all recognise that, as does Taiwan, yet Enterprise Ireland does not get involved there. I have been asking the question of IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland for three or four years. Nobody can comprehend why this country, which pins all of its hopes on an export boom, if one likes, to take us out of the recession, would ignore 24 million people in the Taiwanese market.