Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Yes. I welcome the IDA delegation. Like other members I am well aware of the good work the IDA has done in the past, and continues to do. It is probably not the witnesses' area but a concern I have is that we are a developing a two-tier economy, one in Dublin and one in the rest of the country. There must be much better regional focus by the IDA than is currently the case. Most foreign direct investments, FDIs, coming here - I dealt with the IDA regarding a number of companies that came to Wexford over 25 years ago - want to locate in Dublin so there must be active encouragement to get them to locate in the provinces, and that does not seem to be happening. I do not believe the regional hubs we set up are serving the regions well.

It is significant that the IDA has increased to 20% investments from those developing areas. That is a positive development. Can the witnesses give us an idea of the figures? They said there were 9,500 employed here but what about Irish companies that have enterprises in those regions? Many companies now have bases abroad, particularly in Asia. It was put to us previously, and I hope the witnesses recognise this, that in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, ASEAN, there tended to be an over-concentration on China but putting all our eggs in one basket, as we found out in this country, is not a good idea, be it geographic, sectoral or whatever. That is my first point.

Second, the witnesses mentioned that Ireland was relatively unknown abroad. What initiatives do they have to create awareness around Ireland? In particular, have they considered the music industry? I have been on holidays in Indonesia and other parts of Asia and I am always struck by the fact that people will talk to me in restaurants and so on about Enya, Chris de Burgh, U2 and other groups. Is there any way the IDA could leverage that knowledge about our musicians? When one engages with the people they do not realise those artists are from Ireland; they are just familiar with the names. There might be potential in that area, and perhaps the IDA is doing that already.

Third, does the IDA operate as a one-stop shop? Apart from attracting foreign direct investment, particularly in view of what has been said about the possibility of Britain leaving the European Union, we should be looking to diversify our exports. One of the failures has been that our exports to Britain now are nearly as high as they were in the distant past when there was a stated policy intention to reduce the dependence on that market. The proximity, the language and so on assisted in that but are we operating as a one-stop shop and helping those companies exporting into those regions as well? The witnesses might expand on that.

My fourth point is to do with access. A number of people mentioned that not being part of the Schengen Agreement can sometimes be an obstacle to attracting tourists but also business people here because of the bureaucracy involved in visas. Do the witnesses have a view on whether we should be part of Schengen? I find it difficult to understand the reason we are not at this stage.