James Reilly (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank all the witnesses for their presentations. We were especially keen to have them appear before the committee on this issue, especially the Irish Farmers Association, IFA, because often people do not accept it is a major part of Irish business, but this committee fully acknowledges that it is and we are pleased that its representatives have come along to this meeting.

I apologise as I will have to leave to go to the Seanad in a few minutes and I will therefore quickly ask my questions. One of the recurring themes has been finance and access to it. All three presentations alluded to that. We have discussed previously the need for examining the opportunity to bring a third and different type of bank into this country. I am sure the witnesses have heard of a Sparkasse, and its representatives are coming over to talk to us next year. I would like the witnesses to comment on that. Would they welcome a third force that would be of the old-style banking, and while this group is a not-for-profit one, it will lend anything from €5,000 to €50 million. They will come and walk one's land and visit one's business to understand one's model. It has a very much a personal approach and is run through offices in a region. There is talk of perhaps the credit unions collaborating with it, but we do not know if that will happen. Would the witnesses welcome such a model and the capacity to access finance in a more face-to-face fashion?

The witnesses' issues around insurance costs are well made and everybody who has come to this committee has made the same point. We had representatives of the insurance industry at our last meeting and we agreed that we will have them back for a more robust exchange. I am particularly interested in what one of the representatives of the Restaurants Association Ireland said about going outside the country to look at other possibilities. I would welcome that because that is what is needed to shake up the industry here. Nobody can understand why the costs have gone up. There are always rationale, reasons, legal costs etc., but nonetheless we heard of one small restaurant-food company in Galway whose insurance was €10,000 ten years ago and it is now €110,000 and little has changed. We are all very much concerned about that. As an aside, I would mention where the reverse occurred years ago when GPs in this country found it ridiculously expensive to be insured by English companies and we set up our own company. While the restaurants association will possibly be doing the reverse, more competition is needed in the insurance sector.

How would the witnesses address the Irish Music Rights Organisation, IMRO issue in regard to that? I would agree with comments made by people around greater transparency on how rates are spent. I would not have an issue with that.

On the labour shortage, I would point to the number of people who had jobs in the agriculture industry that were created in 2011, 2012 and 2013 as the building sector was collapsing. Many people who had been engaged in farming had gone into the building sector and then moved from it back to farming and now the building sector is struggling to attract people back. Nobody has mentioned the minium wage but they have mentioned labour costs. We will need to have wages competition to attract people into any element of labour, whether it be in the building sector or restaurant sector.

Work permits etc. are an issue that we have dealt with here under a different guise where there was ferocious abuse. Will the witnesses comment on how they would protect people from that? We have had plenty of stories here of people having passports taken from them and basically living a life of indenture.

I am interested in the apprenticeship issue. I think we place far too much importance on going to university. In these other trades, people make as much money or more money and have as good a life and they are just as critical to the well-being of our society as any university degree. How would the IFA communicate to us or the powers that be in educational facilities its needs vis-à-viswhere it sees a need for apprenticeships? The same goes for the building trade and the restaurant industry.

I will comment on the issues with renewable energy. It has always struck me that we have all these amazing agricultural buildings with roof space and we are not using it for solar energy and photovoltaics. There are newer possibilities too. We have asked the Minister for regulations because a number of local authorities have declined planning for farms for solar energy on the basis that there are no national guidelines. My main question to the witnesses is about the finance issue and what their feelings would be if there were a third banking force.