Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There are significant opportunities for import substitution, particularly in the energy area. We spend a fortune importing oil, gas and coal from other jurisdictions when we could produce our own renewable energy, turn it into hydrogen and export it. The big vision we all shared was to turn Ireland from an energy importer into an energy exporter over the next decade.

It can be a little more complicated when it comes to goods. There are many things we could produce in Ireland that we currently import but they might be produced at a lower quality or higher cost. Often we import things because they can be produced less expensively overseas. If we produced them in Ireland, the consumer would have to pay much more for them. That would be an issue. We could produce more clothes and furniture in Ireland, for example, but it would make clothes and furniture more expensive for ordinary people. We always have to bear those kinds of things in mind.

Then we have beef, for example, which, at least, we would contend we can produce in a more environmentally sustainable way in Ireland than other countries do. We would encourage them to import our product because we can produce it more sustainably.