Mr. Feargal O'Rourke:

I am an optimist by nature. No matter how the world changes and moves, we tend, and have done for 75 years, to adapt to those changing circumstances. There are probably two key enablers for Ireland. One is that we are nimble and agile. Successive governments have been very good at looking out into what is happening in the marketplace and then seeing if we can adapt it. To take the research and development tax credit, for example, it has been around for 20 years, having been brought in 2004. It has, though, been adapted and adjusted many times over those years to take into account feedback not just from FDI companies but also from indigenous industry. This is a really good example of our nimbleness and agility.

There are some areas we might not be able to compete in. If we look at what the US is doing now, in a change in recent years from the past, it is offering significant subsidies to microchip manufacturers to base their chip manufacturing operations in the US. Now, we will not be able to compete with the numbers being offered by the US to subsidise companies making chips. Having said that, however, whether it is chip manufacturing or any other industry, companies have a desire for geographical diversity and not to have all their eggs in one basket. When companies are looking at geographical diversity and at the European market, then our job is to be in the top two countries on the list when they are starting their analysis and to get to number one when they have completed it. If we continue to be nimble and to reflect the feedback we receive from client companies and then to action it into changes in policies and legislation, we will continue to be at the forefront.

As I look at the landscape, the other country that would have come up quite a bit, again in the context of my previous career, is Singapore. It is a different model in many ways but people would talk about the IDA and the Singaporean authority in the same breath as being excellent at what they do. I definitely do not want to sound complacent. We recognise it is a war every week to get inward investment. I am not looking at any other country, however, and wishing we could be it. I am very happy with where we are at and I am very happy with the support received from successive governments in giving us the changed tools when they are needed to attract inward investment.