George Lawlor (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Thank you, a Chathaoirligh. I congratulate you also on your elevation to the office of Cathaoirleach of this committee. I have been involved in politics for over 20 years. I was a county councillor for 20 years in Wexford but I am a newly elected Deputy. That was one of the joys of having a long-standing TD from my own party living a few hundred yards away from me. As a Deputy in his first term, the committee structures are new to me and I, too, would like to express some frustration with the timing of committees. I will be leaving to propose a motion in the Dáil this afternoon, so like Deputy Gogarty and I presume everybody else, I will be coming and going, but our hearts and minds will be here also.

I look forward to working on this committee, especially on the development of indigenous industry. As has been stated, the geopolitical difficulties we now face are probably a wake-up call for us in the context of the way we have been operating for the past number of decades, so I am interested in greater investment in and development of our indigenous industries, as well as the development of our wonderful tourism product. The tourism sector is going through challenging times also. We have seen figures showing drops of more than 30% in foreign visitors in certain parts of the year and that is something we must focus on. I also look forward to doing all we can to enhance the terms and conditions of workers on this island. If we enhance the position of workers, we enhance everybody through the macro economy. I look forward to working with everybody in a very collegial way.