Tony McCormack (Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I thank the witnesses for their contributions. In a country like Ireland, where we have 5.4 million people and our competitiveness is so important to us, our natural resources are mainly our agriculture and our people. After that we will have a sharp focus on wind energy in the coming years, but at the moment it is not there. Looking specifically at my area in Offaly, we have lost a number of jobs through Cardinal Health in the last couple of years. The reason those jobs were lost was that the company was able to bring them to low-wage countries like Costa Rica and Mexico. As a result of that, I worry about our competitiveness through the years to come. As to what else we have here that keeps our country going, it is our FDI companies and the multiplier then of jobs that are created from that. If we take into consideration that the backbone of our community or our country are small and medium-sized enterprises, which are dependent hugely on the FDI, we cannot have one without the other.

How does ICTU believe Ireland can balance the need for fair wage growth and improved living standards for workers while maintaining international competitiveness, especially in sectors exposed to global cost pressures? Given ICTU's focus on the cost of living, what specific measures would the witnesses recommend the Government and employers take to reduce living costs for workers in ways that do not disproportionately increase the cost of doing business? What role do the witnesses see for enhanced investment in training, apprenticeships and upskilling in improving both productivity and Ireland's competitive position while also securing decent work for employees? Lastly, we will get into what the witnesses were talking about, which was dialogue and collective bargaining. How can greater collective bargaining and structured social dialogue contribute to addressing challenges such as rising costs, worker retention and long-term competitiveness? I realise we have only about five and a half minutes left so I ask the witnesses to answer as many of those for me as they can.