James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail)

I will ask a couple of questions. I have found the contributions and some of the questions that have been posed extremely interesting. I am a Government TD as well as being Cathaoirleach of the committee. I would probably be bracketed in the disgruntled group. I have a couple of questions. I am interested in getting the witnesses' views, and I will share it around.

Something I often hear from Ministers and senior civil servants who want to tackle issues is the overall inertia in Ireland around administration and actually taking a document such as the new competitiveness strategy and implementing that. The unions have a major role to play in what we want the our economy and society to look like in ten years' time. Something that is very clear, and Dr. McDonnell discussed the giga changes that are happening internationally, is that we will move into a multi-polar world order over the next 50-plus years or certainly in the foreseeable future. We have done so well out of the United States. With FDI, 80% of our corporate tax take is from US multinationals alone. While that and how we have managed to bring in that business has been a huge success over the past three or four decades, even through the depths of the recession, it is quite clear that the United States is politically on very unstable ground. That represents a huge economic risk to us.

There is also the need for rapid policy and other changes around energy. I have advocated for the need for nuclear power in Ireland. I am one of the few Deputies to have brought that up. Sometimes, we need to take divisive decisions in respect of matters on which there is a need for collective action. The reason I reference this is because Ireland is now averaging out as the third most expensive of the EU 27 for household electricity costs. At one point in the past 18 months, we became the most expensive economy in the entire European Union for non-residential electricity. That affects businesses. There is a full-blown crisis, and I am saying that as Cathaoirleach of this committee. There is a general view, which all members of the committee understand, that electricity prices are on the verge going out of control. We are also aware of the impact this has on businesses.

My questions is about inertia. Do the witnesses think we need significant political reform in the context of Ministers being given the power to bring State agencies together and tell them that siloed decision-making where there is not collective responsibility is unacceptable. In the areas of planning, we have An Bord Pleanála, the Office of the Planning Regulator, local authorities and the Department’s policy. Then there is the environmental layer whereby there might be involvement on the part of An Taisce and the EPA. There are webs and layers around decision-making. When it comes to getting something of national strategic importance to the country done, it is just extraordinarily difficult. I am very interested in hearing from the witnesses, from an economic standpoint but also from a union standpoint - from Mr. Gibbons - as to what this means to them. We might start with Dr. McDonnell.