Michael Mullins (Fine Gael)
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I welcome our visitors. I always admire how positive they are in most of their news releases. That is important, especially in these difficult times. This leads me to our global reputation. How does Chambers Ireland view it now? If the Government were to do three things to further enhance our global reputation, what would Chambers Ireland recommend? The delegation referred to trade missions, and I know there has been quite an increase in Minister-led trade missions. Chambers Ireland has said more could be done. What more does the delegation wish to see done? Should they be structured in a different way? The delegation referred to breaking into new markets and not relying totally on the BRIC group of countries. They also made reference to our nearest and traditional market, the United Kingdom. It surprises me that we are not exploiting it to its full potential. What do we need to do further in this area?

I agree with all my colleagues with regard to the St. Patrick's Day situation. I believe the people have moved beyond the pettiness of the Irish media in this regard. This is an opportunity afforded to no other country in the world. For one day we have a worldwide opportunity to maximise the exposure of the nation. I am keen to see scarce resources spent wisely but I believe that is happening and that we get a good bang for our buck, especially with The Gathering this year. It is a significant opportunity to maximise the St. Patrick's Day activity and to crank it up for all the centenary celebrations that will arise in the coming years.

I, too, am against the outsourcing of passport issuing. I see a good deal of merit in outsourcing some services that the State provides, but the private sector does not always get it right either. We have seen some examples of that. We should be careful about what we outsource; it is not always cost-effective. Some public services are currently being outsourced and I question whether we get good value for money from the process. The jury is out in this regard but I accept that we should examine the potential for outsourcing services that lend themselves to being done better than in the public service.