Mr. Brian Cotter:

To respond to the points Deputy Durkan made, and on the back of the visit to the United States, we in the American Chamber of Commerce Ireland are involved in the production of a paper entitled The Case for Investing in Europe, aimed at the business audiences in the United States.

During our visits to the United States and talking to business people and other chambers of commerce we found a few years ago there was an obsession in the United States to the effect that all of the opportunity was in Asia. Whatever city or state one was in, the people had forgotten that four out of the top five investors and four of the top five exporting partners were European countries. It is fantastic to see a rebalancing in the world and Asia coming forward adding a new economic engine to the world, but it is very important to emphasise notwithstanding the great success, that Europe remains important and vital for the success of US businesses. It is part of our job to ensure they do not forget it. It is in Ireland's interest that this is to the fore. Once one has persuaded US companies that they need to be in Europe, then we have a case to talk to them about investing in Ireland.