Mr. Barry O'Leary:

There are approximately 100 German companies in Ireland at the moment and two thirds of them are involved in manufacturing, particularly engineering. Many of them are what are called Mittelstand companies or family-owned companies, which can be sizable in their own right, and a number of them have substantial operations here. Kostal has approximately 800 people between Mallow and Abbeyfeale, while Liebherr in Killarney has between 500 and 600. However, it has proved rather tough to get manufacturing in the engineering sector here because of the competitive nature of it. In particular, much of the business is tied to the automotive industry or capital goods. A good deal of the German investment in automotive components is going to where the big plants are and many of the big plants are going into Slovakia, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland, etc. However, it is an area we continue to monitor and I believe Ovens has, thankfully, recovered competitiveness. There are some opportunities there and we have people working in the German market to try to make the most of them.