Dr. Tom McDonnell:

There is Denmark, Sweden and Finland as well. None of those countries would be particularly resource-rich. A point was made earlier about the knowledge economy.

In the future productivity gains will really be about knowledge. Having an educated workforce in which nobody falls behind because of poverty will be key. In terms of the enterprise environment, achieving productivity gains to allow everyone to benefit in the way previous delegates discussed will mean sustained long-term investment in education and research and development. The level of investment in research and development on a per capitabasis is two thirds of that in the United States which is considered to be a low-tax and low-spending economy but it spends much more than Ireland on research and development. The Netherlands spends twice as much per person on research and development, while Denmark spends three times as much. These countries are investing in new ideas and innovations and will generate new high value businesses. Many will fail - many in Ireland will also fail - but in these countries more businesses will be generated. There are more ideas coming through because of which they have a more educated and qualified workforce. Unfortunately, all of this costs money, but that is the deal between employers and employees. The employers are saying they will invest more in their workers. The countries mentioned also have great infrastructure, of course, which helps to reduce costs. In Ireland one can travel from Maynooth to Dublin and essentially be a sardine. That model required a long period of trust building. It also required buy-in from all parties in order that there would be something in it for everyone. Employers gained a high quality workforce; employees achieved a high standard of living and a high wage, while for the state there were low levels of poverty and high levels of GDP. Ireland could not do the same overnight, of course. Its model was based on attracting US multinationals and it was very successful in doing so, but it has not been successful in developing indigenous enterprise. The Deputy asked about Denmark. A much higher proportion of its exports come from small and medium enterprises in its indigenous sector. It has very successful small and medium businesses. It also tends to do well in areas such as wind energy where we have not really pushed out the envelope.