Mr. Martin Shanahan:

As the Deputy mentioned, no decision has been communicated by Intel regarding what its plan is to build its super-fabrication plant in Europe.

Intel is one of the largest investors in the country. It is currently building in Leixlip two of the most advanced semiconductor fabrication plants on the planet. Its investment in Ireland is immense and will continue to be very significant for many years to come. It has decided that its foundry business will commence in Leixlip. We will continue to work with Intel on all its future plans.

I am a member of the National Competitiveness and Productivity Council, so I have contributed to some of those findings that it shared with the Deputy. It is clear that we must continue to improve on all aspects of our offering in order to remain competitive. I do not think there will ever be a day when a CEO of IDA Ireland will appear before the committee and say that all is well and that we are as competitive as we can be. It is clear that we have to continue to improve. The Deputy mentioned certain areas, as has IDA Ireland, in which improvement is required in order for us to remain competitive. Those areas include housing and the availability of utilities, such as energy and water in particular, and others.

Ireland is clearly competitive on many fronts. That is why we had the ability to win the number of investments we won in recent years, particularly in the past year. Employment is increasing in the FDI sector because multinationals have confidence in Ireland. We should not take that confidence for granted. We have to do the things we need to do to remain competitive in all the areas the Deputy mentioned. We have to improve in many of those areas because all our competitors are doing so. Our competitors, however, are not without difficulties. I speak to my peers and investors every day and the locations against which we are competing also have difficulties, many of them in similar areas. We have to do more and continue to do more. These are issues. In many cases, they are not unique to Ireland. Obviously, we have many strengths that allow us to attract investment.