Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy McCormack and I acknowledge his work on IDA investment in County Offaly. We had many discussions on Cardinal Health, which quite rightly links in with the issues he is raising. One of the key things in our FDI sector is if we get research, innovation and investment into it from an early stage, particularly those companies at risk, at a lower margin or are in danger of being outpriced, they can get new processes, product lines and better innovation.

That will enhance their productivity. We have done that on a number of occasions. We are working hard in the Deputy’s sector to try to improve that. We have had a huge amount of investment in FDI sector over the past number of years. It is important, as he quite rightly points out, that our action plan for competitiveness will drive costs down. We have a new life sciences strategy coming forward. This will be key to supporting our pharma, med-tech and diagnostic sectors. Our semiconductor strategy will be significant in the context of the implications it will have in the future and our large-scale next generation sites. All that good work is under way. We need to keep a close eye on the indigenous economy. We know how much small family businesses generate around their kitchen table. They do not have a HR director or a finance director. A lot of the work is done at home under pressurised circumstances. Anything we can do to assist those and retain the employment in those communities is important.