Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

The Deputy will appreciate that these meetings are meant to encourage people to invest in the island of Ireland and to look at an all-Ireland economy. We try to sell the attractiveness of Ireland. After that, it is the job of the IDA and Forfás to bring people on site visits. Normally we are trying to draw investors who might be considering other locations, increasingly Singapore or Bangalore. That is the challenge today. The IDA has experience in this area over many years and, for example, brought in the presidents of a number of organisations during September. Increasingly we are fighting to attract businesses considering locating outside Europe. A great many new investments are now being made in Bangalore or China, in particular two regions in China, and in Singapore. This is the opposition we have faced while chasing the most recent five or six major projects. We are rarely competing now against another European partner. Generally, therefore, my presentations would be largely kept to the national area, while the IDA for example would follow up.

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