Seán Ardagh (Dublin South Central, Fianna Fail)

The services directive will bring some benefits to the well educated and well trained workforce in Ireland. This country's services exports have increased by 167% over the past six years. Although Ireland is a very small country, it is the source of 2.2% of the world's total services exports, which is a fabulous feat. We are punching well above our weight in the services sector. When the services directive, which needs to be amended, is put in place, it will be of great benefit to Ireland. An independent analysis that was conducted on behalf of Forfás has estimated that the services directive will be worth approximately €450 million to Ireland. As politicians, we need to bring about a better Ireland rather than pandering to immediate political expediency, as has been seen to be done in recent times.

I propose to share the rest of my time with Deputies Fiona O'Malley, Andrews, O'Connor and Curran.

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