Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

I note a similarity in the questions asked. It has become increasingly clear that while no one doubts the economy's success in the past ten to 20 years, there is increasing concern that we have gone through two phases of a boom, the first of which involved genuine growth in productivity, exports and manufacturing, which has been followed in the past five years during the Government's term in office by a phase based on growth in construction and consumption at home which crowds out our ability to develop an economy based on enterprise and exports. While no one doubts that certain sectors such as financial services have continued to grow in recent years, there is a concern that the decrease of 32,000 in the number of manufacturing jobs and the balance of trade deficit, projected to be €6.9 billion this year, paint a picture of an economy heading towards more difficult times and a Government which is not delivering solutions that will have a real impact on the ground. The Minister set out the various ways by which he hopes to address these issues, but we are not seeing any signs of success.

I examined the commercialisation research and development fund and its outcomes in some detail. There may, indeed, be a good deal of money being put into the area of research and development, but it is clear that the outcome in terms of new indigenous Irish exporting companies is not being delivered. One can just count the number of patents and start-ups and look at the detail as regards what is happening in the economy. One could say the Minister for Finance has taken up many of the suggestions of the Small Business Forum and others. However, he is still acting as a Fianna Fáil Minister for Finance in that there are still tax breaks and major incentives in the area of property development, which is crowding out the likelihood of an alternative enterprise economy here.

Has there been discussion in Cabinet about the need to slow down the construction sector in order to free up capacity within the rest of the economy? Has the Minister made the case to the Department of Finance for scaling back some of those other developments? What success has he had with the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Deputy Noel Dempsey, for example, in terms of trying to reduce some of the costs facing new entrepreneurs by taking on what the National Competitiveness Council shows as the dominance of utilities in Ireland in areas such as telecommunications and electricity supply? The main cost factors affecting companies are way out of line. What has the Minister done to change Government policy in that regard to try to help an indigenous enterprise economy?

No one disagrees with the analysis that we need to change and to put the emphasis on research and development. What is becoming increasingly clear on this side of the House, however, is that the Minister is not being effective in delivering change.

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