Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

We will do everything we can to support indigenous enterprise.

These changes make a real impact on the nature of economic activity and employment in the economy. Our approach to investment gives confidence to investors. Between 1999 and 2007, chemical-pharma sites expanded, with a total investment of €1.3 billion on existing sites. During the same period, there were 16 greenfield developments, with an investment of €5 billion and more than 5,000 new jobs. This sector exported almost €42 billion worth of goods in 2006, an increase of 269% since 1997. Manufacturing yield and its output have gone up because of technological innovation and people doing the right thing for future viability. Jobs have declined but the important point is that we are very competitive on high-end manufacturing and should stay that way. In respect of the point I made about the investments to which I have just alluded, they are very significant investment decisions by the companies involved. They are only made where companies can expect long-term benefits and have clear visibility around the competitive attractions and strengths of our economy. Otherwise, they would not have made these investment decisions.

Last year, when total employment exceeded two million for the first time, net job creation in the agencies, both in the IDA and Enterprise Ireland, was the highest since 2000. A recent FDI index put Ireland at number two in the EU-15 for FDI inflows. We are not talking about averages; Ireland was placed second. An international report recently showed that Ireland attracted more foreign investment in life sciences than any other European country in the 12 months from July 2006 to June of this year. This is a picture of growth and competitiveness — not the picture of decline and uncompetitiveness painted by Fine Gael.

International investment decisions to invest here are not goodwill gestures — they are made on the basis of hard facts, critical evaluation and confidence in Ireland. The IMD world competitiveness yearbook ranks Ireland as second in investment incentives and first in corporate tax rate on profit.

See this speech in context