Ned O'Keeffe (Cork East, Fianna Fail)

I came into the House this evening to develop a point I made previously. I made a statement in the House in respect of the state of auditing. To back up my statement, I can cite two major companies, namely, Enron in America, which was a huge company, and Parmalat in Italy. They went to the wall during the good times but had they been properly audited in either country, they would not have experienced difficulties. There is a need for a tightening of auditing and the structure of appointing auditors to limited liability companies must be changed in the Oireachtas. There must be greater input into the selection of auditors. Perhaps there should be a selection process, similar to that which has been put in place by the Minister for directors of banks. The latter has not been announced yet but he is about to do it. I envisage a system in which there would be a panel of auditors from which they could be selected. This would be the way to do it because we are losing out heavily in this regard. I believe the banking problems in respect of the liabilities that have arisen and their foreign borrowings to fund the Irish market and perhaps other markets abroad, should have been seen by auditors. Such matters should have been raised and such activities should have been brought to heel. However, this was not done and that is where we are today.

On the Lisbon treaty, it is highly embarrassing for Ireland that it has not ratified the treaty. We must work hard to get back into the mainstream of Europe, to become the model of Europe again and to become the favoured people in Europe. We must get all sectors of society to support us. I refer in particular to the farming community, which has most to lose in a scenario in which we are not in Europe. I believe this must be done quickly. I have campaigned for Europe more extensively than most because I campaigned for it initially in 1972. It was obvious to me that those who opposed our accession in 1972 were still around and at some stage would get a victory, which they did in the referendum.

I do not worry about victories but what happened was a tragedy and it should not have happened. I heard Cardinal Brady speak at today's meeting of the Sub-committee on Ireland's Future in the European Union. He spoke about Europe and referred to Tory Island among other things. In principle, he was in favour of supporting the Lisbon treaty.

Much has been said about school buildings in tonight's debate. I understand that next year we will build 62 major school building projects and that we will build 100 school extensions. In addition, small school work schemes will go ahead as well as devolved grants. Many questions have been asked about Church of Ireland schools. I have sympathy for the Church of Ireland as the minority religion. Those schools qualify for a block grant of €3.8 million. I have two minority schools in my area and I was concerned about them because they raised the issue with me. I am grateful to the Minister for Education and Science for being helpful in that regard.

It is difficult to debate an issue when things have been so favourable previously. We had many good years. However, all budgets are difficult. We had a budget in 1997 that caused difficulties. Every budget in recent years had its problems because it did not meet the requirements of every citizen. People are fond of lobbying and creating a fuss about issues.

I am impressed by the support of the Green Party, under the leadership of Deputy Gormley, for the Government. He realises the importance of the economy and has put the national interest at the top of his agenda in supporting the budget. That kind of commitment from a minority party is a sure sign of the importance of the issue at stake.

We have to borrow €11.5 billion this year and we will borrow €13.5 billion in 2009 to keep public services afloat. In 2009 alone that is equivalent to borrowing an extra €37 million every day of the year. That is an indication of how serious is the matter. We have gone from a position of substantial growth in the economy to not having any growth. By 2011 that will mean additional borrowing of €45 billion. That is an enormous sum on which to pay interest. It is equivalent to approximately €10,000 for every man, woman and child in the country or more than €21,000 for every worker. Ten per cent of day-to-day spending will be borrowed in 2009. We must recognise that the figures are serious and accept the situation. I hope the Opposition recognises that. In fairness, the Opposition has been reasonably supportive but it has not answered my question on where it would make savings of €4 billion as opposed to the Government's €2 billion.

Much industry has come into this country in recent years, including from North America. Today is an historic day in the United States with the election of Barack Obama. I hope his commitment to this side of the Atlantic will be equal to that of previous US Presidents and that we can continue to have 100,000 jobs provided by North American industry in Ireland. However, we must also praise our own company, Cement Roadstone, which employs 100,000 people across the world. We have good businesses in this country and Cement Roadstone is one of our flagship industries. It deserves praise for its commitment. In recent days that company suffered substantially in the financial markets but for a multinational Irish company it employs a significant number of people. We greatly admire the company and its managers who have brought such success to the organisation, with the island of Ireland acting as a flagship for us in all regions and continents around the world.

I also praise the American companies that are located in Ireland. I hope they can all stay with us in spite of what has been said. Dell is the one I am most concerned about because it generates significant employment in my area of Cork on the Limerick border. I hear a lot about the company. I believe Dell is committed to Ireland and I hope it can continue here. The convoy of cars going from my area to Limerick city is reminiscent of the Munster final. Dell is a major employer that has taken up the slack due to the loss of the food industry in my area.

The food industry is one thing that is near and dear to me. Country of origin labelling must be addressed in an Irish context because of the huge amount of food imports that is taking from the livelihoods of farmers. It is a major issue. I serve on two committees of the House, namely, the Joint Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment and the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. Deputy Willie Penrose is Chairman of the former and Deputy Johnny Brady is Chairman of the latter. They have done great work in the area of country of origin labelling but we are not making the kind of progress I would like. If we do not make more progress we will have more imports. Country of origin labelling is necessary to give choice to housewives. It is important to know where a product comes from and to offer choice. If we do not have that we will never have the wholesome Irish food we were used to in the past, such as the traditional Irish breakfast.

I am conscious of what is happening in the country in this regard. We do not have any poultry processing such as we had in the past and there is no pig processing into a branded product. We only have primary production. There is no packaging or branding such as we had in the past and we are losing out heavily because of that. Fifteen years ago or more when we were in Opposition I went on a trip to Chicago. I was advised to take a case of Jameson whiskey and a case of Baileys with me for promotions there. It was a St. Patrick's Day event. Jameson was not attractive at that time. Baileys was the in thing, and it still is. It is one of the brand leaders in the country. Jameson has been an outstanding success in the intervening 15 years. It is now a brand leader that challenges the major Scottish whisky brands, which have been very successful across the world. Jameson has been an enormous success under Irish Distillers and is an employer in my constituency, which I share with Deputy Stanton. The company continues to expand.

We should not dismiss brands and say they are out of date. We should promote them and develop them more. That is why I refer so much to the food industry and what has happened in north Cork. I am very passionate about what is happening there. I am sick of it. I cannot believe what has gone on there given the great success that emerged out of the developments from the 1930s. There is no need for it. My argument is that it was based on development and building. We were going to build apartments and hotels. We have built nothing only for all those places that are rubble. I gave the example of Jameson. Galtee cheese is gone; it is made abroad. Shaws ham is packed in Scotland. It came out of Mitchelstown. No one knows where Calvita cheese comes from but if one looks at the bottom of the box it contains a little symbol and it states it was packed in England. I do not know why we had to do this or why farmers in my area supported that kind of executive. I call him Jerry Rubble now because that is what he is. He is rubble. I give the comparison between Jameson and why we lost our food industry.

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