Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate. I begin by welcoming the Bill but I also take this opportunity to clear up some of the inaccuracies and misinformation that have been generated in the House today. I am sure this misinformation has arisen because Members have been anxious to put forward the best interests of their constituencies. However, it is important to set the record straight.

The role of Shannon Development is a function of this Bill, albeit of a technical nature. Rather than being reduced, that role is enhanced in many ways by Government policy, particularly in regard to the recent announcement of the creation of a task force to deal with the fallout from the job losses at Dell and associated industries within the region. The role of Shannon Development is now quite broad and is encompassed within the role of the task force. Shannon Development will provide the task force's secretariat, with the chief executive of Shannon Development, Dr. Vincent Cunnane, acting as the chief executive of the tack force and Mr. Denis Brosnan acting as chairperson. They and their colleagues on the task force board represent a dynamic team that will be charged with dealing with the fallout from the significant volume of job losses associated with Dell's decision to move to Poland.

When discussing the development agencies, we must recognise their tremendous success. Politicians on all sides sometimes seek, for naked political reasons, to diminish the role of IDA Ireland, Shannon Development and Enterprise Ireland simply because no factory has been established in their parish or village. This approach belies the tremendous work and great success of our development agencies in attracting foreign direct investment and encouraging indigenous companies to become world leaders in their various fields. Like Deputy Calleary, I acknowledge the great work of IDA Ireland, Shannon Development and Enterprise Ireland, particularly on the international stage. It was a great source of pride to this nation to see representatives of these agencies highlighting their work during the St. Patrick's Day festivities in the United States.

We must recognise that they are competing against other countries, both near and far, for foreign direct investment. They do so with great skill and success. We should not, in focusing too much on parochial concerns, take from the tremendous successes they have enjoyed, many of which have been announced in recent weeks. Despite the significant global downturn, including the banking crisis and various other pressures, they have been successful in winning foreign direct investment for the State. It does not always follow that this investment goes to the place one might wish it to go from a political perspective. Ultimately, however, it is for the companies themselves to decide where on this small island they wish to locate their investment. There have been numerous examples where companies have been attracted to Ireland and their investment has been secured but they did not necessarily choose the location IDA Ireland or the Government would have liked. We should be grateful such companies have decided to invest in Ireland rather than Wales, Scotland, Greece or one of the eastern European countries. There are significant challenges in the current climate but also opportunities. Our agencies are working hard to meet those challenges and avail of those opportunities.

The changed role of Shannon Development will be beneficial both to the region it represents and to the agency itself. From the beginning, Shannon Development has been a pioneering agency which sought to develop new ideas and new enterprises and to take them to the next level. More recently, it may perhaps have become more of an operational entity, which was helpful neither to its own charter nor to the region it represents. Its strength and success was based on a pioneering nature and in being dynamic, generating new ideas, assisting and developing new and emerging technologies and manufacturing techniques, and bringing the process to a self-sustaining level. That is the benefit of an agency like Shannon Development, and there is a tremendous role for it in moving beyond that.

There was also some commentary here that, under a previous leader, the Government had sought to ignore the mid west or regions outside Dublin. In my constituency alone there has been investment in the N18 between Limerick and Shannon, the Ennis bypass, the Limerick tunnel, the inter-urban motorways, new terminals at Shannon and Cork and the visitor centre at the Cliffs of Moher.

The Shannon industrial zone is still the second largest industrial base outside of Dublin and all of the supports which went into developing that infrastructure belies the notion that this Government or any previous Administration led by Fianna Fáil failed in its duty to protect or promote balanced regional development. It did the opposite; it spent a phenomenal amount of money in developing that infrastructure to ensure the employment base was protected and investment was continued in order to protect that investment.

Members on both sides of the House have sought to diminish the role of Shannon Development but this would have been a foolish decision, had it been taken. It was correct to better identify and protect the role of Shannon Development. It is not possible to change the notion of taking away from a region like the mid west a support or development agency like Shannon Development. That area is different for others that are effectively greenfield locations. A development agency is required to protect what is already there.

The Shannon region has changed over the decades since the inception of industrial areas. At the outset, the businesses were involved in light engineering, manufacturing and assembly, and that was the profile of the companies located there. The companies located there at present, and the services and products they provide, are more high-tech. We have moved to a point where we are delivering sophisticated IT services, multilingual call centres, high-tech engineering and the development of next-generation microprocessors. Intel made an announcement recently in regard to developing at nanotechnology level the next generation of microprocessors. This is one of the most leading edge companies in the world developing the technology in Shannon, which is a tremendous recognition of the foresight of people in Shannon Development. These include Dr. Vincent Cunnane and Mr. John Brassil, the chairman of Shannon Development. In recent months and years, Shannon Development has built a close working relationship with the University of Limerick. Working in such a way, the area can continue to develop into the Silicon Valley of Ireland. I wish all concerned every success in that regard.

It is often said that Ireland is no longer competitive or capable of attracting manufacturing jobs. We are not a low-cost economy and we are unable to do the light engineering. We are not competitive in assembly or low-grade manufacturing like we were in the past, but we are capable of attracting high end high-tech manufacturing. The announcement by Zimmer last year is an example, as it develops medical equipment and artificial hip, knee and other joints. It is a high-tech company and I hope it will help to build a necklace of medical device companies between the Shannon and Limerick regions. Stryker is already providing a similar manufacturing technology in Limerick and we must work to ensure the region develops a particular skill set in the same way that some pharmaceutical companies are based in the southern part of the country.

Shannon Development is also considering moving from being just an operational base to pioneering the next wave of technologies. As a result of the proximity to the Atlantic and our desire to become more conscious of green technology with the tides, waves and wind off the west coast, there is an opportunity for Shannon Development to involve itself in developing the next generation of green energy. Working with the Government and universities in Limerick and Galway, there is a real opportunity to harness the Shannon estuary as a green park.

These are the types of ideas that must come from Shannon Development, rather than it resting on its laurels and remaining as a property management company. That is not the ethos of the body, and the management team, along with the board, is very focused on getting back to basic principles and the pioneering charter it had at the outset. That will ultimately lead to sustainable development and will ensure we have companies providing employment in a new economy, recognising the existing demands and requirements. This Bill takes cognisance of that.

Some people bemoan the fact that there is movement and change in the Bill. The changes proposed in the Bill have received strong support from the board and executives. They see it as the way forward and a way to get back to base principles in starting to develop for the future. I wish them well in that and I recognise the tremendous work done to date. I also recognise the significant efforts made by the IDA and Enterprise Ireland in working more cohesively.

I have noticed over the past 12 months a much greater level of cohesion between all the agencies in the region, although there is no doubt there were difficulties for some time relating to demarcation of the roles of Enterprise Ireland, IDA and Shannon Development, for example. That has been sorted out and the three bodies work well together to the benefit of the region. They now have a much closer and better working relationship with the Shannon Airport Authority. If they work together, we can deal with the significant fall-out from the decision of Dell. If we work together, we can achieve the success we need.

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