Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)

The approach of the Government to the structural deficit is critical. Certain areas of the tax yield have been reduced primarily because of our dependence on property and construction related transactions. Other substantial structural issues within the economy are creating deficits that must now be repaired if we are to be a more seaworthy ship when the good times return.

The Minister has taken the initiative to visit key markets around the world to reassure them that the Irish economy is being taken in hand. We have been the subject of negative commentary from our old friends across the water in the UK. It was no accident that the Commissioner for Internal Markets and Services, Mr. Charlie McCreevy, made a public statement recently on the negativity expressed by British commentators regarding the Irish economy. While we have heard such comments before and know the motives from which they spring, they are deeply inaccurate. Our workforce comprises 1.9 million people, we are hugely competitive and have one of the wealthiest economies in the world. We have become a great trading country in the past ten years and export 80% of what we produce. Our export figures remain positive, even if the balance of trade has been influenced by the decline in imports. Many of our exporters are holding their own.

We had good news in the past several weeks in regard to a Hewlett Packard investment which will create between 500 and 1,000 jobs in the medium term. If I might digress to speak about my portfolio, it was interesting that one of the reasons given by the chief executive of Hewlett Packard for his decision to invest in Ireland was the ready availability of language skills. The Irish have not been great linguists in the past but the mass immigration we have experienced in the past decade is paying dividends. I was contacted today about the callers to the "Liveline" show who projected their fears and anxieties, understandable as these may be, onto vulnerable immigrants. It is important that we avoid lapsing into a sterile rhetoric which ignores the enormous contributions immigrants have made to our economy. Our health sector would collapse without the contributions of immigrant workers.

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