Paul Connaughton Snr (Galway East, Fine Gael)

I am delighted to have the opportunity to speak on this Bill. I read the Minister's speech with interest and I do not think anyone could quibble with the main principles of the Bill. It appears to be concerned with accounting procedures. I cannot say I fully understand the concept involved because I am not an accountant, but I know enough to say that if it will cost American firms more to comply with the accounting procedures of both the US and the EU, that is a good reason for this Bill.

This is an opportune time to talk about industrial development. Contained in this Bill is a type of understanding that if there are certain things that are now necessary, this will in some way greatly benefit the economy. I have no doubt this is important and that is why I accept it as such. However, if the Minister thinks what is contained in this Bill will dramatically change inward investment from the United States or anywhere else, he may be mistaken.

Only a few years ago we were first in the world in terms of the competitiveness of our exports; now we are approximately 24th. We took our eye off the ball. Nobody knows this better than the Minister because he works at it every day. We have the most expensive telephone system in the world. With all the talk about competition, there is not a lot happening in that regard. We certainly have the most expensive electricity and gas. That is not a political point; it is a matter of fact. Our wages are out of kilter as well. Yet we put together that package and try to compete on a global market to attract the people that are good to Ireland.

I take my hat off to the Americans and anybody who would create thousands of jobs in this country. However, the minute it is more profitable to shift the system somewhere else - somewhere they will make more money - they are gone, whether they are Americans or anyone else. That is simple economics. Yet the Government, for the past ten years, did not see it that way because it was consumed with the construction bubble. The money was coming in as though there were leprechauns jumping over every ditch in the place with pots of gold. The Government never thought it would see the end coming. It never thought it would have to face the music, as we will in the House next Wednesday when the greatest hair-shirt budget that has ever been visited on the Irish people will be read out from the very seat on which the Minister is sitting.

We must go back to basics. Until such time as we get our economy back into kilter, we must live on what we produce. It is as simple as that. We have four million people and are not bestowed with oil wells or anything similar. Most of the time we import products, manufacture items and re-export them. In recent years we have had a large amount of indigenous industry, which is important to us, and of course the service industry. However, we have found out to our cost in the past four or five years that this may not be enough. There is an industrial estate at Tuam in County Galway which must be one of the most elite industrial estates ever built. One would think one was going into the Taj Mahal, with beautiful gates and the whole works. However, the only people who have had jobs there in the past three years were those who were working there before. Not a single job has been created there, although it cost millions to build. Yet we are glad to have it in Tuam because we hope companies will be established there.

We cannot understand the situation. Actually, I understand it well: unless the underlying conditions are good, people will not commit millions in such investments. We have a good workforce, but unfortunately there are now many more people looking for jobs. People get fed up when they hear the word "competitiveness", but if we do not whip costs into line, the Bill means nothing to anyone. The Minister knows that as well as I do.

When the national spatial strategy was launched, there was not a Minister, for weeks on end, who was not above in a box talking about all the good things this would bestow on Ireland. We had gateways and we had something called a hub, if you do not mind. Governments are great for all kinds of definitions. All I know about hubs is that Tuam was one, but I cannot see what was bestowed on the town of Tuam. The hospital was let go and the new one was never built. I have spent a lifetime at this and I know that the further one moves away from the economic heart of the country, which is Dublin city, the harder it is to persuade industrialists to travel there. That has been the case for years. There have been a number of changes which will help us - the new N6 road to Galway, when it opens in a few weeks' time, the airport and Knock and so on. They are all useful in their own way. It is ironic that we now have the infrastructural set-up, which we never had before, but our competitiveness has gone out of kilter so we still cannot win.

Obviously there must be an integrated approach by everybody but, unfortunately, time is not on our side. Despite all the talk about rationalisation and the ESB and Eircom, I am not seeing the required reductions in the cost of services. Let us take the bin collection, for example, or the cost of water. They are all utilities that bear no relation to the profits that companies may be able to make. These costs are outrageous. If we do not accept these simple facts we will have serious trouble encouraging companies to locate here.

There are a number of things in our favour. Most American companies that may come to Ireland or are already here believe we have a good and adaptable workforce and are situated in a good place in the EU. However, if we do not get the other factors right quickly we will be in serious trouble.

The people of east Galway sent me here, just as the people of Tallaght sent the Acting Chairman. It is important to disperse opportunities around the country. This has been a hobby-horse of mine for years. I am not silly enough to believe that large anchor industries can be placed in areas such as Mountbellew, where I live. That is why it is important to have the system whereby we have a good Galway, a good Sligo, a good Letterkenny and so on. I compliment the Western Development Commission on the documents it has brought out to show the disparity between the east coast and the west. If nothing else, it gives us an opportunity to speak about this in the context of this Bill. I hope that the Bill will do what the Minister of State said it will do, but there is a great deal more to be done.

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