Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

This debate, Statements on Macroeconomic and Fiscal Outlook, is about the sovereignty of this nation. We should not kid ourselves. That is what is at stake here - nothing more, nothing less.

One would think, if one only arrived into this country and from listening to the contributions of both the Tánaiste and the Minister for Justice and Law Reform, Deputy Dermot Ahern, that we had just exited Government and the Members opposite had just gone into Government. One would think that we were the one's who had been in Government and who had led to the mess we are in. It is not true for the Minister of State, Deputy Finneran, to state that many other countries are in such a mess. They have been in a mess, but most countries are getting out of it.

I listened with interest to the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Deputy Smith, and I will use my time to concentrate on what we should and should not do. No matter what else this country does, we are an open economy that cannot work with out external markets. The bubble we created that led to this mess was an inward looking bubble. We lost our competitiveness and failed to export and manufacture goods. Thankfully, the one silver lining has been the figures from the Irish Exporters Association for the first three quarters of this year, and, in particular, the last quarter, which shows that with a little help we can do what we must do with gusto, that is, export and bring money in from outside this country. Exports of food and drink, for example, which have survived a gradual decrease in the value of sterling in recent months, still managed 14% growth in the past quarter. We have reports coming out of our ears, such as Food Harvest 2020 and Bord Bia's Pathways for Growth. We need an ambassador for trade tasked with selling Ireland Inc. We produce the best food to the highest standard on the doorstep of the wealthiest market on the planet but our farmers still struggle to make a living. The average income of a farmer last year was €11,000. That is not acceptable. There are now discussions about introducing inheritance tax and doing away with stock relief. This may stifle the people we need to enter the industry to grow it. We need young people who are motivated and trained to enter and grow the business.

We heard from the CEO of the National Dairy Council that it will take €850 million to facilitate the growth targets outlined in the dairy sector for 2020. A significant amount of this may well come from the industry itself; how this will be done is an argument for another day. These are the types of challenges to be faced. We can grow our industry, but unless we market it and sell it abroad, all we will do is produce more but receive the same or less. This is the consequence of not going out to sell.

We should not stifle the industry. We should not cut forestry support to a stage where we will lose the industry. The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food commissioned a report by Dr. Bacon which pointed out that every euro invested in forestry yields €1.60. It helps our balance of payments because it reduces our requirement to import. It also helps our carbon footprint, helps to produce a raw material for the building industry and helps with regard to renewable energy. It has a multi-faceted benefit for the nation. On three or four occasions, the Food Harvest 2020 report mentions forestry as being crucial to various targets. Fine Gael has committed to increasing the capital expenditure programme by using the stimulus package mentioned by Deputy Varadkar. The targets outlined in the renewed programme for Government, which is less than a year old, can be achieved with 10,000 hectares a year.

One does not send mixed messages to an industry which the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food described half an hour ago as pivotal to growing our economy, jobs and our balance of payments and keeping us in surplus. We are in surplus in a shrunken economy; we need to get into surplus in a growing economy where we export more than we import. These are the initiatives we have to take. If we do, we can go to the people. We will have demonstrated to the international bond markets that we are in a position to help ourselves.

At the outset, I stated our sovereignty was as stake. We spent 700 years trying to obtain our sovereignty and it is not yet 100 years old. It is time a bit of old Irish pig-iron got stuck in again and we went out and sold ourselves and worked rather than giving away our sovereignty. It is as critical as this.

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