Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

The connectivity in the Irish economy is good, and the broadband story is better in Ireland than what is portrayed here. There is a lot of investment going on, with more to be done. We do not always update ourselves on the position of things and if the Deputy looks at all of those points, she will see they are all important.

What we are doing in research and development over a long number of years, and what we will have to continue to do, means that we can compete with the likes of Singapore and Korea. Why is Ireland considered at the same time by some of these industry when they are considering locating in Singapore and Switzerland? It is because Ireland has something to offer. We need to emphasise those positive strengths, which are new aspects in the Irish economy. They are new facets of what we do. We did not even have a Science Foundation Ireland ten or 15 years ago. We are making a fair bit of progress.

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