Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Workers and Unemployed Action Group)

I am thankful for the opportunity to say a few words on this motion, which I will support. To bow to the demands of Mr. Sarkozy and Ms Merkel would be to compromise further Irish sovereignty and set this State on a slide towards unprecedented powerlessness. It would be the first of many demands as bullies always return for more. We simply cannot allow Ireland to be bullied by large European states, where the effective corporation profits tax rates are in many cases as low, if not lower, than effective Irish rates.

Such action would also fly in the face of assurances given to the Irish people during the course of both Lisbon referenda. In tackling the current unemployment problem, the first priority must be the maintenance of existing employment. Any perception which could affect this should and must be avoided.

Irish industrial development policy is seriously flawed and that current policy, which leaves an over-reliance on foreign direct investment, leaves people as well as the Irish State and economy at a great disadvantage. It could be said that it is a disaster waiting to happen, just as the case was with the misuse of bank borrowings from abroad by the Irish banks and Government, the establishment generally and the Irish super-rich.

That policy puts the employment of Irish people in the hands of the boards of multinational companies. The welfare of Irish people and workers is not a priority in decision-making by those bodies. The many employees of Dell, some from south Tipperary, know this to their cost. The policy also greatly depresses the return on Irish economic and social investment to an extent which undermines the sustainability of good public services. Investment by Ireland in multinational companies is far more than tax foregone. Multinational investment in Ireland is underpinned by Irish education and research expenditure, as well as investment in training, health and physical infrastructure. The effective tax return is even less than the approximate 10% quoted by various commentators. Furthermore, there is no prospect of multinational investment leading to the productive employment of most of the 450,000 people on the dole queues, the 3,000 post-doctoral researchers and the more numerous postgraduate researchers in third level institutions, not to speak of the 100,000 qualified persons who are also on the dole. Many of these people are emigrating which means the Irish investment that enabled them to graduate will now underpin economic investment in other countries, a drain comparable to the unjustified repayment of foreign bank debt, a cíos dubh.

The only way forward for modern industry and industrial development policy is for the State to invest as opposed to prioritising foreign direct investment. We need several Irish Nokias. The Finnish communications giant, Nokia, was originally developed as a State company and currently employs 40,000 people, 26,000 of whom are in Finland. Many feasible Irish projects in the fields of sustainable energy development, food and other areas should be undertaken. Rather than selling off State companies, as proposed in the programme for Government, the companies in question should be used to develop projects of this nature. To finance such investments there must be an end to paying the cíos dubh or rack-rent arising from the debts of Irish banks to finance houses in France, Germany, Britain and other countries. In addition, the €250 billion in assets held by the Irish super rich must be taxed seriously.

A fundamental change is required in industrial development policy. The changes I have suggested would put Ireland in a much stronger position to guarantee security of employment generally and to insist on a return on investment to the State which would underpin modern public services.

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