Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

While no specific study is being carried out at present, the turnover in companies is a feature of technology moving on. The pharmaceutical sector began by processing bulk chemicals and it gradually became more sophisticated. Ireland had the knack to continually move up the value chain. The problem that continues to arise is that the more routine elements of each sector become commodities that are no longer competitive to produce in Ireland. We are successfully moving up the value chain. Last year, half of all IDA investments included an element of research and development. The trick for Ireland is to ensure we are at the forefront of developing new products and technologies in order that we can move to higher value sectors as natural losses occur in other areas.

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