Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

If I had asked this question 12 years ago, I probably would have received the same reply. That is the level of development that has taken place in the last 12 years. InterTradeIreland is an output of the Good Friday Agreement and the negotiations in which my party was involved. I worked for it indirectly 14 years ago. Everything in that reply regarding InterTradeIreland has had no input from this Government. There has been no increase in the number of people working for InterTradeIreland. There is a cap on its staffing level so its ability to grow to the needs of the Irish economy is stifled.

There has been a fall in North-South trade in the last number of years. The Border region is suffering more than most in this economic downturn. What advance has the Government made with regard to an all-Ireland fuel price? For people who are competing with each other on both sides of the Border where is the level playing field in respect of an all-Ireland VAT rate? Why is it that the IDA, Enterprise Ireland and Invest Northern Ireland have offices all around the world and sometimes in the same cities? When will the Government use the resources on this island in an efficient manner to promote enterprise on this island? With regard to farming, does a lamb from Louth taste any different to a lamb from Armagh? The Irish product is seen as an Irish product internationally and until we start to use the efficiencies of the all-Ireland economy we will not be able to create the jobs that could be created in such an economy.

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