Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State got it in one but he is pre-empting me. I said to the secretary who answered the telephone that my name was Éamon Ó Cuív and I asked to speak to Mr. Michael Collins. I started to explain to him that I was a co-op manager in Connemara but he interrupted me and asked me if I was Emer's son. I said I was and he told me to tell my mother he was asking for her because the two of them knew each other when they were children growing up in Blackrock. That Michael Collins, of course, was a nephew of the Michael Collins whose picture hangs in the front hall of this House. Luckily for us the ACC gave us the money.

Members will have heard of the acorn.

The site we bought for £1,250 now supports over 300 jobs. The company has moved on into all kinds of other areas. The Minister of State will have heard of ECC Teoranta, which is one of the bright lights of this sector. In fact, the central part of its building is the lamb-fattening station we built. It is one of the success stories of Údarás na Gaeltachta, Connacht Gold, P. J. Fahy and all the other co-op businesses in Corr na Móna.

It is interesting to think that if we had not had a State bank, we would not have those jobs now. P. J. Fahy would not have been able to build up the hugely successful industry that has developed since he took over TDS from the co-op many years ago and started ECC Teoranta. If somebody had not taken a chance, the jobs at the top of the hill at the back of the mountain in Connemara would not exist. That is why I strongly believe there is a need for somebody to put it up to the private banks in this economy. That need was there in the past. I am sure that many businesses would not exist if they had not been supported by the ACC and the ICC. Many farmers were able to develop their businesses because they were given prudent loans by those institutions in circumstances in which the private person would not have gone in. I know I am not the only person who went to a State bank and made a success that continued into the future.

The money does not have to be that big. When I was in government, I argued with my colleagues that we should take some money from the National Pensions Reserve Fund and give it to the good bank part of the IBRC to start lending into the productive sector. I said there should be an absolute ban on using that €2 billion or €3 billion in State money for lending for property for property's sake. In other words, no loans should be provided in respect of a building unless it is connected to a productive unit. Until we provide for such a system, we will continue to be at the mercy of the over-conservative view of the two so-called pillar banks. A small amount of money would make a significant difference in this area, as in all areas of life. I have no doubt that such a bank would put it up to the pillar banks to compete because that is the nature of life.

I would like to mention a second matter I consider vital on the basis of my experience of trying to develop businesses without having enough capital. One cannot develop any substantial type of business from nothing without share capital. It is often the case that young, vibrant, educated and creative people with the best of ideas do not have cash or capital. They cannot do it all on borrowings because borrowings require immediate repayment and accrue interest. The second big thing I learned was that one needs investment funds. There is no point in going to investment bankers in private investment funds when one has a start-up business because one might as well forget it.

Tá áthas an domhain orm go bhfuil an tAire Stáit anseo anocht. I put it to the Minister of State, in light of all the talk about the use of the National Pensions Reserve Fund to invest in the economy, that the western investment fund, under the Western Development Commission, has been one of the most successful investment funds in terms of creating jobs. I would like to repeat here tonight the suggestion I made last summer that the Government should immediately give €100 million from the National Pensions Reserve Fund to the western investment fund of the Western Development Commission, to be drawn down by those involved as they need it. A modest sum of money would keep them going for a long time. We know that the Western Development Commission's investment fund is operating entirely on the basis of returns from previous investments. They are getting their money back from investments that have been successful and they are rechurning it.

If we want rapid growth in investment in the western region, we need to build a good working model of how this can work. I suggest that we already have experts who have shown their skills in picking enough winners. One picks losers as well as winners. If one does not pick some losers, one will not pick any winners. We know they have had enough success in picking winners to get money coming back in at a sufficient rate to enable the money to go around in a circle. If there is €4 billion or €5 billion left in the National Pensions Reserve Fund, €100 million is a drop in the ocean. Having succeeded in accessing that money, it would be very simple to say to the western investment fund that it will be given €100 million. Those involved in the fund would probably tell us it would take three or four years to draw those moneys down, but they would get working immediately on locating developers. In such circumstances, we would have the two things that are needed - loan finance and, equally importantly if not more importantly, investment finance. Then all that would be needed are people with ideas and energy.

The final thing we have to learn in this economy is that we are not always going to get winners. It all has to be worked on a margin. If one is investing money, one has to allow for winners and losers. If we are going to continue with a policy in this State that everybody must be a winner, we will have no winners because nothing will get off the ground.

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