Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Martin for his comments. I agree - I think this is a good suggestion. I recall when I was Minister for Tourism and Trade the Canary Wharf bomb - I think it was in 1996 it went off - and the Earls Court tourism show was to take place two days later. People at the time were saying it should be called off in its entirety. Up until that point, the Northern Ireland Tourist Board and Bord Fáilte were in two separate stands. The agreement was to put them all on the one stand. For the first time ever, we had the island of Ireland expressing itself as a tourism location.

I agree with Deputy Martin's suggestion. These are important elements of synergies and collaboration and, therefore, greater benefit. I must say that, both in China and in Japan, I had the opportunity to meet with the First and deputy First Ministers and our for own Government representatives, Enterprise Ireland, the IDA and so on t meet with their counterparts. It was taken in that spirit because there are services and particular specialties in Northern Ireland that are not available here. Between both of them, the island of Ireland can gain as a consequence. I think that is a good suggestion.

The Minister, Deputy Bruton, Minister Foster and their counterpart from Britain were the first "troika", if one likes, to go to Singapore. We hope to be able to continue that. The Commonwealth's reach of offices is so much greater than we could afford as an entity here and I am sure those facilities are available for this kind of visit.

Inward investment is not as strong as it could be. There has been a 20-year recession by Japanese standards in Japan. Prime Minister Abe's engagement was a signal of prime ministerial interest in Ireland as a growing nation in terms of what it is that we offer - IT, pharmaceutical, software, data storage, analytics and all of these areas. He made it clear that the companies with which we met, some of which are in banking, financial services, engineering and so on, could see this country as a launching pad into Europe. I hope it will improve and increase. Certainly from my experience of talking to Japanese companies, they are seriously interested in a country with stability and in a country that is making a serious effort to get out of its economic difficulties. They clearly understand the distance that Ireland has travelled in a short time. If we keep up the level of engagement with them in terms of visits and back-up in terms of Enterprise Ireland and the IDA we hope we can get this level of investment to a higher state.

Prime Minister Abe was very interested in being able to finalise the approval of entry of beef to the Japanese market. Deputy Martin is right - there is no room for messing here. The standards have got to be what the Japanese people require. In that sense, when I was there for two days, they had quite a number of meat producers from Ireland in Japan learning exactly the standards of cut that they require. The producers and their skilled personnel were in the factories, where it was demonstrated how it should be cut and presented for what the Japanese people require. In that sense, they do appreciate that, as a grass-based industry here, the quality of what comes in Irish beef is of exceptional levels but it has got to be presented right. In that sense, that message has got through very clearly.

My view is that this is a market that we can grow again to more than the €15 million that it was before. Since we were blocked out in 2001, it is a challenge to build it up to what it was, but the standards will speak for themselves. Those in the meat business know that there is no opportunity for wasters, inefficient production or inefficient levels of service.

For the Japanese people, in terms of what is presented to them, perfection is the requirement. One of the points made to me by one of the major firms was that goods being damaged or scratched or packages being dented in any way was not acceptable. One company built its own plant in Japan for packaging goods for distribution to Japanese customers because it is not acceptable that the goods be in any way inferior in terms of what they demand. So, they set standards across the board. It takes a little time to understand the extent of just how perfection is an issue with them culturally. To break into the market requires patience, understanding, consistency and that level of perfection, something that struck me very forcibly. Something that is not acceptable in Japan might be acceptable in other countries.

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