Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to have an opportunity to speak for a short time on this issue. I concur completely with the last speaker in every respect. One of the things we have learned from the era of the so-called Celtic tiger is that we can do things if we are pressed. We learned to recognise that we could achieve greatness if we applied ourselves. Of course, we learned a few other things we should not have learned at all. We learned to overlook some of the things that were under our noses and which were possible of great appreciation and benefit to the national cause, our economy and the people of this country. We seemed to ignore them.

We all recall how the agri-sector, the agrifood sector and the dairy sector were regarded as poor relations which we only tolerated. There were other brighter and better things and greater and more exciting places in which to invest and apply ourselves. We were wrong in that presumption. When the time came to call on the country to rally to the cause, to rise up and to drag ourselves back up on to dry and level land, it was the agrifood sector which was first in the line and it did its job extremely well. All credit to those involved in that industry. Along that same line was the pharmaceutical sector and the IT sector. These were three vital areas of investment which were essential and fundamental to the economic recovery which has been achieved in a very short time.

I listened to the criticisms of the future of the agrifood industry, in particular the dairy industry, in the aftermath of the abolition of quotas. George Bernard Shaw coined the phrase that there are some people who see things as they are and ask why and then there are those who see things as they might be and ask why not. We need to look again at the latter. One thing is certain. In the aftermath of the abolition of quotas, opportunities will abound in abundance. We need to have the opportunities in the first instance. If we have the opportunities, it is then up to ourselves to market our produce, to hussle and to be aggressive in the marketplace and to recognise that people worldwide are not likely to be able to go without food for too long. We have a product that everyone will want. We now have the technology, ability, knowledge and commitment to develop niche industries as well as major industries and to utilise the availability of and access to world markets in a way that has not been done before.

Time has moved on and developments have made it possible for this industry to achieve greater heights than it has ever done before. There are those who say there are pitfalls and that there will be a glut of produce on the market. There may well be a huge increase of produce on the market but there will also be an awful lot more people seeking to acquire and purchase those products. There is also the possibility of variations and adding further enhanced value.

There are huge opportunities opening up as a result of the changes taking place in the dairy sector which will benefit the entire economy and not just this one sector. It will be of benefit to the younger generation because it will give them an opportunity to access this industry and the marketplace at a different level to that previously achieved. It will give them an opportunity to interact in the world marketplace in a way that was not done before and which is beneficial to the Irish economy. The benefit of the Celtic tiger has been that we are able to see how much we can achieve if we put ourselves to it. This is the opportunity now presenting.

I congratulate the Minister of State and his colleagues in government for the tremendous turn around in this economy in the past short space of time. Those on the empty benches opposite have denigrated, criticised and been negative about everything in the past four years. They could not say a positive word if they were paid. Needless to say, they are not here, because they do not indulge in such debate. I am not referring to the Acting Chairman, Deputy Troy, of course because I know he would not do that under any circumstance.

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