Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We need our small businesses involved. We have had very good debates on foot of motions proposed by one Opposition party in this House and by another Opposition party in the Seanad, both of which I accepted as this is not a partisan issue. It is an issue we must get right. We have put in place a new structure in the Office of Government Procurement through which we are trying to develop an expertise in the public service. Rather than have lots of people doing public procurement as a small part of their jobs, let us build up a cohort of expertise.

We have an SME advisory group. We have put in place a tender advisory service and meet the buyer events where small business owners can come and meet, face to face, the people making decisions on procurement in public agencies. Shortly we will examine the issue of social clauses and how we can ensure our contracts reflect the need for employment in certain areas in order to get people off the live register. These include vulnerable people and people with disabilities. This also concerns regional issues. We are examining this issue at the moment and we had a good debate on it in the Seanad last week.

We have launched the new Competition and Consumer Protection Commission. We have brought changes into the e-tender platforms. This is a new structure. The year 2014 was about setting up the structure; 2015 and 2016 will be about up-skilling it and getting it right. I am committed to working with Members on all sides of the House in respect of this huge area. We need to encourage our SMEs to get involved and to be competitive so that they can have a chance to win tenders. We also need to work cross-Border and I welcome the involvement of InterTradeIreland in encouraging people in the Republic to tender in the North and vice versa. That obviously increases the market for our SMEs.

The Office of Public Works is currently carrying out the catchment flood risk assessment and management, CFRAM, process. Deputies will be involved in this in their respective constituencies and communities. It will result in Ireland having, for the first time, a national flood plan. We have to do it under the EU floods directive to be compliant. Some 300 areas at risk of flooding in this country are being examined. That will result in approximately 250 capital schemes. This will require major investment. At the moment we are spending about €42 million or €43 million a year on flood mitigation. This is a sizable amount of money which has been sustained through difficult years, but we will require much more. I look forward to the scheme and the multi-criteria in terms of the ranking of those schemes being published. We will continue to work with local authorities in terms of the minor flood work schemes.

The OPW is continuing to drive down the rental bill for the State, saving the State significant funds every year, and maintaining and protecting our national monuments. I am really excited about this. We talk a lot about the regional economy. We talk a lot about not leaving rural Ireland behind. The good thing about things such as the Rock of Cashel is that they are not in Dublin and they cannot be moved to Dublin. These monuments have the ability to stimulate their local economy. There are some great initiatives happening where the local community and the local shops are engaging. The Rock of Cashel is an example. If a visitor buys a certain amount in certain shops, the visitor gets free admission to the Rock of Cashel. We need more of this sort of scheme. We need to use our monuments and our heritage as economic stimulants in the local economy. I look forward to working with Fáilte Ireland on Ireland's Ancient East, as part of which many heritage properties under the management and control of the OPW will feature majorly in the promotion of the east coast of Ireland as a tourism location.

I was very honoured to be appointed the first Minister of State with responsibility for international financial services, IFS. There has been a remarkable development in this sector over 25 years or so. At the end of the 1980s there were between 55 and 60 people working in three companies in international financial services. At the end of last year, there was in excess of 35,000 people working in some 400 companies in Ireland. Some 12,000 of those jobs were outside the greater Dublin area and 25% of those jobs were in Irish owned companies. It is no longer confined to the IFSC, although that is important. It is not just an area of the Dublin docklands, it is all over the country, and it is not just the big foreign banks or insurance companies. That is important. We want more foreign direct investment, but it is also being coupled with an ecosystem of indigenous industry. Many bright, capable Irish people have taken the plunge into financial services and are adding to the country's offering.

We need to better co-ordinate, which is why I launched IFS2020 with the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste last month. This commits to increasing employment in the sector by 10,000 by the end of 2019. We have put in place a high level implementation group with all the relevant Departments, which I chair. For the first time we have a project delivery office in the Department of the Taoiseach. We have set up a new industry advisory group. We are creating a banner brand to market and promote Ireland Inc. as a location for international financial services. We are harnessing the expertise of our embassies and our IDA and Enterprise Ireland teams on the ground. We are working with our partners in third level educational institutions to ensure we have a skilled workforce. We have a great skilled workforce in this country, but we need to ensure we have the skills for the future as well. This is a fast-evolving and fast-changing area. Next year in Dublin we will hold the first inaugural IFS summit which will be an opportunity to showcase Ireland to key decision makers as a place to do business. It will also be an opportunity for decision makers to come here and debate and discuss the future of the international financial services.

I see huge opportunities in the FinTech area, which brings financial services and technology together. We all know that there will be significant disruptive change in the area of financial areas. Ireland should be well placed. We have many of the big technology companies here. We have some small indigenous companies which are growing at a fast scale. We have a very educated workforce. We need to bring all of that together. I am really excited to be working with the sector on FinTech. Crucially, IFS2020 is not just a glossy document. It is not a report to sit on a shelf. It is done under the Action Plan for Jobs model. I must produce a quarterly progress report which will be published for all to scrutinise and see how we are getting on. The first progress report is due in July.

A lot has happened over the past four years and a lot more needs to happen. When I came into this House, we were asking ourselves if Ireland would remain in the eurozone. Would it need a second bailout? Would our young people ever be able to come home or would emigration continue? Would unemployment go above 15% and keep going in that direction? We had gone from being the poster child of Europe to the laughing stock of late night American TV shows. Ireland is back. There is much more to do. We can dare to hope again, to dream again and to plan again.

See this speech in context