Dáil debates

Thursday, 24 October 2019

Industrial Development (Amendment) Bill 2019 [Seanad]: Second Stage

 

10:05 am

Photo of Mattie McGrathMattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for being delayed. I was attending a meeting of the Business Committee.

I am delighted to speak to this Bill and the Minister knows what I am going to say. Yesterday was a black day for employment, from Cork city to the Minister of State's county of Clare. I passed the iconic building that houses the printing presses of Independent Newspapers Limited in west Dublin this morning and there are problems there also. We are fortunate in south Tipperary and the county as a whole to have many thousands of foreign direct investment jobs. Some companies such as Merck, Sharp and Dohme have been based in the county for 50 years and are providing very valuable employment. The spin-off in employment from these companies is also great. In Clonmel we have companies such as Boston Scientific and many similar plants. Therefore, we are very lucky. However, the record of the Industrial Development Authority, IDA, in County Tipperary, even when it comes to site visits, is appalling.

IDA Ireland has been a wonderful organisation and used to do great work. It has not, however, adapted to the times. The city of Dublin is exploding because of investment. It is nearly impossible to move through the streets or find a bed for the night, as those of us who have to stay here some nights know. As Deputy Collins mentioned, the time and cost involved, especially of transport, are significant. Someone recently travelled here to meet me and then went back down to Tipperary. It was a day's work to get in and out of the city. At most, it should only involve a drive of two and half hours from Tipperary. I pity people who have to travel.

IDA Ireland will have to adapt to the times. I met its head some two years ago at a briefing in Washington DC. I was told that it was impossible to get industries to locate in Limerick, Cork or Galway because they all wanted to be based in Dublin. I appreciate that is a problem, but it is due to the way Dublin has been sold and marketed as the be all and end all. However, it is not. We might need to have another agency, in addition to IDA Ireland. I am not referring to another quango, but IDA Ireland is not adapting. It is abandoning rural Ireland. I have the figures, but I do not have them with me. I think there have been eight visits to County Tipperary in the past three or four years. That is a paltry number for a county at the centre of Ireland, if I can put it that way, because of the new motorways. The new M24 motorway from Limerick to Waterford and on to Rosslare Harbour will strengthen that position. It is only an hour and a half's drive from the city of Dublin.

There is a need for proper investment and engagement and to adapt the supports available. I am not sure of the exact figures, but Enterprise Ireland will only help a company if it has ten to 100 employees, while IDA Ireland will only become involved with a company with more than 500 employees. Small employers must be supported also instead of being strangled and choked by bureaucracy. There are rates to be paid and every other kind of payment to be made if they want to build, rebuild or invest. Small businesses should be supported. However, there is nothing included in this legislation and there was nothing in the budget either. We must support what is local and good. I met some business people yesterday, including Mr. Dan O'Brien and others, who had wonderful and novel ideas for farming. Given the way the farming sector is going, such ideas are badly needed. The people in question have received support from the local enterprise office, LEO, and from Dublin and now have some seed capital, but we need to embrace such enterprises and help them along. It should not be as difficult for them. They are bright and intelligent people with many degrees. They are well able and all they want is to be able to access seed capital and support for research and development. IDA Ireland needs to be refocused to support smaller companies and think of the regions.

We cannot all travel in cars. We talk about our carbon footprint, about which farmers are being bashed today. People want to change, but they are being forced to travel great distances to work. IDA Ireland needs to get down and dirty, put its wellies on and engage with the LEOs. We used to have county enterprise boards which were great, but they have been destroyed also. The LEADER programme worked from the bottom up and was working very well, but the Fine Gael-led Government destroyed that initiative too. It hijacked them because they were too successful. LEADER was one of the best programmes we had and was a model for the European Union, but it was ravaged, savaged and destroyed. We need to do something with IDA Ireland. I am not targeting any official, as it is the policy that needs to change in order that the agency will be able to support things local and rural. Not everything should be concentrated in this huge capital city which can no longer handle all of the development taking place. I refer to roads and water services. There is an attempt to bring water from County Tipperary, but 58% of water is lost in leakages.

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