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

We certainly have had a great run of it but towards the end of her reply, the Minister touched on changes taking place, particularly in the USA, over which we have no control. Does the Minister agree that the lead-in time for an industry setting up in Ireland from the first contact with IDA Ireland could be anything up to eight years? Therefore, we are currently getting decisions on situations that were initiated six to eight years ago. I do not expect all the multinationals which have invested here to move away. The problem is the pipeline of six to eight years time. Other than the obvious advantages outlined by the Minister, that of education, a growing population and so on, what repositioning is taking place because changes are occurring which change some of the advantages that Ireland had? We cannot deny it. We always claimed in the past that tax was part of the package and I have no doubt that it was.

See this speech in context