Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Ar an gcéad dul síos, ba mhaith liom comhgairdeas a dhéanamh leat, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle. I am delighted that she has been elected to her position. I will miss her contributions from the floor. I always valued them and tried to listen to them. I found them to be engaging, interesting, educated and very fair and balanced. I know she will have the very same qualities in her role as Leas-Cheann Comhairle. We have been waiting for 101 years for a woman to be appointed as Leas-Cheann Comhairle and it is fabulous that it has finally happened. Obviously, she campaigned for the role, but I know, given the kind of humble person she is, that she would have been gracious in defeat had the result gone the other way. Go n-éirí go geal leat, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle.

I am glad the judgment has been released. I have mixed views on the issue. I represent the constituency of Tipperary, where there are more than 5,000 direct investment jobs in Clonmel alone. There are other such jobs in Cashel, Nenagh and many other parts of the constituency, including Dungarvan. Half of my parish is in County Waterford. There is a significant cohort of foreign direct development in the area.

It is fine for Deputy Boyd Barrett and many others on the left to just criticise, attack and knock. He referred to the workers. I value workers as much as anybody else does. My company employs between 18 and 25 workers. It is a two-way thing. If we did not have the innovators who come up with ideas, we would not have the jobs. It is a chicken and egg situation. One cannot have it both ways. We value those innovators. In addition, there are tax breaks available in respect of research and development.

I am a big supporter of the 12.5% corporation tax rate. It is upfront and out there for everyone to see. I understand that some other EU countries such as France might have a higher corporation tax rate, but they have a more creative or devious way of getting around it. I only have anecdotal evidence of that, rather than scientific evidence. Anybody who is in business knows there are tax schemes of which one can avail. Goodness knows, several such schemes were included in the July stimulus package announced last night. The schemes take time to bed in. It takes time for the employers and companies who need them to get used to them. The companies need a very good accountant who gives good advice. They need the best advice but often do not get it. I have experienced that myself.

The €13 billion pot of gold was meant to be at the end of a rainbow. Rainbows are common at this time of year or in May or at certain other times but, unfortunately, this particular rainbow was not there. We must accept the decision.

Merck Sharp & Dohme came to Clonmel in 1974 or 1975. It is a fabulous employer. It probably employs 600 or 700 people in its factory, never mind all the spin-off service industries. The situation is similar with regard to Apple. I heard Deputy Barry speaking on the matter last week. He related how he could see the factory up the hill from where he lives in Cork and in various other parts of the city. However, many people do not realise how many small businesses are able to take on employees as a result of sub-contracting for the large companies. The spin-offs are enormous. I refer to the raw materials and other products that are used by the factories. One must consider the businesses that maintain the factories or supply them with food and beverages and everything else that goes into them. Of course, the businesses pay significant sums in rates to the county councils, which forms a large part of the councils' funding.

The problem in recent years is that we cannot get businesses creating foreign direct investment jobs to locate them outside Dublin. Dublin cannot cope. It is wonderful to be on the top floor of the Convention Centre and be able to look across the city and see all the cranes and the massive development in this area.

It is fabulous. I do not envy it one bit but we want our fair share in other counties.

I do not know if this judgment is going to be appealed further. I am not right up to speed with it. It is certainly out there and maybe it will give us clarity. Foreign direct investment companies have people working here, watching and seeing what is going on. They can read as well. The negativity and the attacks on them day in, day out by some politicians of the left are not good because it is an ideological issue. We have had a general election without a very clear outcome. Nonetheless if the people were so aghast at this, one would think they would vote for parties of the left more and change the ideology. I come as a small businessman myself. I pay the taxes, nor do I have any corporation tax or special deals. I understand it is onerous and difficult. The PRSI has to be paid, and that is only right because workers must be protected. When we see the likes of Debenhams and many other big companies, when we see the meat industry, Meat Industry Ireland and how they have creative ways, we should tackle those because they are home grown and they are better even than the other companies at getting around the loopholes, investing in paper companies and companies that are just there as technical ways of devising it.

If I say one thing to the Minister, I think we need some of those business people in the Department of Finance to give him advice and to understand the thought process that goes into those big companies and the expert advice that they get. Have we a match for them in our Department? I am not criticising the people in the Department. I am just saying that we need that broad base of expertise. The companies need it too and they probably get people in who understand the tax laws and may have worked in that area as well. We need that as a resource.

As far as this judgment is concerned, I am glad it is out there. I just hope the can will not keep being rattled and we will not be upsetting and annoying every FDI company that we have here, their employees and their families and indeed the boardrooms in America. We are in a very volatile time and the boardrooms are conscious of what is going on. We have to compete with economies in eastern Europe and other areas where there is literally slave labour going on. We cannot condone that. It is abhorrent. We must have a balance and we must try to get as much tax from these FDI people as we can, but we have to be careful to ensure we do not banish them altogether - to hell or to Connacht - because if they left our country we would be a much poorer place. We would be much poorer in Tipperary without Merck, Boston Scientific, Abbot Vascular and many others. Clonmel Healthcare is home grown, but those pharma companies especially are tremendous. They are also innovators and are leading in the field of innovation and lifesaving devices. We must support them as well as criticising them. It cannot be a one-way street. We value the workers, we all support them, and all we want is fair play.

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