Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The foreign direct investment here has not been just about tax. Ireland invested, from the 1960s onwards, dramatically in education. It will never get acknowledged by the far left. There is a very significant degree of state intervention in Ireland. The free second level education was a huge advance in Irish society that Donogh O'Malley and Fianna Fail brought in. The expansion of third level education and the dramatic investment from the late 1990s that I initiated in higher education research have had a profound impact in terms of our performance as a country. In particular, the numbers in terms of OECD levels of school completion and in terms of progression on to third level education have all been progressive policies pursued by my party while in power at different times over those 50 or 60 years, and by other parties as well I have to acknowledge.

We have also invested on the social front. I do not believe we can compare European states generally or indeed the Irish State to the United States, for example, in terms of the level of state intervention in poverty programmes or social programmes or interventions.

We did not discuss this issue yesterday with US President-elect Biden. We discussed climate change. I was impressed with the degree to which he was clear that he wanted to re-engage with the Paris accord and in terms of re-joining the World Health Organization. In the context of Covid-19 this is good news. It is good news for the world, especially for the poorer regions of the world, to have the heft and support of America available for the World Health Organization as it deals with the pandemic.

See this speech in context