Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent) | Oireachtas source

From a map that I have in front of me here, it looks obvious as a country that we stand out as having no screening mechanism in place when it comes to FDI. Figures released by the CSO in June 2022 show the FDI position in Ireland increased by approximately €16.9 billion in 2020 to €1.1 trillion. When compared to other OECD countries, Ireland is one of the most globalised economies in Europe, second only to Luxembourg.

The data also shows that the US is the biggest investor in Ireland and accounts for more than €830 billion, or 76%, of Irish inward FDI positions.

There were 258,558 people employed by IDA Ireland companies in the State in 2020. Some 275,384 were employed in 2021. Not everything in Ireland is attractive for FDI. Some of the more obvious downsides to attracting new businesses were housing affordability, general affordability and the cost of real estate.

On global connectivity in respect of ports and airports, the port in Belfast has been given the contract for the storage of gas in Ireland. Why is that? This is because none of our other ports were ready for it. I mentioned Foynes Port earlier today, which has had a planning application submitted for ten years to try to get storage permission for gas. We have now lost that facility to Belfast because none of our ports were ready. What does that tell us? That is a failure of Government and policy to ensure this investment will happen.

What would that have meant for Foynes and the county of Limerick? There would have been significant employment where people would start moving there and infrastructure would be built. We are talking about the Adare bypass and connecting Foynes Port by 2030 with the rail system from Limerick, but we lost a contract like that to Belfast. We talk then about investment coming into this country.

The other thing that was being looked at with regard to investors coming in to this country was the super-high cost and availability of electricity. I spoke about this issue again yesterday with regard to businesses coming in here and the excessive rates they are paying. Even though the Government reduced the VAT rate on electricity, it still took in €16.4 billion. The Exchequer is up €4.6 billion from this time last year, even though the VAT rate was reduced. How is the Government expected to get investors in to invest in this country? How are we supposed to have sustainable employment? Even the existing companies we have are running scared and are talking about reduced hours and shifts to make sure their industries will continue to work.

The new legislation aims “to provide for a process to allow for certain transactions that may present risks to the security or public order of the State to be reviewed by the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment ... It will empower the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment to access, investigate, authorise, condition or prohibit third country investment on a range of security and public order criteria.”

If anything has to happen in this country, it is that we need more investment and more people here, and we need security for our electricity supply and for the next generation of employers who wish to come in here. That responsibility stands steadily on the shoulders of the Government.

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