Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to have the opportunity to congratulate the Minister of State and wish him well. I hope we will assist him in every way possible to achieve the absolute success that he strives for.

I was tied up in committee meetings all day so I was not able to pay attention in the way that I would. I want to mention a couple of issues that come to mind. First, Britain is now a third country so we need to be careful as the number of third countries out there is growing, for one reason or another. It is important that, whatever screening is put in place, it is done in a way that is of assistance, that it protects the security and integrity of this jurisdiction and that it does not discourage FDI, or any kind of investment for that matter.

Deputy O'Donoghue mentioned that there was a gain for Belfast in recent investment; in fact, there was not. It is a gain for the island of Ireland. It so happens that Belfast was the only port available to facilitate the building of offshore electricity generation equipment. More will be required in every part of the country because that is fundamental to providing the alternative energy we have all been talking about. We have to strive towards that but we cannot achieve success in that area unless we have the basic facilities. We must have wind energy turbines, whether onshore or offshore, but we need to start on it quickly.

With regard to transactions, it is important to the integrity of the economy, North and South, that we screen in an effective way the transactions, wherever they come from or go to. It is also important that we do not impede industry and investment, or impede what is supposed to happen in the shortest possible time. I listened to somebody talk recently about objections to a public project on the basis that they had the right to object. Of course, they had the right to object but they do not have an obligation to object unless there is good reason, not just a whim. There are situations in this country where people on a whim have decided to jeopardise a project, and it is not an isolated situation and has happened on many occasions. It is not something that is going to be of assistance to us in a highly competitive workspace. We all know of instances of that.

I want to mention FDI and transactions from third countries. It is in our interest to facilitate what is going on as long as it meets whatever the statutory requirements are and as long as we are on a good footing. If we become regarded as a country that might be expected to slow down the process, people are not going to look at us a second time. They will move away and find some other place to invest and to have interaction with.

The problem is this. I know one of the things before An Bord Pleanála is the review taking place. I hope it is a worthwhile review and I am not in any way supporting light-touch arrangements, or whatever the case may be. What has to happen must happen, but it must happen with speed. We have to compete on a worldwide basis. We have to compete with whoever the people are in the marketplace. As I said the other day at a committee meeting, we must always ask who are our competitors now and with whom we compete when it comes to attracting FDI. Those are the things we have to look at. We have to ask how they are facilitating investors from third countries. Are they encouraging them, are they putting up obstacles or are they facilitating them?

I recall when we had difficulty filling the various industrial estates throughout the country, when maybe one or two tenants were tentatively approached. It was many years before we got to the situation we are in now. Hard work and endeavour brought that about, with forward planning, good solid thinking and the putting in place of whatever was required to encourage investment, business development and growth and, at the same time, ensure that investment, from the investors’ point of view and from Ireland's point of view, was on a solid footing and that we had nothing to worry about. We lost a number of investments in previous years, including powerful investments, and I brought this up at a meeting yesterday. Huge gaps were left in the local economy in Munster, Leinster and every other part of the country, and that has continued. From County Donegal all the way down the western seaboard and even in my constituency, we have had major losses. It was not always as good as it is now.

My philosophy would be to hold what we have and to encourage it. We must ensure that the highest standards apply, ensure the integrity of the systems in so far as we and the incoming investors are concerned, and try to make sure that we can compete with all of the others in the marketplace at the present time, of which there are many and growing. The tendency heretofore has been to move to low-wage economies. Mind you, as a previous speaker said, deciding we are only going to work three or four days a week does not impress me as being part of making a low-wage economy in this country. We either work or we do not work. If we do not want to work, nobody wants us and nobody will want to invest here either.

In conclusion, the proposal is genuine and will be beneficial as long as it does not backfire on ourselves, the fundamentals are retained and we can live with whatever it is we are now imposing by way of screening, and as long as the screening is effective and sufficient to meet the demands of the time.

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