James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail)

According to the Central Statistics Office there has been a drop-off of almost €50 billion in inbound foreign direct investment value into Ireland. As the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Tánaiste will understand the importance of connectivity for a small island economy. The reality is that the world economy is moving further east all of the time. Only one flight leaves this country for Asia and that is directly to China, between Beijing and Dublin. Does the Minister think there is a need for a strategy from his Department to analyse this and to see if Ireland can connect with new markets like Japan, which is the largest source of FDI in Asia for Ireland and other countries? Following on from the enterprise committee's visit to Japan in recent weeks, a serious issue has been raised regarding the lack of direct connectivity with Ireland for people from outside of the United States who want to come to our country and invest. Some 90% of Ireland's corporation tax take comes from the US. Surely this is an extremely serious risk, and we need to look at dealing with a more balanced system of corporation tax take.

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