Tom Parlon (Laois-Offaly, Progressive Democrats)

Senator Higgins painted a grim picture in regard to job losses and it is true that we have some difficulties in this regard. He mentioned the issue of competitiveness, which came up throughout the debate. This appears to be a problem particularly in regard to our traditional manufacturing industries. The point was made that the bulk of these industries were owned by multinational companies that chose to relocate elsewhere due to our high cost base.

Thankfully, as other Senators stated, it is not all bad news. Today there was an announcement in regard to my home town. It is where I was born and went to school but, unfortunately, I do not get any votes from the area. It is not in my constituency, although it is situated within five miles from where I live. The IDA has attracted a substantial US company to replace the loss of Antigen, now called Miza. The indications are that the plant will re-open and the workforce will be taken back in what appears to be a strong investment in research and development. The Tánaiste also recently announced new jobs in Roscommon and I look forward to further such announcements. While there is not much we can do about our lack of competitiveness in traditional industries, we can build on our strengths, namely, an educated workforce with new skills.

Senator O'Toole raised the issues of the slowing growth rate and rising inflation. Our situation is not so bad when we compare it to Germany, which has zero growth and zero inflation. However, there are also 4.2 million people unemployed in that country. There appears to be a close link between growth and inflation. The figures for January are promising even though, as Senator Mansergh suggested, it might be difficult to extrapolate this from them. The ESRI indicated that we are at the top of the peak and the outlook is quite positive.