Brendan Ryan (Labour)

Regarding the report of the enterprise strategy group, I am disappointed Members did not receive copies of it. It is astonishing that newspapers could publish multiple pages of the report, yet Members of the Oireachtas did not receive a copy. I have long learned not to trust newspaper summaries of such reports because ideology and other things get in the way.

I am interested to hear about the emphasis on immigration in the report because I had not picked up on that in the articles I read. A serious debate on immigration is needed because it does not only concern a shortage of skills. Many immigrants have no skills and they are imported into areas of the economy where there is a shortage of people to do unskilled work. It would be extremely invidious to put together an immigration policy, which provided green cards for people with skills and sustained a form of bonded labour whereby many people coming to Ireland to work, particularly in the catering industry, would not have skills or qualifications. Our immigration policy must be based on the need for workers in the economy and not on skills and qualifications.

I agree with Senator Brian Hayes that the House should discuss the report but I would rather leave it until the autumn so that we can have a long, detailed debate because this is an extremely important document. Predictably, economists are saying the same thing they have been saying for 20 years. Given the number of prominent economists who make the same comments over and over again, I am inclined to rephrase Clinton's famous comment "It's the economy, stupid". In this country the problem is the stupid economists.