Mary White (Fianna Fail)

We have to wake up to the fact that technology companies will outsource certain aspects of their business. Companies must make the strategic decisions to engage in marketing and research and development in order to survive. We will require high-skilled immigrants, probably with PhDs. International investors are no longer looking at whether we have the infrastructure in place. When the IDA was meeting prospective customers 20 years ago, such customers wanted to see that there was a good infrastructure. They now want to know how many PhD graduates are in a particular area and the subjects in which they completed their doctorates. That is the way industry has gone.

From my own experience in business, the bottom line is that one has to be agile and be able to react swiftly. There is no hanging around — it is not like in politics where there is no rush on some issues. I learned that lesson. To survive in business, one has to be quick footed and alert.