Shane Ross (Independent)

It will be a change not to have hot air coming out of Drumcondra anyway.

I join in the thanks to Ambassador Bruton for coming to the House. He made one of the clearest speeches I have heard from the seat in which he sits. The message was also clear. It was flattering to this House to be read a thesis which was obviously written and understood by its author and I congratulate the ambassador on what he had to say to us.

I wish to ask the ambassador two questions, to the first of which I do not expect him to respond. In light of the eulogies paid to him in the House today, how does he think he escaped the pages of Who's Who in Ireland in the past few weeks? It is extraordinary for us to be in such distinguished company but not to see him feature in that book. It is an amazing omission but I will forgive the ambassador for ignoring the question.

My second question is more serious. I was struck by the dual interest the ambassador obviously has in Europe and America, as well as the manner in which he attacked the subject from both angles. Specifically, I wish to question him on the first part of his speech, when he spoke rather unapologetically about American investment in Ireland. It is somewhat difficult for Members to listen to the fact that so much is owed to American investment. That was very interesting and the staggering statistics provided by Mr. Bruton tell Members much about the reason the Celtic tiger has taken off.

I do not wish to ask the ambassador about the implications for that investment of the elections as it is to early to tell. Moreover, he touched on the subject when discussing protectionism there. Is a mood developing in America at present that is far more sceptical about investing in Ireland? Are the good days of multinationals coming to invest in Ireland over or at least slowing?

I will quote statistics with which the ambassador may not be familiar. He might comment on an alarming survey that was taken here by the American Chamber of Commerce Ireland in June or July 2006. It found that 43% of those American firms surveyed indicated that Ireland was no longer a preferred location for further investment, while 41% of them indicated that Ireland is no longer as attractive a location for investment as when such companies first set up here. As this sounds the warning bells, what can be done about it? The reasons provided were also fairly clear and singled out specific problems in Ireland that are scaring off and annoying Americans.

This submission is representative of firms such as Intel, Dell and those other organisations that are needed so badly and to which we are grateful. One obvious problem to be singled out concerned infrastructure. The survey stated that Ireland was not within striking distance of airports where it was necessary and the roads were not good enough. It also singled out broadband provision by stating it was appallingly bad, as well as other areas such as labour availability and costs, in which Ireland was falling far behind its competitors. In his discussions with American Members of Congress and Senators — and the newly-elected Members — has the ambassador detected any reluctance, such as that which obviously is conveyed by this survey, to come to Ireland with the same enthusiasm as previously?

Finally, I refer to a political question on a related subject. Obviously, there has been a certain amount of controversy within both parties on the issue of transfer pricing, whereby Ireland takes great advantage of the willingness of American companies to keep their profits or to have their profits taxed here. The issue has been raised recently in The Wall Street Journal. Is there an indication that any United States Administration might wish to put an end to this practice, thereby causing real difficulties for multinationals located here?