Mary White (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of Education and Science, Deputy Haughey, on his second appearance in the House. As he can see from the compliments he has received he has support across the House.

I wish to focus on the all-island co-operation section of the National Development Plan 2007-2013. Since the Good Friday Agreement of April 1998, society in Northern Ireland has been transformed, as have North-South co-operation and east-west relations. This is thanks in many respects to the exemplary negotiation skills of the Taoiseach. It is hard to believe the transformation that has taken place on the island. The national development plan sets out in detail a range of existing and planned North-South projects already agreed with the Northern Ireland Administration and being implemented. It also sets out for the first time proposals for Irish Government investment in North-South projects and initiatives for mutual benefit. The Government wishes to agree and implement these with the British Government and a restored Northern Ireland Executive in the period 2007-13. These projects and initiatives will benefit the entire island of Ireland.

Partition has been the single greatest impediment to balanced economic development across the island of Ireland. This has left communities along the Border on both sides and in the northwest severely disadvantaged socially and economically. The North's transport infrastructure, once regarded as being superior to that of the Republic, has not kept pace in recent years. There is no direct motorway between Belfast and Derry, the two main cities in the Six Counties, and the railway system is seriously under-resourced.

Due to the existence of the Border infrastructure projects have in the past been built in both the North and the South without regard to the impact in the other jurisdiction or any efficiencies that could be gained from working together. In this plan there will be economies of scale and co-operation on cross-Border all-island infrastructure development. The North is only now getting its act together to build a motorway to meet up with the Republic's M1 from Dublin to the Border. Making decisions on an all-island basis would in many cases be better for the welfare and health of all the people on the island.

In a dramatic statement in November 2005, Peter Hain, Secretary of State for the North said "the economy in the North is not sustainable in the long term" and that in future decades, "it is going to be increasingly difficult to look at the economy of Northern Ireland and the South except as a sort of island of Ireland economy". At the end of last October, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Dermot Ahern, and the Secretary of State for the North, Peter Hain, published a comprehensive study on the development of an all-Ireland economy. In their joint introduction to the study, the Ministers said: "It makes clear the strong economic imperative driving north-south co-operation ... To be globally competitive we must exploit the opportunities of all island co-operation".

These conclusions by the Minister, Deputy Dermot Ahern, and Peter Hain are a far cry from the previous back-to-back approach to economic and social development on this island. Both parts of Ireland are on the cusp of a transition to genuine economic and social co-operation and cohesion which could transform the prospects for peace and prosperity on this island.

The Minister for Finance, Deputy Cowen, in presenting the Government's pre-budget 2007 spending plans, said:

We have an economy that is working and a country that is at work. From being one of the developed world's worst economies twenty years ago, we now have a model of excellence and a performance which is the envy of much of the developed world.

At a time of unprecedented economic growth in the South, the North has deepened its public sector dependency and reliance on the British Treasury. The public sector in the North is also the largest employer of university graduates, preventing the private sector from gaining their skills.

No matter what co-operation goes ahead my mantra remains that there must be a change in the corporation tax in the North. The current rate of 30% in that jurisdiction seriously inhibits the ability to attract foreign investment. It is the responsibility of Gordon Brown to be inspired and to make a decision. He must not be inward-looking and protective towards the union. The Chancellor must see that, for the benefit of the entire island, there should be a common rate of corporation tax in order that potential investors who are considering investing here will not see the island in terms of North and South but as a total area in which they might invest. Sir George Quigley, who sponsored my nomination to the Irish Exporters Association, is the main driver for change in this area among business people in the North. The SDLP is also pressing for change and has suggested a corporation tax rate of 12.5%. Sinn Féin advocates a rate of 17%. There is a consensus that change must take place.

The national development plan is concerned with all-island co-operation. As a result of the North's 30% corporation tax, Goodbody Stockbrokers estimates that it has lost 20 times the potential investment it could have attracted. At our meeting with the SDLP last week, I inquired about how strongly it was pressing in respect of a reduction in the rate of corporation tax. One of those present asked me if I would accompany them to Downing Street on their next visit to exert pressure on Gordon Brown. I stated that I would be delighted to do so. The Government, led by the Taoiseach and the Minister for Finance, is not afraid of competition. We are willing to share and to include the North. We are not defensive and do not believe that no one else should benefit from a corporation tax rate of 12.5%. We would be delighted to promote Ireland on an all-island basis.