Shane Ross (Independent)

I welcome the fact the Minister of State quoted the mission statement of the IDA. I am afraid it fills me with even more fear about the future. I have no problem with what the IDA did in the past. I salute Senator Mary White's husband, who she does not acknowledge in her interruptions, and the great deal he did in the IDA, as did Michael Killeen and others before him. Let us salute all those people but ask what the mission statement means for the future. It really is a pretty contorted meaningless mission statement which lacks any direction. It states: "We will win for Ireland, its people and its regions, the best in international innovation and investment so as to contribute to the continued transformation of Ireland to a world-leading society [What in the name of God is a world leading society?] which is rich in creativity, learning and personal and social well-being." That could be the mission statement for any charity, state agency or state body in the world. It is utterly meaningless.

One of the great strengths of the IDA is that it has been a kind of independent republic within State agencies, within that great sphere in which these rather padded State agencies exist. The Minister of State referred to it as "autonomous". That is a good word because it has been autonomous in the past, has been allowed to do its own thing and, on many occasions, has been counter to the general financial consensus in the country. The IDA has been enterprising and has brought Americans and multinationals to this country when politicians concentrated all their efforts on and love-bombed native industry. Multinationals are bodies which we still handle with kid gloves. As a people, we do not like to acknowledge that the reason for the boom is multinationals. We do not like to acknowledge that because it somehow implies we did not do it ourselves. The truth is we could not have done it without them. That is not to deprive successive Administrations of the credit for creating many of the conditions which welcomed——