Paschal Donohoe (Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister of State for coming into the House to speak on this matter.

I would like to take a slightly different approach to it. I do so because prior to having the privilege of becoming a Member of the Oireachtas, I worked for ten years for one of the companies Ireland was successful in attracting to invest here, namely, Procter & Gamble. In the time that company has been established in this country, it has significantly increased the number of people it employs. The company has an operation in Dublin and a large manufacturing facility in Nenagh, which is doing an amazing job producing goods that are sold profitably across the world.

The Minister of State spoke of the great economic success our country has enjoyed and how this supported the development of our economy and I am a great example of that. I left Ireland because there were no jobs here and got a job with Proctor & Gamble in the UK. To my unexpected delight, due to factors referred to in the Minister of State's speech, a job became available in Ireland. I spent five years happily working in that job. Towards the end of my tenure, warning clouds began to appear. This led to the company making tough decisions about the number of people employed by it in this country. I saw how difficult these decisions were even though I did not have to make them as they were taken at a different level.

I noticed the speed at which an erosion of competitiveness has an impact on the decisions that companies such as Proctor & Gamble make. It affects their ability to employ and make profit here. I also noticed the major impact of such decisions on the local community and workers. The pride a company takes in operating here turns into an emotional commitment to the country and anguish at the tough decisions that have an impact on workers who will no longer be working for the company in a few years' time.

Ireland's position within the competitiveness league and our ability to recruit and employ people here may seem academic topics. We are speaking at a high level about our global competitiveness and our ability to attract multinational investment but the academic nature of the debate disappears when one is involved in decisions about the ability to recruit people in Ireland. My contribution is informed by that.

Other Members have commented that very few Members of the Oireachtas have a background in business and employing people. My family is involved in small business, a sector that is represented very weakly in the Oireachtas. Those who have worked in multinational companies, benefited from it and then see it not work out so well are not represented here at all, with the exception of me and a few other people. We must represent this experience in the Oireachtas.

The report that ranks us 13th out of 30 countries in terms of attracting multinational investment is correct. It struck me that the countries ahead of us, those who have improved their competitiveness dramatically over the past few years, have been successful at improving their cost base. As a result countries such as Poland, Thailand, Argentina and China have overtaken us. The experience of a huge country such as China may be one we have difficulty copying or learning from because of its size and political structure. Countries such as Poland and Argentina, who learned from us and copied it so quickly, should give us pause for thought.

People may think I am a sad individual but I occupy my few leisure moments by reading publications such as The Economist. For the past few months it has carried a full page advertisement from Macedonia. It is very simple and promises to tax profits made by multinationals in Macedonia at 10% for the foreseeable future. It is written in big bold letters. The advertisement states that the average wage of those working in the country is €440 per month. It also refers to attempts to educate the workforce quickly. It refers to literacy rates and the development of second and third level sectors there. There is the makings of a perfect storm on the horizon. Countries are offering a tax rate lower than what we can do, wage rates far lower than what we can deliver and, most worryingly, they have cottoned on to the success we have had with education. We should not cod ourselves that we can make decisions that will have an impact on competitiveness next year or the year after.

These countries have examined what Ministers from all parties did in the 1960s and 1970s. A Minister from across the House, Minister Donogh O'Malley, took the brave decisions to make education free.