John Gerard Hanafin (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. He comes with a fine reputation as a politician who has very high standards.

The support of employment, research and innovation and the application of this research and innovation at home should be the top priorities in the budget. Countries such as Denmark and Finland have home-grown multinationals and continue to pay themselves at very high rates and have a high social economy. There is a mix and a balance in achieving this. It is a mix and a balance that we have got right, with low taxation and a high social economy. It is something I would like to see continue but to do that will take application.

We must continue to look at maintaining jobs and improving exports. We are working within a global environment where the price of oil has increased significantly and growth rates have decreased. By any standard, when Japan and America have 2% growth rates, the rest of the Europe has 1.9% and we have 3.5% growth, we are still looking at a very positive performance. With that in mind I would like to see an improvement in our exports because that is the key to growth in the future, and competitiveness is an essential part of it. Competitiveness does not necessarily and solely lie with wages, although it is an important aspect of it. It is equally important to look at infrastructure.

Let us take a practical example. If I need a plumber and he has to travel 45 minutes across town to fit a faucet which takes ten minutes and has to spend another 45 minutes travelling back, that adds to the cost of the job. The same applies to the economy. Investing in infrastructure, as stated by a previous speaker, is an investment and should not be looked on as a capital spend. If we need to borrow on this occasion to proceed with the necessary infrastructure which will maintain our competitiveness, we should do that. There are other aspects of investment that should be looked at such as investment in education and health. The reason is that a great deal of foreign direct investment comes into this country. Any person considering investing or working in Ireland or coming to live in Ireland will naturally look at the areas of the world that offer low cost production. For their families and themselves, the education and health systems are regarded as being of a high standard. They are also elements of infrastructure.

While admitting that wages are an element, I continue to support foreign direct investment to ensure Enterprise Ireland can continue to do its job well to ensure there are jobs, because there is a creeping trend, noticeable first in America, of unemployment, which we would do well to avoid. The budget will play a necessary part in that. As part of that budget I would like to see more being done for green alternatives. I am encouraged that it was to an Irish company the Germans looked to supply a large amount of electricity for the German market — 1.5 times the amount Ireland uses. It is setting up a wind farm, which is not new technology to this country, in that small grid which Germany has in the North Sea. When one considers the resources that are so plentiful and available to us, it would make sense to continue to look to and, perhaps, have a European-wide grid because part of the problem with wind energy is that it is intermittent and the supply may not be available at all times, in which case we could feed into the European grid.

In regard to the budget, I want whatever is necessary to maintain growth in the economy to ensure the less well-off will continue to be looked after by the Government and to ensure social harmony so that those who need a step up the ladder will get it and the divergence in pay does not become too vast so that there is inequity in society. Our pay rates and tax rates have achieved a certain balance and I hope that will continue. I look forward to the budget on 5 December. I am sure the Minister in categorical style will ensure the less well-off are well catered for while ensuring our economic growth continues.