Feargal Quinn (Independent)

I welcome the Minister. It was interesting to hear the points he made. I spoke yesterday at a conference in Croke Park which dealt with property, retailing, opportunities in retailing and developing retailing. It was most interesting to hear the success stories. There are not many success stories in retailing and the development of shopping centres but there are some. Just as there were failures during the very good times, there are successes in the very tough times. Who are these successes? They are those who have focused their attention on the opportunities and said: "We can do something. We might have to change from what we did previously but we must grasp that opportunity." Throughout the country there are opportunities and people who are successful.

I have been involved with a television programme for the past year and we are currently working on a programme for next year. It involves going to various retailers. I have started my contribution by talking about retailers today because at European level, and probably throughout the world, there is a concentration on manufacturing but no recognition of the huge opportunities for job creation in retail, commerce, wholesale and trade in general. It is interesting that most of the Minister's contribution focuses, understandably, on exports, manufacturing and what we can produce. However, let us not forget that 31 million people in Europe work in commerce. It is a sector we must encourage and continue to develop. We are not asking the Government to do anything other than to remove the shackles and difficulties. This will give businesses the opportunity to create jobs and be successful. We must continue to do that.

There was another conference on Friday last week at which I was invited to speak and which was attended by the Minister for Finance. It was called "Confidence in the Media?". The event tried to show that there are many voices of confidence around and that the crippling fear and lack of confidence in our economy is partly driven by an almost constant celebrity-driven narrative of fear and crisis. Senator MacSharry was quite right in his reference to some of the television programmes. They appear to be very negative. I mentioned earlier this year that our GDP per capita last year was, despite all the challenges, still the second highest in the EU. It was a massive 31% higher than the EU average. For what we earn we can buy 31% more than the average in Europe. In spite of the problems and challenges, this is good news and we should draw attention to it.

It is true that the figure is somewhat distorted by the exports of multinationals but, on the other hand, we will be tuned into the world recovery. The pick-up in the EU and world economy will be reflected in that figure. According to the interim forecast on the EU economy published by the European Commission last week, "The economic recovery in the EU has gained ground of late. GDP growth in the second quarter of 2010 was particularly strong, and more balanced towards domestic demand than previously anticipated .... global GDP (excluding the EU) is projected to grow by some 5% in 2010, a quarter percentage point higher than in the spring forecast."

We must remember that we have come far. Our GDP between 1957 and 1987 was 40% below the EU average. Now it is massively above the average despite the downturn. Our economy is now back to the 2004 level, which was a prosperous time. People constantly talk about how tough and terrible things are now and what a disaster we have endured, but we are back to the position we had in 2004. That is only six years ago. Consider the number of cars on the M50 or the standard of living we have been able to maintain. There are many people unemployed and we face challenges, but let us not talk ourselves into bigger difficulties than we have. Employment has massively expanded in recent years. The level of employment is more than 250,000 more than in 2000 and a massive 700,000 more than in 1993. They are success stories. We must have some perspective. Our situation is a far cry from that of the 1980s and early 1990s. We are in far better condition now, despite our problems.

We gained a great deal during the boom. A new study by Trinity College found that the arrival of more than 300,000 eastern Europeans, mainly Polish nationals, to Ireland in recent years meant that Irish workers had to significantly upgrade their skills to match them. That has been one of the benefits in retailing as well. As retail competition developed, Irish retailers, particularly family businesses and small and medium enterprises, SMEs, had to improve their standards to compete with those of their competitors. In spite of the perception that there is a massive decrease in our population due to emigration, there have been record birth rates. There are 11,400 more people living in this country in the 12 month period April 2009 to April 2010, and there is a new record population level of just under 4.5 million, almost 1 million more than the 1996 level.

Employment is also beginning to settle. The journalist and economist Mr. Marc Coleman, who attended the conference on positivity in the media, has made the point that employment in the economy, at 1,859,000, is not only where the ESRI predicted it would settle but also appears to be settling at that level as each successive fall in employment becomes smaller. That means it is also settling at the level we had in 2005. We often do not hear or see in the media how successful we have been in securing foreign direct investment in Ireland. Government Ministers travel all over the world to encourage investment. A total of 30 Irish firms travelled to Russia this month and signed deals for export sales worth more than €9 million. The Minister spoke about being in China recently. The number of Irish companies with a permanent presence in China has increased from 45 to 115 in just the past four years.

Credit Suisse has said that recovery in Ireland is under way as we benefit from falling prices and wages, which is boosting our exports. Production levels are now back to pre-recession levels. The US investment bank Morgan Stanley has said that the Irish economy has "turned the corner" and that Ireland "should be able to adjust to the new post-crisis world" better than other eurozone nations. It described Ireland as "fundamentally different" from other peripheral European countries because it is "a fully deregulated, fully liberalised, flexible market economy". We do not often hear such words spoken. I was very impressed by the Minister and many others at the conference last week in the Shelbourne Hotel. They spoke about the danger that we would talk ourselves into bigger problems than we have. According to the many international business people I have spoken to, they are still enthusiastic about the business conditions in Ireland. Let us ensure we do not damage that.

Consider how well Irish exports are doing in spite of the downturn. The Minister referred to this. The fall in the value of the euro is very encouraging for Irish exports because companies have benefited more than those in other eurozone nations from the currency's weakness against the dollar and sterling. Bord Bia stated last week that the value of Irish food and drink exports has increased by more than 8% in the first five months of this year and is now worth almost €3 billion. Our economy has become more competitive out of necessity. I have told the Minister of State on other occasions about going to a shop in Dundalk which was closing down. I asked some butchers where they would go to look for work. I suggested they go to Newry where there were plenty of jobs. They responded by saying that wages in Newry were only one third of what they could earn here. It is clear we had worked ourselves out of jobs by paying ourselves too much on some occasions.

We have become more competitive. Certain commentators told us we could not do it but it is now happening as a result of competition. We need to continue this drive towards competitiveness and continue to bring down rent, wages and energy prices. We must do something about the cost of energy because this is making us uncompetitive. Our costs are still too high and we failed to benchmark our wages costs against other EU countries. It is not a popular view but we must look at the minimum wage. A great number of jobs would exist but they do not exist due to the minimum wage rate which is the second highest in Europe. Luxembourg is level with Ireland on the minimum wage rate. This rate was understandable when we could afford to pay it but this is not the case now.

The speakers at the event entitled Confidence in the Media agreed that the country is still on a brink of sorts and that there is a real chance we can talk ourselves into a bigger recession. The Minister for Finance, Deputy Brian Lenihan, said at that conference, "It is important for journalists to be aware of the self-fulfilling nature of doomsday scenarios." Senator MacSharry referred to such references made last night. The media has the ability to undermine or promote confidence in our economy. It can be very easy for us to talk ourselves into trouble.

Donal O'Mahony writing in The Irish Times highlighted well how news can be distorted to the detriment of the country: a major overseas investment bank opined that Ireland did not require IMF aid assistance — "at least for now". This morphed into "may yet need help" on the front page of a major Irish newspaper the next day, and from there back to the newswires, only now with Ireland "perilously close" to an IMF intervention.

This all came about from one comment which had been exaggerated. It is crazy to consider how news can be distorted so much. Positivity is the only way forward and it is crucial to all parts of the economy at this time. Negativity is a real hindrance and in some ways can be an excuse to do nothing. The future is undoubtedly challenging but a downturn has provided so many opportunities for business people to improve their business and many of them are doing so. There must be a will to succeed and this needs to be generated. There are far more people working than was the case 20 years' ago. We have been very successful. The past three years have been difficult but compared to 20 years' ago we are doing so much better. We should not talk ourselves into saying it has all been a failure. We must grasp the moment and this is the moment to do so. We need to be more creative, to have a bit more enthusiasm. Businesses need to do what is required and they will come out of it stronger, as will the economy. I agree we have challenges to face and it will not be easy to deal with them but we should not talk ourselves into bigger problems.

Senator MacSharry talked about being realistic and we need realism. We have spent too much time looking at the past. We have had a problem in the banking sector and as with any problem, it is important to deal with it and analyse it, but now is the time to look to the future. Let us make sure that we do not introduce into our economy something that hinders our opportunities to get on top of it. We will have to take some very tough decisions. I prefer that we take those tough decisions rather than find ourselves avoiding them and somebody else coming in to make those decisions for us. We have to make those decisions ourselves and now is the time to do so.