Paschal Donohoe (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State. He made the point that he has a greater investment in seeing this plan succeed as a father with young children then he does as a Minister of State. I will respond in kind in my comments on this plan as to how it can be improved and how Ireland's presence abroad can be strengthened in the difficult times in which we find ourselves. I will make a number of observations on the strategy outlined in Trading and Investing in a Smart Economy, which I have read, as well as a number of recommendations that should be implemented and which would go some way towards its improvement.

The Minister of State's contribution touched on a highly interesting issue, namely, the need for this plan. That is a very good question because as he acknowledged, many other sectoral plans are in place across the economy. This plan now forms the third part of the trilogy of documents that have emanated from the Government in respect of how export excellence will be delivered, with the middle one being the Forfás document the Minister of State has just acknowledged. The benefit of deciding to implement an integrated strategy is that one makes choices. One decides to do something and, therefore, one will not do something else. This forms the basis of my principal observation regarding this document. While it would be difficult for anyone to disagree with all the elements and recommendations contained in the plan, that is its weakness. In the era in which we find ourselves, if a political party or a government puts forward a policy or recommendation with which everyone agrees, it is doing something wrong because clear choices will not have been made.

The evidence that such choices are not being made is illustrated on page 20 of the document which lists the markets and sectors on which Ireland will focus. The markets mentioned are the United Kingdom, the United States, the eurozone and high growth and emerging markets. There is very little else left as it states we intend to focus on the majority of the global economy. Moreover, the sectors detailed comprise tourism, food, education, life sciences, software content and gaming, green enterprise, construction, creativity and design and so-called silver technologies. This list details pretty much every area of business and industrial activity in which Ireland operates. For a document and plan like this to have a real edge and to be capable of making a difference, I contend that we should be laying out clear choices and priorities regarding what will and will not be done.

This leads on to a point in respect of diversification, about which this document emphasised two interesting points. The first pertains to market diversification and the second to export diversification and they illustrate two vulnerabilities that Ireland faces at present. In respect of market diversification, it indicated that 40% of our entire export performance is dependent on three countries. Moreover, it made a point regarding our export diversification about which I was unaware until I read this document, that is, 57% of our export performance is in the area of chemicals. The majority of that chemical performance falls into either organic or medical chemicals. This reverts to the point I made previously. The Minister of State correctly made the point that Ireland is so susceptible to global downturns and events because of its integration with the rest of the world. We respond to such integration by being a trading partner and by doing so well at trading. My point about this document is to ask whether our ability to do this will be improved by failing to make clear choices regarding the markets and sectors within which we will perform as opposed to choosing them all. This point was emphasised to me by a statement in the plan to the effect that we will go to market using the same principles that were outlined in a plan that was delivered in 2005. The whole world has changed in the intervening five years. Does the strategy document make the clear choices that will allow us to make use of the resources we have at our disposal and to focus on the markets or sectors that are most capable of achieving the export performance and job creation we need?

An additional area that may explain the lack of choice I see in the strategy concerns the high-level group I assume was charged with developing it. I refer to Appendix 1, page 55, which makes for interesting reading. I will not name the people involved because there is no need; I will just name the bodies represented. They include the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Innovation, which is listed twice, Forfás, An Bord Bia, Tourism Ireland, Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland and Culture Ireland. Also included are the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Department of Tourism, Culture and Sport, the Department of Justice and Law Reform, and the Department of Education and Skills. Where is the representation for anybody working in the sector?