Paschal Donohoe (Fine Gael)

The second area in which the lack of connectivity is beginning to affect us is tourism. I came across a business only this week that stated it is trying to provide tourism services in a new area in Ireland. It stated its biggest impediment is that it cannot get people into the country in the way it would want to. The ability to get people into the country is being eroded month by month under the radar. We would benefit from a far broader discussion to gain an understanding of what we could do to address this.

The second area concerns competitiveness at home. If one considers the price reductions we have seen over the past two years, one will note that Ireland still remains the second most expensive economy in the entire eurozone apart from Finland. We are 16% more expensive than Germany. Some of the competitiveness schemes in operation at this point have derived from deflation in our economy as opposed to clear choices made in response thereto. A point sometimes made in response to this concerns our high wages but this is not borne out by some of the statistics. The National Competitiveness Council, in its last report on this matter, stated that, on average, private sector wages in Ireland are broadly in line with the eurozone average. The main issue that still arises is that it is too expensive for too many people to do business in Ireland, be it the costs related to legal fees, waste or energy. Progress in these areas would do far more for job creation than any number of the documents we are discussing.

The third area concerns the role of semi-State bodies and the work they can do. Our party has published a document in this area, our NewERA plan, about which the Minister spoke in critical terms. If the Government is seeking more constructive engagement from the Opposition on the crisis our country is facing, dialogue must work two ways. If an Opposition party is to publish a plan that states how our semi-state organisations could be recapitalised to engage more directly in job creation, it must be considered. Ours has received endorsement from impartial organisations in Ireland and has formed a big part of the economic regeneration of our country in the past. I see no reason this should not be the case again.

What is the story for Ireland? I recently visited the Irish Embassy in Paris. When I walked in, the first thing I saw was a map of Ireland. The only location highlighted on it was Google's European headquarters in Dublin. During my visit to France, I had the opportunity to meet people involved in French government and economics, all of whom asked me the story in regard to Ireland. I believe I should have been given a story to tell about Ireland because I am, like the Government, trying to represent our country abroad. However, that is a point we can discuss in the future. The story I believe we should be telling in terms of the future of our country is a simple one that can be told in one sentence. If we do not have a story to sell abroad which can be told in approximately 15 seconds then it is not worth the paper it is written on. The message we should all progress, in terms of getting our country to deliver, is that people should come to Ireland because it is cheap to do business here, it is good to do business here and it is easily accessible. That is what we should be striving to achieve.

I sincerely believe that if better choices were made in what I believe is a good document and plan this would accelerate our achieving what we want.