Seanad debates

Wednesday, 24 November 2010

National Recovery Plan 2011-2014: Statements

 

5:00 pm

Photo of Mary WhiteMary White (Fianna Fail)

As the Taoiseach said today at the launch of the National Recovery Plan 2011 to 2014, it is about being optimistic for the future of our country. Wearing my business hat, unless we are optimistic about the future of our country, it will remain stagnant. Currently, the media and the Opposition are doing everything in their power to make us out to be a country with no hope, which is having a seriously detrimental effect on businesses, companies, families and children. As a business person I am and always will be optimistic. I believe our standard of living will not escalate in the way it did in the past ten years. It will remain static and may regress but in about three years time it will begin to grow again.

In 2000, our costs in Ireland were the same as those in Germany but by 2008 our costs had increased by an angle of 45 degrees, so to speak. We lost our competitiveness. There are many policies and decisions in this plan that should have been implemented in the past ten years. I wrote to the Minister, Deputy Mary Harney, on the introduction of the minimum wage in 2000 and congratulated her. I met her and told her it was a very good idea to have a minimum wage but it increased on six occasions over the years. It is not that the minimum wage itself is high but other people up the scale financially wanted to get a higher increase in wages, which added to the increase in labour costs. Other people saw it increasing and said they wanted more. That is what it caused.

I do not agree with Senator Alex White's view that we have to agree the plan and examine it more carefully. It was good to have the minimum wage but it acted against people taking on lesser skilled people and giving them work experience. Employers ended up paying €10 an hour. Paying €10 an hour to someone who has no experience is crazy because one must teach the person how to do the work. It was a failure of Government that it did not re-examine the policy it had introduced. That is the main difference between business and politics. I find it fascinating. One must examine every decision one makes. One must re-examine it, refine it and make it work in a strategic manner but the Government carved policies in stone and then the whole process crumbled.

The same applies to water charges. The Government should have brought in water charges a long time ago. There was a political failure to do that. I spoke at a local authority conference in Castlebar five years ago and the theme of my presentation was that there should be an introduction of water charges. Water is a scarce and valuable commodity, but the Government did not have the guts to make those decisions.

I read in the newspaper, and therefore I presume it is correct, that the Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport will consider reducing the departure tax on people exiting the country. If she did that, thousands more visitors would come here. Why did the Government not do that a year ago? A person's business will not survive if they do not innovate. They must refine their policy and innovation strategy, come up with new products and improve others. The disappointing aspect of politics for me is that policies are carved in stone and they then fail because they do not re-examine and refine them.

My area of immediate interest is the strategy for improving our competitiveness, growth and employment because it is all about reassuring the people that there are jobs for themselves and their children and that they are not terrified. I am aware from doing business that one cannot grow a business in a small open economy with a population of 4.4 million. One must export. The Minister of State, Deputy Mansergh, may recall me speaking about that. I find it frustrating. The country does not earn any money unless it exports goods and services or attracts people into the country to give us their foreign exchange. It was running out of sync with an efficient economy. If we look at the contrast with the German economy, they were able to keep their costs in line from 2000. They did not allow them increase. They were realistic, and we have lessons to learn in that regard.

I am delighted with this plan. I believe it will be a source of optimism as it is spelled out, but we have to monitor it and ensure there is delivery on it. I am particularly interested in the agrifood area. It is our indigenous industry. It employs 150,000 people directly and another 100,000 indirectly. I do not know where we would be today if we did not have our multinational companies which came here for the high level of education of our young people and our 12.5% corporation tax rate.

I have been listening to a great deal of rubbish on the radio and reading in the newspapers about whether the corporation tax will be abolished. I cannot understand the stupidity of it. That tax is carved in stone until every member of the European Union does not agree with it. We will never agree with it being abolished and therefore it can never be changed. Someone made an interesting point to me the other day. Her daughter, who is about 16 years old, stated: "Mum, our corporation tax is like our monarchy; nobody can touch it." I thought it was a fascinating remark. This is our tax and all the criticism we have been getting in the international media recently has a lot to do with jealousy that we have this 12.5% corporation tax.

The agrifood industry needs young leadership in the productive and the farming sector. We must reward them and encourage innovation in the food sector and among the food processing people and the people making food products for export. Lir Chocolates, which employs 250 people in Navan, innovates with 30 new products a year. One does not hold on to one's market unless one innovates. I am worried by the increase in VAT from 21% to 22% in 2013, with a further increase to 23% in 2014. As Senator MacSharry said earlier, that is negative for the Border counties and business and jobs in the Border counties should also be cherished. In addition, VAT affects the poorest, it is frightening the effect it has instead of taxing income.

I wish the Taoiseach well. I believe he is the right man to lead us through this. He knows what he is up against. I predict people will begin to see clearly his excellent qualities and that all he must do is appear on television once a week to take the people along with him. He takes us along with him, he took us along with him last night. It is all our futures, on both sides of the House, and the Irish people are relying on the result of this and everyone getting behind it.

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