Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)

I second the amendment. Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit.

This is a timely and welcome debate. The Senators opposite are acting in a delusional manner in congratulating the Government. At a time when so many are unemployed or emigrating and so many businesses are closing down all we have from the Government is navel-gazing and an inability to govern.

Ireland faces challenges and opportunities. A myriad of issues confront people in indigenous business and the export market. Senator Phelan is correct in suggesting we must help to create employment and jobs, to restore our competitiveness and to return our global trading level to where it was. More importantly, we must provide jobs to the people at home. That is what people want. The next generation of employers and workers look to legislators like us for inspiration and policy. We must tackle the cost agenda, restore confidence in the business world and force the banks, of which we are proud owners, to lend, to allow liquidity to flow and to allow people in agricultural and small and medium-sized enterprises to have capital. This is not happening in the banks at the moment yet last week the Bank of Ireland awarded bonuses. The Minister for Finance must set up an investigation. We have public interest directors and we are the owners of the banks, with the Minister for Finance in charge.

As Senators Carty, Mooney and Phelan said, we must broaden our export base and open new frontiers. We must move away from the Americas and go to the Far East. Cork is twinned with Shanghai and this is bringing people to the city. It brings much-needed income and people to University College Cork, where there is a thriving international relationship. We must seek new opportunities and be open to new ideas while rewarding, enticing and attracting. This Government has adopted the wrong approach. It has abandoned examining the OECD report on education, to which Senator Phelan referred. The mantra from Government is about the smart economy. We hear great lines about adding points to maths and science in exams but we need action.

Senator Mooney cited figures and tables on trade. We are behind Malaysia, Qatar and other countries in other tables. Why have we lost our place in the economic competitiveness table? Senator Mooney referred to the period 1994 to 2000. How did it happen that those sitting around the Cabinet table could take their eyes off the ball so that we are now the poor relation of Europe? Last week President Sarkozy made a mockery of us. This week, in this House I made the point that he should stay away from telling us what to do in this country. We look after ourselves and our rate of corporation tax is very important. However, we need a Government that will lead but we do not have that.

We all recognise the central role exports will play in the recovery of the Irish economy. I agree with Senator Mooney that, while we may be down and in trouble, we are not banjaxed. We have great people, an intelligent workforce and a well-educated group of people who want to work. Hopefully they will come back when we have a change of Government. We are not banjaxed. We will not come back to the days of the Celtic tiger but perhaps we should not have aspired to be like that. We lost many of our values as a society. In the context of the motion, the Climate Change Response Bill raises questions about where we trade and how we do business. The food and drink exporters came out against the Climate Change Response Bill that the Government is so keen to pass before it leaves office. I do not know if the Government has a date to leave office. There is a commitment to a 50% increase above the existing carbon reduction target. These targets have been committed in Europe under the EU reduction plan.

Considering the international market, Fianna Fáil is very quick to blame international events for where we are. However, the party fails to mention the international situation as a key component of Ireland's export increases. Without being negative, the euro is weak relative to sterling and the dollar. This has an important role in allowing our exports to rise. It is not just Government policy that causes exports to increase. Due to domestic factors, the Irish Exporters Association, IEA, states that the growth projection of 7.2% for 2011 in Irish exports is well below what is necessary to meet the demand in the EU-IMF four year plan. That point has not been mentioned across the Chamber. The post-budget analysis from the IEA also highlights the flaws in the thinking of the Government in regard to the research and development centres. These need to be revisited so we can become a high-tech export economy. I welcome the investment by Intel and the fact that Apple and EMC are doing so well in Cork.