Mary White (Fianna Fail)

They should not just engage in political debate and in wasting time. I have had the honour over the past eight years to be the nominee of the Irish Exporters Association for the Seanad and am pleased to have been offered that distinction again. This week I attended the launch of the report, Trading with the Asia-Pacific Region 2011-2015, produced by my nominating body, the Irish Exporters Association. This association, driven by the chief executive, Mr. John Whelan, draws to the attention of the Government and whoever the incoming government may be, that they must drive greater trade with China, India, the Republic of Korea, Japan and Malaysia. We are not even scraping at the surface export wise. Over 50% of the world's population lives in Asia and three of the four fastest growing economies are located there. In China, for example, economic growth exceeds 10% per annum and there are more than 160 cities in that vast country with a population in excess of 1 million. I visited China about 15 years ago with my husband, when it was still entrenched in communism and socialism and nothing was moving economically. Now it is a dramatically different country. Irish companies must be in the forefront in developing markets in Asia. The potential rewards are huge. Based on World Trade Organisation figures for China, we can extrapolate that if we were to increase our exports to 1% of total Chinese imports, we would increase our sales to China by over $10 billion annually.

As a business person, I know one cannot grow a business and create employment unless one is selling one's goods at a competitive price and filling a demand. We have a colossal opportunity to do that.

I wish the Minister of State, Deputy Seán Haughey, the best of luck in the forthcoming election. It has been my pleasure to say each time he has been in the House that I will appreciate to my dying day the vision his father had for our country.