Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I will respond in reverse order, if that is agreeable. I thank Senator Healy Eames for her remarks. It would be very useful if she could send me on the information to which she referred. I will be happy to respond to her in that regard in due course. I was interested to hear her refer to a particular index or score sheet. Ireland is at the top, or very close to the top, of many global, EU and OECD indices and indicators with regard to our competitiveness and our taxation regime for foreign direct investment. It has been said by the business community over the last period of time that work needs to be done with our taxation measures to make Ireland a more attractive place for the owners and managers of small and medium-sized enterprises. Now that the country is clearly recovering from the economic situation it has been in, all these issues can be addressed over time by the Minister for Finance and the Government. I am particularly interested in the notion of competitiveness regarding where start-up companies might locate. Ireland is competing on the world stage as it tries to attract high-potential start-ups from the US, Canada and elsewhere to locate in this country.

I would like to move on to one of the points made by Senator Barrett about property. Issues with the supply of adequate office facilities in some parts of the country have been raised with me informally by small start-up companies from the other side of the Atlantic that might wish to locate here. I think we need to address the supply issue. Clearly, our financial institutions will have a role in that regard.

I thank Senator Quinn for raising with me the Construction Contracts Act 2013, for which I recently took responsibility. I have a personal interest in trying to make sure the legislation originally drafted by Senator Quinn, which was adopted with some changes by the Government, works well. I think the future health of our construction industry will depend on that. I accept that it took some time to develop and adopt the Act, which now has a home. I will be managing it. I will be happy to report back to this House when we are in a position to elaborate further on the mechanics in this area. I appreciate the Senator's interest in this issue and his dedication to bringing it to the floor of this House and making it a priority for the Government. Now that I am responsible for it, I look forward to rolling it out.