Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an t-Aire. In regard to this Bill, I can see there is a kind of hole in our economic security apparatus if I may put it that way, that this Bill is necessary to address. The principle of the Bill that we are debating today is something with which I have no major difficulty. It seems to me, bearing in mind what Senator Crowe and the Minister of State have said, that we should ensure that FDI is not overly burdened by bureaucracy in regard to relatively straightforward transactions which excite no security or political questions for the Irish State. I would like to know whether we should not have a system - and maybe it is somewhere buried in the Bill - whereby the Minister or the Government can, in respect of areas of economic activity, simply exempt them by statutory instrument. It seems to me that in order to minimise paperwork and bureaucracy, there are probably areas of economic activity where it does not matter at all who the owners of these businesses actually are. For instance, in regard to the construction industry, if someone like Gama Construction comes to Ireland is it really an issue for the security of the State or for national policy who it is owned by or whether the people in Turkey who own it are top drawer or whatever? Is the construction industry, for example, something that we are concerned about? Would road building, if we ever get back to that, be an area where there should be significant issues? Would agriculture? There seems to me to be huge swathes of the economy, including retail business and such matters, that would or could easily exceed the €2 million threshold. I would like to see the Government do itself a favour and say that there are areas around which notification will not be necessary because they have no implication for Irish security.

Furthermore, on this legislation and the control of exports legislation that the House is dealing with, a nephew of mine, Henry Farrell, who is now a professor in Johns Hopkins University in Washington and his co-author, Abraham Newman, have written a very interesting book, which I mention not because he is a nephew of mine but because of the book. The book, Underground Empire, is a fascinating revelation of how American power is being extended worldwide by means of sanctions and prohibitions. I believe that Ireland should be conscious of that fact. We cannot take on America on the economic front and if it sanctions a particular activity there is very little that Ireland can do about it. However, I would say that the whole use of economic power by perhaps the United States and the European Union is an area around which we have to be critical in our co-operation with such measures, as we found out in relation to Aughinish Alumina down on the Shannon. We cannot simply sign up for propositions or put ourselves in the position that because a particular company is owned by a particular person or is about to change ownership that something like Aughinish Alumina for instance could be imperilled as a going enterprise.It seems to assume that all notifications will go through the process, and that the transactions will be adjudicated on and due process will be forwarded to the parties to the transaction, etc. What about transactions which take place that have the same kind of implications for Irish economic or political security which get through the net, so to speak? Do we need a divestment power? Do we need to have something along the lines of reversing something that has happened due to a transaction in the Caribbean or whatever? Do we need to have some kind of method of giving to the Minister some capacity where something has already happened which, if it had been done by the book, would have attracted intervention to reverse the transaction? That is a question I want to raise.

In general terms, I accept that the Bill is important. In particular, I accept what Senator Crowe said. We do not want to tie down FDI of the most innocent and profitable kind in unnecessary bureaucracy. I wonder whether if we had exemption by category powers whether we would not lighten the load on the Department, which will have to supervise this process once it is put in place. I thank the Minister of State.