Before the Adjournment I was talking about Córas Tráchtála and how they could be more effective in their operations if they allowed and encouraged the principals of businesses to travel abroad when they need to look for business. I asked if Córas Tráchtála might be able to assist them in the compilation of itineraries and the organising of travel arrangements. Those involved in business should be enabled to pursue the best methods of exploiting situations that might arise. So many personnel are involved in Córas Tráchtála and the IDA, and their organisations are so big, that they do not appreciate fully what is needed on the ground. I suggest Córas Tráchtála could help to meet the costs involved. Often businessmen are unable to travel abroad because of the high cost of travel. Therefore they cannot go to America, the Far East, and the Middle East to talk about projects.
These Bills are timely. Heretofore restraint has been placed on the expansion of Irish exports because consideration has been confined to goods and merchandise. I referred to this yesterday in my budget speech. I spoke about the ingenuity, the hard work and the ability that are around, but I said we had not opened our doors to receive the benefits. Consequently, other countries have had a head start on us, but we could quickly overtake them. I am glad the Minister appreciates that we should not be left behind. Other countries are well geared for the promotion of exports of goods and services. For example, in the UK there are very favourable conditions. If businesses want to supply goods to other countries the Government make arrangements to pay the suppliers of the goods immediately on delivery and the Government will wait for payment by the companies supplied. It might not be a bad thing for the Revenue to look at this because businesses even supplying within the country are constantly collecting taxes for the Government as well as carrying the burden, particularly during recession, of having to wait for their money. It imposes great hardships on them and it is grossly unfair.
I have said that we are well supplied with ability; we are well geared to take advantage of and to exploit foreign markets. There is no better situated country than Ireland to do that. Shannon being on the international flight routes, we can easily go from here to the US, South America, the Middle East, the Far East. We could reduce our very high unemployment in the coming years through the introduction of these Bills. Irish business people are at home in boardrooms throughout the world. They are at home in executive selling and they have the charm which enables most Irish people to laugh and to enjoy themselves. Because of their natural hospitality they are able to win over customers. Our long periods of emigration have helped to establish Ireland throughout the world. Although emigration has been very painful to us, it is well that the red carpet has been rolled out in countries throughout the world for us and it is up to us to take advantage of it. We are now in a position to benefit, though we were not able to benefit in the last century when the Industrial Revolution passed us by. Because of our small population, because of the trauma, the pain and agony the country has gone through, it is geared technically, it is very well placed among high technology businesses, it has well-educated engineers and technicians and we are in a position to offer to other countries an exchange of technology which we were not able to do in the past. We are now able to turn the tables on the large multinationals who set up here in the last two decades almost as acts of charity and exploited our work force. We knew, of course, that our only return would be employment. However, we knew we would learn and be enabled to train a highly-skilled work force. We now have that work force.
The Government and the semi-State bodies have been working very effectively and successfully in exploiting world markets. However, it is time for a reappraisal of the role of CTT, the IDA and the NBST. We must examine the structure and staffing of these organisations. They seem to be closed bodies. We do not know what they are doing but we read the reports and we accept their advertising and their public relations work. An outside body should be asked to carry out this examination because I know that savings could be effected and they could become more effective in the future.
Some Deputies are not up-to-date with modern conditions and spoke in their contribution as if we were still in the age of camel trains and merchants in the Middle East and shiploads of merchandise as in the Elizabethan days. We are talking about the advance of technology and how quickly we are prepared to exploit it. The world has been reduced by telecommunications and the development of high technology and the market has come to our doorstep. It is not a disadvantage to be small; it is an advantage. It is also an advantage to be placed on the western edge of Europe. People have come here from America so that they can be within reach of the EEC while they are also able to exploit the markets of North and South America and of the Middle East. The Loctite Company have moved their entire research and development operation from America to this country and many others have done the same. There is a quiet revolution in the high technology telecommunications and micro-electronics industries which has been exploited very well by the IDA and the educational institutions, away from the old academic mould. The climate is perfect, especially in the Middle East and Africa, for Irish firms. There is a huge market in the Middle East for semi-conductors, even in the oil countries where solar energy is developing. They are looking for micro-wave stations for their villages so that they will not have to haul oil to remote areas. I have already mentioned the development in this field at Fota Island.
I welcome the introduction of these fairly revolutionary Bills. I congratulate the Minister and encourage him. With little or no expenditure the Bills will give an enormous boost to employment and they are not coming into operation a moment too soon.