Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 8 Jun 1995

Vol. 454 No. 2

An Bille um an gCúigiú Leasú Déag ar an mBunreacht, 1995: An Chéad Chéim. - Washington Investment Conference: Statements.

Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs (Mr. Spring)

I welcome this opportunity to make a statement to the House on the White House Conference for Trade and Investment in Ireland which took place in Washington from 24-26 May.

I am sure Members of the Oireachtas who took part in the conference will agree that it was a uniquely valuable occasion. It would have been difficult to believe, even a short while ago, that the entire attention and weight of the Administration of the most powerful country in the world would be put at the disposal of the people of Ireland for a day, yet that is what happened.

It is too soon yet to count the strictly economic benefits of the conference. That will depend essentially on the quality of our follow-up. I believe it has initiated a process which will lead over time to significant additional US investment in Ireland and to a substantial reinforcement of the economic ties between the United States and both parts of Ireland. The role of the conference in promoting awareness of Ireland, and in promoting the culture of dialogue among Irish people, is already beyond question.

The White House Conference was an unprecendentd personal initiative on the part of the US President which succeeded richly in the objectives it had set itself. The conference provided a uniquely prestigious showcase for the attractions of Ireland, North and South, as a location for US investment and business partnerships. Over three days, it kept in sustained focus the case for investment in Northern Ireland and the southern Border counties in the new context created by peace.

Backed by the authority of the President and the most senior members of his Administration, the conference highlighted dramatically for the US business community the transformation of Ireland's prospects since the ceasefires of last autumn and the reasons why investment here is now a more attractive option than ever before.

I wish to place on record the Government's deep gratitude to the President for his initiative in holding this conference. Along with his continuing strong commitment to the peace process and the other initiatives which he has taken to support the process, the conference is a striking example of the President's generous concern for and profound sympathy with the needs of the Irish people, North and South. The commitment of presidential time and effort to the conference was truly extraordinary and contributed in no small measure to its success. We are deeply in his debt. I hope we will have the pleasure of expressing our appreciation to him more directly when, as I hope, he visits this country before the end of the year.

We also owe a special debt of gratitude to the Secretary of State, Warren Christopher, to the Secretary of Commerce, Ron Brown, and to the President's special adviser and Secretary of State for Economic Initiatives in Ireland, Senator George Mitchell, for the major contributions which they made to both the organisation and execution of this initiative. The US administration worked tirelessly to translate the President's vision into reality. The result was a conference which has ensured unprecedented attention for the benefits of US investment in Ireland, North and South, and the prospect of substantial underpinning of the peace process over the years ahead.

In organisational terms the conference was a formidable undertaking. It brought together an attendance of some 1,200 people which included senior representatives of the US business sector, Irish companies from North and South and governmental and political representatives from the United States as well as from the two jurisdictions in Ireland. I believe that, within the practical constraints of a conference of this kind, a fair balance was achieved by the US organisers in ensuring representation for the key sectors of relevance in both the United States and in both parts of Ireland. The various US Departments involved grappled with the formidable logistical challenges of the conference with great patience and skill and are to be congratulated on their dedicated efforts.

The primary focus of the conference was, of course, on the business opportunities which exist for US investors, particularly in the context of the direct access afforded to the European Union market, by investment either in Northern Ireland or in the Border counties.

The Irish and British Governments and our respective agencies agreed on a co-operative approach to the presentation of the arguments for such investment. We impressed on the American audience the reasons that it makes sense to consider either Northern Ireland or the Border counties for future investment.

At the same time, the Irish Government delegation availed of every opportunity to draw attention to the benefits of investment in the six southern counties, as did the Oireachtas and local government representatives of those counties. In addition, attractive promotional material which was distributed to participants highlighted the economic, social and environmental advantages of investment in those counties. The concern of Ministers, agencies and officials alike was to ensure full recognition at the conference of the opportunities for investment in the six Border counties, which have suffered greatly over the past 25 years from the consequences of violence and unrest in Northern Ireland.

It is right that, having their efforts overshadowed and hampered in the past by their location in the light of their vulnerability to the repercussions of the Northern conflict, the Border counties should be given special attention as we seek to realise the dividends of peace for Northern Ireland and the island as a whole. We ensured also that the six Border counties were given the necessary focus in the strategic documents produced by the US Department of Commerce.

The main work at the conference was conducted at the eight different workshops or breakout sessions. The topics covered business partnerships, information technologies, food industries, tourism, manufacturing, tradeable services, employment and community development. The breakout sessions allowed for direct discussions with panel members representing US companies and organisations with experience in Northern Ireland and the Border counties, US government officials and Government private sector and community leaders from Ireland and Northern Ireland. All the Irish Ministers who attended the conference participated in these sessions, as did representatives from the State agencies. We were grateful for the testimonials of many US business persons who told the conference in very forthright terms of the benefits to their particular companies from location in Ireland.

With the primary emphasis of the conference being on trade and investment, it was fitting that the greatest representation from the Border counties was from its business community. The US Commerce Department organised a specially designed matchmaker programme which matched Border county companies with American companies in order to explore investment, joint ventures or other forms of commerical relationships. The matchmaker programme launched at the conference will be followed up and developed further as it is a positive initiative which can play a very significant role in directing more US inward investment to the Border counties.

A major aim of the conference was to demonstrate to US companies that sustained peace is dramatically improving business opportunities on the whole island, particularly in Northern Ireland and the Border counties. I believe that this objective has been fully achieved. The case for US investment in Ireland on grounds of economic self-interest alone has also been compellingly reinforced by the conference. US business representatives who attended will have taken away with them the clearest possible sense of the merits of Ireland, North and South, as a location for their investments.

The Government now looks forward to active follow-up to the conference in the form of investment missions in Northern Ireland and the Border counties in the individual sectors identified for priority attention. Following the discussions I had at the conference with the US Secretary of Commerce, Mr. Ron Brown, we have already engaged in ensuring the necessary momentum in the follow-up to the conference.

We have had the benefit of consultations with the US Assistant Secretary of Commerce, Mr. Chuck Meissner, who visited Dublin immediately after the conference. We look forward to fuller discussions with Senator Mitchell when he visits this country within a few weeks. Clearly the visit by President Clinton, planned for later this year, will afford a major opportunity to assess the outcome of the conference and the prospects for converting the opportunities identified into real and lasting investment.

Beyond the strict business emphasis of the conference, there was a broader political dimension which contributed greatly to its success. As US Commerce Department assistant Secretary Chuck Meissner remarked during his visit to Dublin last week, this was "an economic conference that turned into a political success". In this case good economic endeavour also proved to be good politics. The conference brought together under one roof an unprecedented span of Irish political and economic opinion. It proved how readily even entrenched barriers to dialogue can fall away where there is agreement on the common goal of enhancing the welfare of all the people of this island, the goal which united every single participant at the conference.

The extensive informal contacts between the participants from North and South on the margins of the conference facilitated an invaluable political dialogue of an informal nature whose repercussions will be felt for some time on this side of the Atlantic.

The conference enhanced significantly the culture of dialogue, which is so important to all.

I had the benefit of informal meetings with a wide range of political representatives, which was one of the major benefits of the conference. It was gratifying to register in these contacts the extent of common ground which exists between the various traditions in Ireland both on the economic business of the conference and on wider issues. There is much to be built on here and I look forward to further exploration of this common ground in bilateral discussions with the various parties over the coming months.

Progress in the economic field has an enormous contribution to make to the goal of achieving a lasting peaceful and political accommodation in Northern Ireland. While there are of course deep divisions on political matters in Northern Ireland, few will contest the view that economic co-operation between the two parts of Ireland makes sound common sense.

I also pay tribute to the Members from all sides of the House, particularly from the Border counties, who participated with great commitment and dedication in this historic occasion.

The White House Conference for Trade and Investment in Ireland marked the beginning of a longer term process aimed at converting the potential of the peace process into lasting economic and social progress in Northern Ireland and the Border counties.

However, I caution against expecting instant results. Again, as I stated in Washington, one cannot judge the harvest on the day seed is planted. The amount of information and contracts engendered by the conference will need time to digest and analyse.

I believe that the conference helped to generate, in the first instance, an increased awareness among American companies of the potential benefits for investment, trade, joint ventures and other business relationships in both parts of the country.

The follow-up process to this unique conference will continue the close co-operation on economic matters between the US, British and Irish Governments. For our part Departments and State agencies will continue their close involvement in the process to ensure the necessary back-up for companies in the Border region.

I told my audience in Washington that this is an exciting time to be involved in Ireland as the creative skills and energies of people on both parts of the island rise to the challenge of shaping a new and peaceful future. The advent of peace in Northern Ireland can only enhance this situation further. I did not seek charity in Washington, I offered opportunity, an opportunity now more attractive than ever.

The case we put forward in Washington was not based on sentiment, but on opportunity for profit for all potential investors. In my speech to the conference, I made it clear that we were not asking business representatives to sail into uncharted waters or expose themselves or their shareholders to unwarranted risk.

Ireland already offers a very profitable location for US business. The presence of more than 450 US companies who have chosen to locate here is evidence of this. In particular, companies in the electronics, healthcare, pharmaceutical and financial services sectors are prominent amongst those who are prospering from their location in Ireland.

As President Clinton pointed out, benefits accrue on both sides of the Atlantic. The US enjoys a growing trade surplus with Ireland, now amounting to nearly one billion dollars. The US corporate presence in Ireland sustains thousands of domestic jobs in the US itself, since, overwhelmingly, Irish involvement is the beach-head for expansion into new markets, rather than displacement of existing patterns.

I reiterate that the White House Conference was an outstanding expression of President Clinton's personal support and commitment to the peace process in Ireland. For that he deserves the appreciation and admiration of all peoples on this island. His visit later this year will provide us with the opportunity to let him see these feelings for himself.

Mr. B. Ahern

I welcome the opportunity to make a statement to the House on the White House Conference for Trade and Investment in Ireland which took place in Washington from 24 to 26 May. I concur with what the Tánaiste said in his address.

Members of the Oireachtas who took part in the conference will agree that it was uniquely valuable. It would have been difficult to believe a short while ago that the attention and weight of the Administration of the most powerful country in the world would be put at the disposal of the people of Ireland for a day or two, but that is what happened. It is too soon to count the economic benefits of the conference. That will depend essentially on the quality of our own follow up, but it has initiated a process which will lead, over time, to significant additional US investment in Ireland and to a substantial reinforcement of the economic ties between the United States and both parts of Ireland.

The role of the conference in promoting awareness of Ireland and in promoting the culture of dialogue among Irish people is already beyond question. The White House conference was an unprecedented personal initiative on the part of the US President which succeeded richly in the objectives it had set itself. The conference provided a uniquely prestigious showcase for the attractions of Ireland, North and South, as a location for US investment and for business partnership. Over the three days it sustained focus on the case for investment in Northern Ireland and the Southern Border counties in the new context created by peace. Backed by the authority of the President and the most senior members of his Administration, the conference highlighted dramatically to the US business community the transformation of Ireland's prospects since the ceasefire of last August and the reasons investment here is now a more attractive option than ever before.

I wish to place on record our deep gratitude to the President for his initiative in holding the conference, his continued strong commitment to the peace process and the other initiatives he has taken to support the process. The conference is a striking example of the present generous concerns and profound sympathy with the needs of the Irish people, North and South. The commitment of the President's time and the efforts of the conference were truly extraordinary and contributed in no small measure to its success, and we are deeply in his debt for that. I hope we will have the pleasure of expressing our appreciation to him more directly when he visits the country before the end of the year. On that occasion the Ceann Comhairle will, with his usual style and finesse, graciously thank him on behalf of us all for what he has done for us.

We also owe a special debt of gratitude to the Secretary of State, Mr. Warren Christopher, the Secretary of Commerce, Mr. Ron Brown and the President's special adviser and Secretary of State for Economic Initiatives in Ireland, Senator George Mitchell, for the great contributions they made to both organisations and the executive of this initiative. The US Administration worked tirelessly to translate the President's vision into reality. The result was a conference which ensured unprecedented attention to the benefits of US investment in Ireland, North and South, and the prospects for a substantial underpinning of the peace process in the years ahead. In organisational terms the conference was a formidable undertaking. It brought together 1,200 people and included senior representatives of the US business sector, Irish companies North and South and governmental and political representatives from the United States and the two jurisdictions in Ireland. Within the practical constraints of a conference of this kind, a fair balance was achieved by the organisers in ensuring representation of key relevant sectors in the US and both parts of Ireland. The various US Departments involved grapple with the formidable logistical challenges presented by the conference with patience and skill and are to be congratulated on their dedicated organisational efforts.

The primary focus of the conference was on the business opportunities which exist for US investors, particularly in the context of direct access afforded to EU markets, by investing in either Northern Ireland or the Border counties. The Irish and British Governments and the respective agencies agreed on a co-operative approach to the presentation of the arguments for such investment. We impressed on the American audience the reason it makes sense to consider either Northern Ireland or the Border counties for future investment. At the same time the Irish delegation from this House availed of every opportunity to draw attention to the benefits of investment in the six southern counties, as did the Oireachtas and local government representatives of the counties. Deputies and councillors have often been criticised for their lack of attendance at and input to conferences. However, that criticism cannot be made on this occasion. The work done on the fringes was just as significant as that at centre stage. Every opportunity was availed of to put forward the case for the Border counties and Northern Ireland.

Attractive promotional material was distributed to participants highlighting the economic, social and environmental advantages of investment in those counties and in Northern Ireland. The concern of Ministers, agencies and officials was to ensure the conference fully recognised the opportunities for investment in the six Border counties which have suffered greatly over recent years from the violence and unrest in Northern Ireland. For too long, their efforts were overshadowed and hampered by their location and vulnerability to the repercussions of the violence and conflict in Northern Ireland and it is only right that they should be given special attention as we seek to reap the dividends of peace for Northern Ireland and Ireland as a whole. We ensured the six Border counties were given the necessary focus in the strategic documents produced by the US Department of Commerce.

The main work of the conference was conducted in the eight different workshops or breakout sessions. The topics covered business partnership, information technologies, the food industry, tourism, manufacturing, trade services, employment and community development. They allowed for direct discussions with panel members representing US companies and organisations with experience of investing in Northern Ireland and the Border counties. US Government officials, private sector and community leaders from the North and South took part in these. The Irish Ministers who attended participated, as did representatives from the State agencies. We supported the Government and the work it was involved in at the conference. We lent weight to the arguments put forward and are grateful for the testimonials given by many US business people who told the conference in forthright terms of the benefits to be derived from locating their companies in Ireland. The conference will long be remembered, from a business point of view, for Ron Brown's contribution on investment returns on this island for US business people. If I had been involved in preparing that script, I would have mentioned the good industrial relations experienced by most multinationals by and large through the successful efforts of the Congress of Trade Unions. Although there were some concerns in the 1960s and 1970s there were practically no difficulties on the industrial relations front throughout the 1980s and 1990s even though some of these companies underwent major technological change. That, together with the return on investment, is an excellent selling point. A debt of gratitude is owed to those who work for multinational companies.

With the primary emphasis of the conference being on trade and investment, it was fitting that the greatest representation for the Northern counties was from the business community. The US Commerce Department organised a specially designed matchmaker programmer which matched Border county companies with American companies in order to explore investment joint ventures or other forms of commercial relationships. This positive initiative will be developed further and will play a significant role in directing US inward investment in Border counties.

The major aim of the conference, to demonstrate that sustained peace has dramatically improved opportunities for investment in Ireland, North and South, was achieved. The case for US investment in Ireland on grounds of economic self-interest alone was reinforced by the conference. US business representatives who attended will have taken away with them the clearest possible sense of the merits of Ireland, North and South, as a location for investment in the European Union. We look forward to an active follow-up in the form of investment missions in Northern Ireland and the Border counties in those sectors identified for priority attention. We have been involved in some of the follow-up action and it is important to continue to work on these issues.

I wish to record my gratitude to George Mitchell, his assistant Martha Pope, Charles Meissner, who has returned to Ireland since the conference — the Tánaiste indicated the work in which he will be involved — Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith and the senior staff at the US Embassy who have given us a clear line on what they would like us to do. I thank Senator Mitchell who was very helpful to us not only during the conference but prior to it when, through the good offices of the Tánaiste, he met us. We appreciate that as it assisted us greatly.

The British Government and the Irish Government made definite undertakings in the Downing Street Declaration and in the months subsequent to it prior to the ceasefire on how we would build on the conference and what would happen if violence were to cease for good. It stated that after a certain lapse of time to establish that a cessation of violence was for real and for good, the parties associated with violence would be able to take part in talks on the same basis as other parties. The Irish Government honoured that commitment almost immediately and the British Government began to honour it some months later.

This conference was part of the peace process and what we have achieved. Anyone who studies the peace process will recognise that the Irish situation is remarkable. There has been a clear-cut break with violence on both sides. The predicted sporadic continuation of violence did not materialise. The prospects for Ireland, even in the short term, are much brighter than elsewhere. A unique opportunity has been offered and it should not be squandered by intransigence or a lack of political courage or vision. In light of the understandings given by the Governments on both sides of the Irish Sea before the ceasefire, it would be reasonable to expect inclusive negotiations — if necessary, these can be conducted bilaterally at first — to be under way by the first anniversary of the cessation of violence or very shortly thereafter. The Government should use its influence and play a role in ensuring that this happens.

I wish to outline the main proposals in the Fianna Fáil paper submitted to the conference. First, the IDA and the IDB, in addition to their normal work, should jointly promote inward investment each year to four unemployment black spots on each side of the Border. The initial list might include inner city sites in east and west Belfast, Cork, Dublin and Derry and towns on both sides of the Border such as Strabane and Lifford. The merit of this proposal is that it would encourage both agencies to concentrate more of their efforts on areas of high unemployment and work together on this, recognising the difficulty of attracting investment to such areas. Everyone will have been impressed by the calibre of some of the community representatives from the North at the conference. Their message was: "give us the opportunities and we will respond".

Second, priority should be given to the development of the Belfast-Dublin economic corridor which would have spin-off benefits for the island. Rather than merely endorsing the concept, we propose that a high level steering group should be established to ensure that this becomes a reality. Third, development agencies and business organisations should develop greater links between firms, North and South. It has been clearly demonstrated that the level of trade and economic exchanges between North and South are sub-normal in terms of neighbouring jurisdictions within the EU. As I said three weeks ago at the Belfast Chamber of Commerce, at the very least we should be talking about bringing these up to a normal level.

Considerable concern has been expressed in Northern Ireland and the southern Border countries about the genuine additionality of EU funding. If transparency and accountability are to mean anything that additional funds over and above the normal levels of Government expenditure should be directed to Northern Ireland and the Border areas. This has not always happened in the past and it is not happening at present but we must ensure that it happens in the future. The sub-committee on Northern Ireland might usefully monitor developments in this area. I am not satisfied that Ministers are paying any serious political attention to the planned expenditure of the additional funds in the southern Border counties. This task is being left to over-worked and under-resourced middle ranking civil servants. I would like some evidence of the Government's serious commitment to Border areas. When I refer to funds I am talking about Structural Funds and funds under INTERREG and Leader. There is no Minister or Minister of State from any of the six southern Border counties, and this speaks more eloquently than the Government's presence in Washington.

There was no acrimony at the conference about fair employment or economic justice principles and it was accepted that people might approach this issue from different routes. Everyone refers to investment and in practice there does not have to be any incompatibility between the general principles of affirmative action to which Americans are attached and the fair employment law in Northern Ireland which carries some compliance obligations and costs. My party has never sought to discourage American interest in fair play, which has a vital contribution to make to the peace process. Some of the Congressmen, especially Republicans, whom I met felt they had succeeded through the link with economic justice in saving the International Fund for Ireland but were frustrated that there had been renewed discouragement through discreet diplomatic lobbying.

The Northern authorities gave notification that the ban on funding for the Conway Mill from the IFI was being lifted. This has been a long standing grievance and I understand the community groups had a leaflet ready for distribution at the conference. The change in unaccountable policy was another fruit, so to speak, of the conference which was attended by many gifted and articulate community leaders from west Belfast who availed of the opportunity to put their case in public and private to an impartial US audience. This follows the announcement some weeks ago of funding for Meánscoil Feiriste. This removes two of the more important community grievances which were brought to my attention during my visit to west Belfast last January and which I raised a number of times in the House.

I hope that the data on the issues raised by Commerce Secretary, Ron Brown, will be studied by the IDA. The data presented at the workshops was better than much of the data presented in the past in that it was focused. There needs to be greater co-operation between the IDA and the IDB. I was Lord Mayor of Dublin some years ago and, unlike Government Ministers, I had an opportunity to look at issues in a different light. It makes no sense for the IDA and the Lord Mayor of Dublin to promote Ireland to large businesses which employ 100,000 and for the Lord Mayor of Belfast and the IDB to do the same two weeks later. This merely confuses these businesses and we should move from this policy.

The break out sessions at the conference were excellent. There are clearly bright prospects for tourism throughout the island. This will provide a good return on the investment made here in recent years and will also require new investment in capacity, especially north of the Border. It has been acknowledged by everyone that we must work closely together in the promotion of tourism. We want more people to visit Ireland and hope that many of them will visit the North and South. It will be at least two years before we can assess the results of the Washington conference but it will certainly boost investment and contribute to jobs. Apart from the business contacts and political encounters, the strong backing of President Clinton and the US Administration for the peace process gives a powerful political message of encouragement to everyone on this island and we are grateful for this.

I thank the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and his office for organising the various matters. The conference was a tremendous success and I pay tribute to the organisers, including the Government, Senator George Mitchell, his assistant, Martha Pope and Charles Meissner. I also thank the American Ambassador, Jean Kennedy Smith and her staff. She was of tremendous help and worked extremely hard at the conference. She even had nice things to say about the Tánaiste, with which we agreed on that occasion. She has done an extraordinary job as Ambassador and I thank her.

Mr. O'Malley

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate on the investment conference in Washington. Through circumstances beyond my control and that of others I could not be present for the start of the conference — I had to delay my departure. However, the Leader of my party, Deputy Harney, was present from the start and I was present for at least half the conference. I share with Deputy Harney — and I am sure the other Members present — an enthusiasm for what happened in Washington. The conference was very successful and it is not an exaggeration to say it was a unique occasion. I can think of only one small state which might exercise something approaching the same influence in Washington and the United States, and it has been at it longer than we have and its needs, in military terms, are perhaps greater than ours. It is remarkable that two small states can exercise such influence within the United States.

It is hard to exaggerate both the significance and, even more important, the potential significance of the United States in terms of trying to expedite and smooth a political settlement in Northern Ireland. The influence of that country — I am talking about much more than its Administration — is enormous. It is one of the few countries where both parts of this island have extensive personal interests in the sense that a great many people who were born in both parts of this island and their descendants live in the United States. There is enormous good will in the United States towards both parts of the country. The United States has a unique opportunity to help broker a settlement in Northern Ireland that will be to the satisfaction of all concerned because of their special influence.

Apart from the formal parts of this conference I was taken with the value of the informal contacts that took place and, indeed, of many aspects of the social programme. It is only in the United States that I have seen people of very different traditions on this island come together socially, sometimes late at night having lost many of their inhibitions, and that is very valuable. I saw it once before in the United States at a conference I attended in Airlie House, Virginia, about ten or 11 years ago. I saw attempts to repeat that type of informal dialogue afterwards at British-Irish association meetings in Oxford and Cambridge and at similar meetings in Britain but they never seemed to work in Britain. It worked in the United States ten or 11 years ago and again in Washington within the past ten days. The US authorities should bear that in mind. They have given great assistance through organisations like the National Democratic Institute, and the Republican equivalent, to countries who have political difficulties of one kind or another, particularly to emerging democracies. They usually do this by sending people from Washington to those countries. So far as Ireland is concerned, their greatest contribution is to bring political activists at all levels to the United States so that the kind of dialogue we saw spontaneously engendered in Washington might be repeated because it was very beneficial.

I wish to express my thanks to Ambassador Gallagher and his staff in Washington for the work they did — it was very difficult work for a relatively small embassy — and to all the consuls and vice-consuls in the United States who were also involved. Ambassador Gallagher's efforts, and those of his staff, are worthy of great praise and thanks and were very successful. Perhaps I could make this observation not just in relation to Ambassador Gallagher but to the Irish Embassy in Washington, which is probably driven in this respect by political and other feelings here, that it is not right to concentrate in the United States entirely on the Administration of the day. While it was marvellous for this country that the President, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Commerce and other very senior people associated with the White House Administration should devote so much time, effort and attention to Ireland, the Democrats, after all, in the United States are the minority party and the institutional balances in the United States are quite different from here. The political system is not dominated by the Administration in the way it tends to be here and, perhaps to a lesser extent, in Britain. I had an opportunity to discuss, after the conference, with some experienced Americans the effect of the conference and that was one of the points they made. I think it is quite valid and, perhaps, is not thought about here to the extent that it should.

The influence of the United States is such that that country can immediately put pressure on the different points of view relating to Northern Ireland in order to seek compromise and thereby to make progress. They can lean on those of the Unionist tradition just as readily as they can lean on those of the Nationalist or, specifically, republican tradition in Northern Ireland and they can do it with equal facility. Hopefully, if it is seen to be done in an even handed way there is every possibility that those who might — as I crudely put it — be leant upon may come to make the compromises necessary to enable real political progress to be expedited. It would seem appropriate at this stage for the President of the United States to suggest to Mr. Adams and his colleagues that the facilities made available to them in the United States, for example, of raising money for political purposes, might have to come to an end if there was not a clear indication from Sinn Féin and the IRA of their willingness to decommission or surrender arms. However distasteful public discussion of that point may be, it is the key in the short term to progress and it is one where the voice of the United States, whether expressed publicly or privately, would be invaluable because they are in a unique position. We should be grateful that they are in a unique position and are prepared to use that position. If they can further the success of the Washington conference in other ways that would be marvellous from everybody's point of view, not least from the point of view of the United States itself.

I was glad that while much of the preliminary skirmishing that took place in relation to this conference was of a political nature it ended up, pretty genuinely, as an investment conference. It was not subjected — after it started at any rate — to the kind of political gimmickry people feared. Part of the credit for that must go to the British Government for the way they handled the rather tricky preliminaries because they were, to some extent, in a no win situation whatever they did. They succeeded in putting the emphasis on the investment aspect and that was extremely useful. Like the Tánaiste I counsel people here, based on experience over many years of trying to get investment in the United States, not to think they will get instant results. There is a long lead time in investment; for some types of industrial development it can be as long as five or six years and, on occasion, seven or eight years. While we will not see instant results many valuable seeds have been sown.

One area which receives less attention than industrial investment but in respect of which US companies could make an invaluable contribution is tourism related investment. The degree of their investment is relatively small by comparison with industrial investment. Ireland is one of the very few countries which does not benefit from US hotel chain investment. I notice that when one looks up the directories even the most remote countries and the recently democratised countries in Eastern Europe have their Hiltons and Holiday Inns. We are almost without that type of investment.

Because tourism investment tends to show a return in terms of employment and the generation of activity much more rapidly than industrial investment I would strongly encourage US firms to take an interest in this area in the shorter term. The troubles in the North during the past 25 years, as I well know, inhibited this type of investment and much industrial investment. There is now an opportunity to invest in tourism. I hope this will happen soon. The first sign of it is the proposal to build some Radison hotels in Northern Ireland; work has commenced on the first of these. I would like to see several of these chains on the whole island.

The only downside to what was an enormously successful event was the lack of media coverage in the short term in the United States. Many Americans, in spite of the importance of the conference and its participants, particularly on the American side, are unaware that it took place. The agencies here should seek to publicise the significance and value of the event as widely as they can in the United States, particularly to those who might be inspired to make the investments we all want.

Mr. Crawford

I wish to share my time with Deputies McGinley and Bell.

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

I am sure that is satisfactory.

Mr. Crawford

We should take this opportunity to pay tribute to the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Spring, the Minister for Finance, Deputy Quinn, the Minister for Enterprise and Employment, Deputy Bruton, the Minister for Tourism and Trade, Deputy Kenny, the Minister of State, Deputy Doyle, the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, and the State agencies for their efforts at the conference which was enormously successful and which was attended by over 1,200 people from all backgrounds, political and otherwise. I also pay tribute to Sir Patrick Mayhew and the public representatives from Northern Ireland at all levels. Our Ambassador, Mr. Gallagher, and his staff also played a major role.

It was an unbelievable experience to take part in a conference at which President Clinton and Vice-President Gore spoke clearly about their understanding of the problems in Northern Ireland and the direction the peace process should take. I pay tribute to the Secretary of Commerce, Ron Brown, his assistant, Chuck Meissner, Senator Mitchell, who was supported by Martha Pope and Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith for playing a major role. Local government representatives from the Border region, community groups and business people also participated to make contact with their counterparts in the United States. These contacts will be invaluable.

The Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs rightly focused on the six Border counties. We must ensure that when Senator Mitchell and others return the emphasis will continue to be placed on these counties which in many respects have suffered more than the six northern counties. In this context there is a need to rectify our infrastructural problems as a matter of urgency if we are to avail of the business opportunities that now exist.

Deputy O'Malley mentioned the tourism industry. If we fail to improve roads quickly, such as the N2 from Dublin to Derry and the road from Dublin to Cavan, and construct a road running from east to west we will not benefit from the opportunities which will flow from the conference. It is hard to understand why provision was made in the five year programme forwarded to Brussels for a road running from Dublin to Derry through Longford and Sligo. This matter has to be reconsidered and rectified as quickly as possible.

The tourism industry must be the first to benefit. While I accept what Deputy O'Malley said that it did not receive as much publicity as we would have liked the industry must benefit from the fact that the conference was given a high profile by President Clinton and his supporters. Taken with the visit of Prince Charles, Ireland will be seen in a much more positive light than in the past when we were known only for the troubles and in-fighting.

The workshops proved most useful in making business contacts. If we are to benefit it is important that steps be taken to follow up these as a matter of urgency.

I pay tribute to the Taoiseach, Deputy Bruton, for not turning this into a political conference and for allowing everyone to play a role in dealing with the economic issues. As a result the conference was highly successful. At present funds are received under the INTERREG programme and the Delors package and from the International Fund for Ireland. We need to ensure that whatever funds are provided for the Border region are additional to rectify the damage caused during the troubles.

Mr. McGinley

I am delighted to have this opportunity to make a brief contribution. I was privileged as a Border Deputy to have the opportunity to attend this unique and historic conference. It was probably the first time all democratic parties in Northern Ireland and in the South discussed under the same roof the future development of the island and the peace process. For that reason it was truly historic.

One of the noticeable features of the conference was the obvious sincerity, particularly on the American side. The fact that the conference was addressed by many senior people in the American Administration including the President, Vice-President, two secretaries, assistant secretary, Senators, Congressmen and senior industrialists, shows the importance that Administration places on this country, particularly on the peace process that is happily progressing.

I reiterate the comments of my colleague, Deputy Crawford, and pay tribute to our Government representatives, the Tánaiste, Ministers, Ministers of State, the Ambassador and all those who co-operated in making the conference such a success. As a Border Deputy I was particularly happy to attend and to witness the great emphasis placed by everybody, particularly the Americans, not only on Northern Ireland but on the six counties south of the Border. We sometimes forget that those counties have also suffered industrially, economically, socially and in other ways as a result of the difficulties in the last 25 years.

Deputy O'Malley mentioned tourism. Coming from Donegal we always got the impression that tourists, particularly from America, did not travel north of a line from Galway to Dublin unless they had very strong family connections there, because, whether we liked it or not, we were involved in the difficulties and troubles in the North.

Another positive feature of the conference is that we were considered not as a peripheral country in Europe but as a gateway to the European market. We very often look on Ireland as being on the periphery of Europe and far removed from everything, but at the Washington conference it was considered from a positive perspective. I hope we will adopt that attitude in future and promote this country as the gateway to 350 million inhabitants of the European Union.

The level of United States investment in Ireland is substantial. There are 450 American companies here and I am confident that in the next few years many more American companies will come. Fruit of the Loom is the major employer in Donegal at present, employing 2,500 people, it also employs a number of people in Derry. I was happy during my time in Washington to meet the president and chief executive of that company, Bill Farrelly, and express to him our gratitude for the work he is doing for a Border county. I am confident that there will be greater investment from such companies in future. Yesterday in the House I met a senior vice-president of another American company who is taking part in a joint venture with an industry in my parish and hopes to double the workforce there, from 100 to 200, within the next year or so. Therefore, benefits are already accruing to this economy.

The Washington conference was a historic occasion and, coming from the north, I again experess my gratitude to all those who made it possible and enabled people such as Deputy Crawford and myself as well as other public representatives from the Border area to attend and witness the great commitment to this country.

Mr. Bell

I would like to have more time to contribute to this debate. I wish to thank a number of people including the American President, Vice-President, Warren Christopher, Ron Brown, Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith and particularly the Irish Ambassador, Mr. Gallagher, and the embassy staff who went out of their way to make us as comfortable as possible. The conference was very well attended and I was very pleased that Opposition and Government Deputies from the Border area combined their efforts in a unique way on this occasion to achieve the same objective.

What will be the result of the conference? As the Tánaiste said, we should not expect jobs to be created overnight. It will take some time and we should see results in the next two years. Benefits are already accruing to this country. During the conference I spoke to a person in the financial area who represents a major investment company and is considering the Border area for investment. That person rang me yesterday to say she will tour the Border counties at the weekend and I hope to meet her in my constituency next Friday or Saturday. That company is interested not only in industrial development but in housing in seaside resorts. I was disappointed that emphasis was not placed on the urban renewal scheme for commercial and industrial development or on the seaside resort scheme. These matters should be considered.

Mr. D. Ahern

I thank all the people who were mentioned previously. For me the conference was summed up by a converstaion I had with an American multimillionaire who said, when I asked him why he attended, that Senator Ted Kennedy had invited him. He said that if Senator Kennedy asked him to go to the moon he would go, but if he asked him to set up a business on the moon he would have to think twice about it. That sums up the attitude of the Americans to Ireland. As the Tánaiste said, it is not a matter of charity; these people come to Ireland as hard-headed businessmen.

The Tánaiste also mentioned the A-team who promote the country on our behalf. As previous speakers said, all shades of political opinion met under the one roof for the first time, and that was to be commended. Many companies from the Border area were represented at the conference. These people had an opportunity to meet people from the US who may be interested in setting up business in their area. As Deputy Bell said, some people were successful, but others were not.

Many compliments have been paid to the conference — I am not being obtuse when I say this — but it is important to voice a couple of criticisms. First, the Minister, Deputy Bruton, in an article in the Irish Independent before we went to Washington did not mention the Border area; neither did he mention it when he spoke at the breakfast meeting in Washington. There was a lack of emphasis in that regard. Second, it was disappointing the Taoiseach did not attend the conference. Since it was set up by the President of the United States it was important for the Taoiseach to attend as it would have given a greater focus to the conference.

Minister for Enterprise and Employment (Mr. R. Bruton)

I share the view of other Deputies that the conference was an enormously beneficial occasion for everyone involved. It provided a shared forum for politicians, business people, and church leaders and was endorsed by the US Government at the highest levels. Sometimes we can be a bit blasé about what was achieved in having a Vice President, a President, the two senior Secretaries of State of the US Government and the support of senior officials in the Department of Commerce to ensure that conference was successful. It was an extraordinary occasion when Ireland was put squarely on the map. I emphasised time and again in my contributions during the break out sessions and in my overall address the whole concept of the conference was to cement the peace process. Deputy Ahern's suggestion that in some way it did not emphasise the Border counties misses the point. The efforts made by my Department and I during that period were to cement opportunities for Border counties. We identified Border companies that had been given the opportunity by my Department through Forbairt to build strategic partnerships. Through the IFI and Forbairt we have funded a person in the United States who has known long established contacts with companies, to identify companies where strategic partnerships can be built. That will be the follow up to that conference.

Since the conference I met Chuck Meissner and we dealt with issues which have a specific bearing on the Border counties. We considered how we could develop initiatives in the research and development area. The US Administration is very interested in the concept of a technology trust, a type of initiative that has been successful elsewhere and we are working on that. The network of county enterprise boards offers a way to build on the outcome of the peace process and the US conference. I know that Chuck Meissner is very anxious that contact is made between the US Administration and the country enterprise boards to ensure there can be a good structure to underpin initiatives being taken.

The conference was a unique occasion, a marvellous opportunity for Ireland to demonstrate how much has changed since peace has been achieved. There is a new buzz North and South about seizing opportunities in our respective markets. As Deputy McGinley said, it was important that we were able to emphasise to people in the United States that since peace has been achieved there is a new gateway opportunity for the US to do business in Ireland, not only in the foreign direct investment area where we have an excellent record. Many American companies based in Ireland have established strong roots and have the highest profitability of US companies located anywhere in the world, earning 25 per cent return on their investment here. We have a proven track record in being able to deliver opportunities to profitable American companies to allow them to start up production quickly. During my visit to the US while travelling along the west coast I learned that is increasingly a critical issue for companies interested in investing in Ireland or other countries. Our capacity to provide companies with a properly trained workforce capable of getting into production quickly allows them to seize the market opportunities that exist.

As I said in my address, foreign direct investment is not the sole way in which we can exploit opportunities opened up by the Washington Conference. The eyes of many small Irish companies are wide open and they are hungry for opportunities to do business on a joint venture basis with companies in the United States. Many companies in the United States recognise the opportunity to access a European market of 370 million but it may be difficult for them to overcome cultural differences, such as language barriers and different markets. Ireland has been uniquely strong in developing companies with the agility to get quickly into the European marketplace. We offer smaller American companies great opportunities of synergy, using our small companies — to use the American term — to match-make with US companies to provide strategic alliances by way of technology transfer or developing a software product to be distributed through an Irish company. Companies in Leitrim have been singularly successful in the electronics business and have developed a particularly strong base providing opportunities for them. Ireland had a unique opportunity to use the conference as a shop window to demonstrate how effective we are. As many speakers said, American business people who wish to invest in Ireland will not do so on the basis of some charitable concept, but on the basis that they can obtain a good economic return. We demonstrated convincingly they could achieve that in Ireland.

I emphasised that it was not a zero sum game in which we were involved. I was frequently asked if it was not the case that the North and the South are competing for projects and that essentially we are competing and not committed to co-operation. Nothing could be further from the truth. If we have a buoyant economy North and South it will be of immense benefit to all people doing business North and South. It would be a great lift particularly to the Border counties in which there would be an opportunity to trade into a buoyant strong market in the North of Ireland, an opportunity that has not existed before. There will always be some healthy competition between the IDA and the IDB and that is what we would want, but a great deal of common ground has been established between those two agencies in recent times. They try to ensure they are not engaged in wasteful competition and use similar standards to ensure that projects are properly approved. There are agreed ways of dealing with difficulties that might be foreseen. It is important that companies North and South do not engage in wasteful competition. The North and the South will identify different areas of comparative advantage, and different skills on which they will seek to build, and that is as it should be. In that regard we are at one and have a great opportunity to co-operate with one another.

Many Deputies stressed that benefits from the conference cannot be delivered overnight. We will not see a major upsurge in investment immediately as a result of what has been done. I can assure Deputies that the agencies within my Department, the IDA and Forbairt, are building programmes to ensure that we secure the maximum benefit from what was done. Forbairt is particularly anxious to ensure that the matchmaking concept becomes a central feature of our approach to development in the coming years and the IDA is now engaged in follow up visits to companies that attended the conference.

President Clinton said at the conference that "the chance is there, it is here, it is now. We have it in our power to make all the difference: let's do it."

The theme of the conference was about exploiting the opportunities and providing people North and South with the most tangible evidence of the benefits of the peace process, namely, better living standards and improved opportunities to work and live in their country. The conference was a first step in a great endeavour in that area.