This is my first time in the House. The importance of this Bill has been exemplified by the number of Deputies who have contributed to the debate and spoken about the problems and the need for solutions. Many words have been spoken and written on the Bill, which broadly deals with the need for improvements not alone in the work being done by the authority but by everybody engaged in the manufacturing industry or those who are considering entering that field. I hope the Bill will get a speedy passage so that the IDA will be enabled to capitalise on the many opportunities that this Bill affords them.
Many speakers have concerned themselves with trying to assess the success of the IDA in their main field of activity, that of assisting the development of home industries and of attracting industries from abroad, industries which are badly needed if we are to solve our biggest national problem, unemployment. I congratulate the IDA on their striking success to date. If I have any criticism of them it is that they have been too conservative in their approach. They will have to be a little more adventurous if we are to come to grips with this great national problem. I appreciate they are always looking over their shoulder for likely failures and they are also conscious of the condemnation they might get from this House, as has happened in the past. It is easy to be wise in retrospect and I would hope the Members of this House will back the IDA to the hilt in their endeavour to attract new industries and to develop home industries.
I should like to mention their new role in the joint venture scheme, the operation of a project identification unit, a service industries programme and a product and process development grant scheme. These are measures which the IDA, from their expertise and the experience they have gained during the years, have found it necessary to apply in the present situation.
The joint venture programme is welcome because many small industries who were not able to make the grade themselves have found partners abroad through the offices of the IDA who have helped them to strengthen their home base and to prepare them for very competitive world markets. The operation of the project identification unit is also a welcome innovation. I have seen evidence of research and I was horrified at some of the results thrown up. It showed that the import bill of this agricultural country touched £200 million last year. That is a national scandal in a country whose main asset is agriculture.
If you look around to see the composition of these imports you have only to go into supermarkets in Dublin or in the country to see the many food products that are imported. I saw in a supermarket the other day sponges for the preparation of flans which had been imported in cellophane packets from Germany. What is wrong with us? Where are all the bakeries which have been in trouble? Why did they not widen their horizons and develop some of these products? In one of the industries with which I am associated, £11 to £12 million worth of cans used for processing were imported. We do not have a can-making factory here and we have to import them from Portadown in Northern Ireland, and with the troubles up there, industries here depending on cans from there have found themselves in jeopardy, not knowing whether they would get next week's or next month's cans. That is an area where development is badly needed. It has been thrown up by the IDA process identification unit and it is there for some Irish enterpreneur to take up.
Black and Decker in Athy manufacture a certain type of workbench, but the tops of these benches are imported. We have small furniture industries that could diversify into this area if they saw the opportunities. This is one of the benefits that the IDA project identification unit can bring about and I salute them in their enterprise.
The service industries are labour intensive and they have suffered badly during the recent recession. The printing industry has contracted, as have many other service industries. As more multinational companies come here there will be opportunities in supplying the needs of those companies. I see some of those opportunities in my own constituency. Basically, this was the idea behind attracting such large industries to this country.
The Bill deals with the project development scheme and this will enhance the situation. If this had been in operation over the past few years many of the industries that have gone to the wall might not have done so. Two industries in my own area would not have gone to the wall if finance had been available for the research and development necessary to diversify their operations. Like many other Irish firms, they had not changed their product or their outlook for many years. This Bill provides that necessary finance and I know that we will benefit from the results in the years ahead.
I compliment the IDA. The experience and expertise they have gained over the years in attracting industry make them one of the foremost organisations in the State. I would say to them that they should not be so conservative in the future; they should be more adventurous. I hope this House will back them when they have a failure because their failure rate has been very small in relation to their success. It is easy to look back and in retrospect ask why they did this or that.
The big problem facing us is unemployment. We must examine the situation to see where we go from here and how to get there. A nation consists of people and natural resources, and therein lies the key for future job creation and future prosperity. There are three primary producers today—the farmer, the fisherman and the miner. We have all three in this small country. We have the farmer with the best grassland in the world and, as Deputy Callanan rightly says, we have not even scratched the surface in developing the full potential of Irish agriculture. In relation to the fisherman, some people say that we cannot do very much until we know about the fishery limits, but even as it stands we are not developing the potential of our fishing industry. At a time when we were dumping mackerel into the sea, people in Europe were crying out for smoked mackerel in cans.
When we joined the EEC four years ago, a new horizon was opened up. We have missed three or four years of development opportunities. I cannot understand the way in which the previous Government tackled the problems that faced us during that time. Action was needed in various areas but they killed the incentive to work and made it more attractive not to work. They killed the incentive to invest at a time when investment was needed to provide jobs. For the second time we saw the flight of the wild geese, but this time the wild geese were the entrepreneurs and investors whose money we needed. Because of the capital taxation programme, the introduction of which was ill timed, we had not the wherewithal at home to tackle problems, and business confidence was shattered. This was forcibly brought home to me in O'Connell Street when I saw a sticker on a car which read "Will the last businessman leaving Ireland please turn off the light?" That was a clear message midway through the term of the previous Government and I cannot understand why they did not heed that message. They drove away the entrepreneurs and investors who were so badly needed.
Deputy Callanan referred to the fact that the development of agriculture is in its infancy and he asked someone to tell him why we still export cattle on the hoof. I am not replying to his question but I will throw out the little knowledge I have on this subject. We will need live exports for some time in order to keep up the price for the farmer and to keep the price competitive with the factory. He asked why the factory cannot pay the same competitive prices that are paid abroad and why we export the raw material to create jobs abroad which are badly needed here. I believe the answer is that our agricultural industry is still in its infancy. While I salute the dairy industry in the strides and diversification they have undertaken in trying to supply the market that is there, I cannot say the same about the beef industry and related industries. I happen to be involved in one of those industries. When I started it, not that many years ago, people laughed and asked who would feed cats and dogs in Ireland. I was not interested in feeding cats and dogs in this country; I was interested in the market abroad. The present market in Great Britain is worth £250 million. That gives an insight into the market that is available for our various products. I am only scraping the surface. Until the day comes when we develop and process our own raw materials, our factories will never be in a position to pay the prices and give the return to the Irish farmer that he deserves. We are commodity selling abroad and this has been traditional in the beef trade because that is the easy way out.
History has made us a dependent race and we always look to someone else to solve our problems. Down the country they look to Dublin and to this House to solve the unemployment problem, and of late people are starting to look to Brussels to solve our problems. Nobody will solve our problems for us; we must find the solution ourselves. The world does not owe us a living. We now have greater opportunities than ever before. We have lost three or four years, but I know that the opportunities are there because I am out in the market and I see them. We are no longer dealing with a market of three million people or the market of 55 million people in the UK. We have on our doorstep a consumer market of 250 million people. There is more consumed in the Greater London area than this country could export. That gives some insight into the opportunities for the development of our agricultural industry. We had the necessary raw materials but our business confidence was shattered. I look forward to the next budget when business confidence will be restored.
Some speakers referred to the lack of venture capital to help the entrepreneur and I agree with them. I know of people with skills and enterprise that would undertake new projects if they had venture capital. Although the Irish banks are making large profits, they are not providing venture capital. It is time for the banks to play a part in our development. American banks back the man and the idea and our banks back assets and securities. If they continue to behave in that fashion, private enterprise will fail. The banks will fail if private enterprise fails, and then they will not have an answer for their share-holders. We are all on trial in this situation and must accept our responsibilities. I put it to the Irish banks that they should face up to their responsibilities and adopt the American system.
The Minister said that 50 per cent of our future jobs will be provided from abroad and that the other 50 per cent will have to be provided at home. Our small industries will provide these jobs because they are the seeds from which bigger industries grow. If we consider the set-up of Irish industries in the past we will see that today's big industries were once small ones. In Longford most of our industries were started by local people who built them into the sizeable units they are today. The remainder of our industries were imported and they are very welcome. It is time to look after our own. If we look after the small man, the big man will look after himself. I welcome the provisions of this Bill which will go a long way towards encouraging small industries.
Section 2 of the Bill provides for grants for the restructuring of Irish industry and nobody would deny that some of our industries need restructuring. It also provides for grants for amalgamations. Some of the amalgamations that have taken place, particularly in the packaging industry, are not providing the right kind of service. The packaging industry was rationalised but it cannot compete with packaging from across the water. Irish export industries that have to compete on a level footing across the water find themselves in a dilemma. They do not know which company to buy from. Our hearts are in the right place but that will not help us to sell our products in tough competitive markets. When the chips are down, some of our larger industries can reduce their price. It may be that their profits were inflated in the first instance. To help small Irish industries compete on level terms with their co-manufacturers abroad, we must ensure that any new mergers or takeovers do no wreck their chances in this regard.
In his speech the Minister said:
In Ireland the volume of new projects promoted by first-time industrialists has been disappointingly small, even though as a country I am sure we have our due proportion of people with the necessary knowledge and skills. It is clear that in many cases one of the causes of this apparent lack of enterprise has been the inability of the enterpreneur to raise the necessary finance....
There are many skilled and enterprising men but they cannot set up new business without capital. I know some companies would be prepared to help entrepreneurs by investing capital. What does our taxation system do for them in return? We know the risks involved in setting up new companies, and if some of our industries are prepared to invest in new industry they are entitled to a fair return for their money. Some of us go to race meetings and back favourites at short odds. If we back a long shot we are entitled to a return on our investment. Many of the long shots that have to be backed in future will have to make a good return to the people who invested their money. Deputy Callanan called for people to put their money where their mouths are. I believe that there are many people who would put their money where their mouths are but they should be given a fair return on their investment. At present our capital gains tax system would deter people from investing in industry. When the Minister for Finance sits down to work on his budget, he should remember that it is our responsibility to provide the right climate for venture capital.
We have the resources and can solve our problems if we have the will to do so. We have a growing and educated population on which many mothers and fathers have spent hard-earned money, but what are they educating them for? Some months ago I talked to 90 vocational students. When I asked them what they intended to do when they left school, 85 per cent of them said they wanted office jobs. We all know that the market for office jobs is poor. The blame for the emphasis on office jobs must lie with our educational system and the stigma that is attached to the technical school. The reasons given for sending boys and girls to technical schools was that they were not sufficiently bright to be sent to secondary schools. To the mother and fathers of Ireland I say that the future is in industry, not in office jobs. I started work as a pen pusher during a recession and I was prepared to take whatever was available at that time. There is nothing more frustrating for young people than sitting around doing nothing. After a year of idleness they will have chips on their shoulders and will be easily lured into subversive organisations. As Deputy Callanan remarked in his speech, if we do not solve the problems for these young people who are now educated and who are not prepared to emigrate—and that I admire them for—we will be seen to have failed. The system will be seen to have failed and they will rebel against society. Revolutions do not grow; they just happen. The problem is there for us to solve, but we are not helped by the climate under which we came into Government. However, we have the determination and the will to tackle those problems as they should be tackled.
I should like to congratulate the Minister and his Parliamentary Secretary on their appointments. The Minister has spent a lot of time since he took office trying to attract industries here. He made many trips abroad in an effort to solve some of our problems and, in particular, to the US. The Minister was also quick off the mark in flying to Brussels to try to kill that malicious statement that leaked from that city some months ago to the effect that our tax free incentives would be taken away. We need those tax free incentives up to 1990. We need every instrument available to us to try to get around the massive problem we face. That tax incentive is one of the best ways we have to attract foreign industries. It is also a fine incentive to encourage young Irishmen into industry to try to capture for themselves a slice of that great market that is abroad.
The consumer market abroad is huge and I have no doubt that in years to come, as our people move out more, more markets and opportunities will be seized. Because of the limited amount of time at my disposal I have only seen a few of those markets. The national problem could not be solved by the Minister or any Government because Governments cannot solve such problems. Enterprise and markets create jobs. In their own way the Government can solve some of the problems, as they have done since June. They created 5,000 new jobs in the only area they could, by adding to the strength of the Garda Síochána, the Prison Service and the health services. I have no doubt that the Government are encouraging the semi-State agencies to expand as they will have to as the economy grows. However, expanding the economy is no use unless we can maintain the impetus that will carry us right into the eighties to provide jobs. Many Members, and outside surveys, have made us all aware of the extent of the problem: we must provide 23,000 to 28,000 jobs annually over the next ten years.
The Government will make their contribution and it is up to private enterprise to make theirs. Private enterprise is on trial here from now on. Because of their commitment and determination in tackling this problem the Government have thrown the ball into the court of private enterprise, which must now play its part in helping to solve this problem. I hope the people have the will to solve the problem, because if they do not none of us can do anything to solve it. Because of the tragedy we witnessed in the last week I hope the national malaise has been cured. I hope it is recognised that it is good to have a job. We can all learn a lesson from that situation. I learned that lesson the hard way because when I went into industry I had to learn it. We must always keep in close contact with the feelings on the shop floor: a sore there should never be allowed fester. It should never fester into the situation we have seen many times or into the number of unofficial disputes we witnessed in the last 12 months. Management have their responsibilities as have the workers.
I hope to see a national commitment to solving this problem by management, unions and workers. The Government have already displayed their concern. If we can get this national commitment going together we can make this country a better place to live in for our people and future generations.
