Shane Ross (Independent)

Senator Mary White's husband did it all. She knows it and has told us that before. She should stop giving credit to other people; it is very unlike her. She does not normally do it. It was not native industry or normal financial measures but it was welcoming multinationals, to some extent rather quietly.

I agree with all those who said we should keep the 12.5% tax rate. Why do we not cut it to rival Latvia, the Czech Republic, Poland and Macedonia? Why do we not bring it down rather than put it up to attract more industry and compete with those countries? I hope I have not been too critical because what the IDA has done in the past has been wonderful. However, for all its great work, has the IDA any clout? Is it allowed to get on with its work and does the Government ever listen to it? Everything in this particular sector is not rosy.

I do not know whether anybody in this House read the report of the US Chamber of Commerce last year. For a group which tends to pull its punches on the Irish economy, it was deeply critical of some of the inadequacies in the economy. It said the infrastructure was appalling, although it did not use that word because it does not use those types of words. However, that was the message it was sending. It was critical of the airports and said it was very difficult for people to get from one place to another. If the IDA had any clout, I do not believe the roads would be in the state in which they are where it is almost impossible for foreigners, who are absolutely shattered by what is going on in this country, to get from point A to point B. According to the US Chamber of Commerce, that is a deterrent to people coming to this country. If we do not spend the money quickly, they will not come.

Much more important, however, is the issue of broadband which was raised by Senator Hannigan on the Order of Business and by Senator Donohue. Northern Ireland, which has a kind of antediluvian economy compared with ours, provides broadband to every house and business. We cannot do that. It has been promised time and again, yet there is no progress on broadband. How in the name of God does the IDA explain that to Google or to other such organisations? How does it say to them that we cannot do it and we cannot provide the money or the infrastructure? If the message goes out that our infrastructure is inadequate, and I am not just talking about roads——