The new Dáil

[pineapple stu]

You reckon our national day should be sacrosanct, yet you see fit to refer to it as Paddy's Day?

You reckon spending money to bring in more money is bad?

You are completely clueless, you know that?

[Dodge]

St patrick's day is the one day of the year that most people in the worldwide get exposed to Ireland in a positive light. Absolutely our ministers should be going abroad to try and grease as many wheels as possible. No one despises Varadker more than me, but the Indian 'market' is developing at a faster pace than anywhere else in the world. Ireland is targetting Indian students, and if he can help advertise this on his visit, then thats a far better use of his time and our money than to have them sitting on their hole on the national holiday

After your 'Foreign Affairs minister doesn't matter' comments pre election, I really don't think you have a clue how the world of International politics works mypost

[Eminence Grise]

First off, well done, PS, for voicing one of my absolute hates: referring to the national holiday as Paddy’s Day. I’ve never heard a Scot, Welshman or Englishman refer to Andy, Dave or Georgieboy. It makes me cringe whenever I hear it.

I’m all for ministers travelling abroad on St Patrick’s Day. I just wish that the optics of saving taxpayers’ money didn’t mean we’re cutting the number of trips. I’d like to see all bar one or two ministers going, providing they took large self-funded delegations including chambers of commerce, IBEC, SFA, IDA, Enterprise Ireland, enterprise and leader boards, third level institutions and their innovation/campus companies etc etc. Ministers don’t bring back jobs and investment after a 24 hour flying visit – but the publicity their visits get, and the access they get to their counterparts and the business community is where results come from.

As for attracting Indian students, just 200 students in every state-funded IT and university (roughly 20) paying approximately 12k in fees, and spending the same amount from home funds is almost €100,000,000. And that’s before looking at China, Russia, the USA...

[mypost]

You reckon our national day should be sacrosanct, yet you see fit to refer to it as Paddy's Day?

You know the point I was making.

You reckon spending money to bring in more money is bad?

Oh it's spending money alright. Money we don't have, and are unlikely to get back.

St patrick's day is the one day of the year that most people in the worldwide get exposed to Ireland in a positive light. Absolutely our ministers should be going abroad to try and grease as many wheels as possible. Ireland is targetting Indian students, and if he can help advertise this on his visit, then thats a far better use of his time and our money than to have them sitting on their hole on the national holiday

I've already said why most people move and invest here. Those reasons still stand.

[dahamsta]

The return on the sums of money spent going to America, Japan, Australia, etc on the day has been minimal.

Please provide evidence for this statement. A single shred will suffice.

[mypost]

Multinationals have been moving out of and avoiding Ireland in recent years, as it's too expensive to do business. The volatile economic climate is further deterrent to those wishing to invest here now. International Credit Downgrades are ongoing, while unemployment remains static.

Our corpo tax rate "red lined" in the Lisbon Treaty remember, is now on the table. If that rises on top of the above reasons, they can visit 8 or 80 countries tomorrow, but there will always be more attractive options on the table for investors.

Tomorrow is our national holiday. Most of Ireland Inc. here is shut. It's supposed to be a celebration of our heritage and culture, a break from the news of banks and bondholders, not a day for politicos to enjoy toasts and run up vast expenses on us around the globe. The Dail sits for barely 100 days a year, so there are more than enough other days available to attract multinationals still willing to take a punt on us.

[Dodge]

As for your recent comments about the importance of our Minister of Defence, it is no longer a stand alone cabinet post, but shared with Justice and Equality, indicating how important the Defence portfolio has become in the government's eyes.

Go on then, show me where I said defence was important

[mypost]

It isn't there. I compared the FA job to the Defence Ministry during the Minister for Foreign Affairs row. Post edited.

[dahamsta]

mypost, I know your grasp of debate is childish at best, so for your own reference, what appears in the post above isn't evidence, it's opinion. Please provide evidence or retract your statement.

[mypost]

I've retracted the statement, as there are not sufficient links to support it. I still believe though that Kenny and co, should be here today to celebrate with the nation. Tomorrow, we can stop celebrating and normal life resumes.

[pineapple stu]

I've retracted the statement, as there are not sufficient links to support it.

Just for the sake of accuracy, you haven't provided a single link to support it. One was all that was asked for.

[dahamsta]

"Paddy's" Day discussion split here.

[peadar1987]

Some interesting points raised here about Ireland's economy. We're not a country blessed with huge amounts of natural resources, or a large manufacturing base. If we're to remain (or return to being) a prosperous nation, we need to focus on the things that we have. A highly-educated workforce is one of those things (for the moment at least, until all the graduates leave). Investing in our education system, especially at third level, and marketing it worldwide, is something that should be an absolute top priority for the government

[Macy]

We're not a country blessed with huge amounts of natural resources

Just on a point of order, we do have significant natural resources, and potential natural resources - "we" simply gave them away for sod all, with little prospect of return, and with no guarantee of supply.

[peadar1987]

Just on a point of order, we do have significant natural resources, and potential natural resources - "we" simply gave them away for sod all, with little prospect of return, and with no guarantee of supply.

Point taken. What I should have said was traditional natural resources, such as coal, iron ore, rare earth metals and the like. We do have the lead-zinc deposits, limited oil, and natural gas, as well as prime farmland, but we don't have a large manufacturing sector built upn either these, or imported raw materials, like the UK, France, or Germany do.