DECISIVE ACTION by the Government since the economic crisis broke had seen stability restored, Taoiseach Brian Cowen told a business audience in the US yesterday.
Mr Cowen was on the second leg of his American visit, promoting Ireland as an investment and enterprise location in a speaking tour of Silicon Valley, before travelling to Washington DC for a series of engagements today and tomorrow.
He told a lunch organised by Enterprise Ireland that the economy was now expected to see a return to growth later this year and to net employment creation in 2011.
“Despite the severity of the recession, key strengths of the past two decades remain. Economic activity as measured by gross domestic product will be almost one-third higher in 2010 than in the year 2000, and around two and a half times what it was in 1990. Numbers in employment this year will still be around 1.8 million, compared with 1.7 million in 2000 and 1.2 million in 1990.
“Ireland continues to enjoy favourable demographics, a highly educated workforce, and resilient export performance – as well as the significant inroads of the last decade in modernising our physical infrastructure.”
Emphasising Ireland’s experience in technology industries, Mr Cowen said: “In recent decades, Ireland has used the same formula as Silicon Valley – education and innovation – to drive growth and success for our economy.
“I’m proud to say that this formula paved the way for an economic transformation that fundamentally changed the competitive characteristics of our country. Our future is now predicated on leveraging the advantages of a vast reservoir of skills, human capital and flexibility in serving markets.
“For Ireland in the 21st century, competitiveness will depend on merging these attributes with a commitment to sustained innovation that is unmatched in the markets in which we compete.”
The Taoiseach noted that just before leaving for the US he launched the report of the Innovation Taskforce. The Government would be acting on the recommendations of the taskforce to position Ireland as the best place in Europe to “turn research and knowledge into products and services” as well as “the best place for research-intensive multinationals to collaborate . . .These aspirations will sound familiar to this Silicon Valley audience. Your inventiveness turned California into the engine that drives the US economy and the centre of global innovation.
“You began with the silicon chip – an invention that sparked successive waves of innovation that have impacted the lives of billions worldwide. The chip revolution paved the way for the PC which, in turn, produced the internet boom of the 1990s. This boom connected the world, making global business easier, faster and more efficient.
“Governments can support entrepreneurship and enterprise. They can help to create the environment within which ingenious things happen,” Mr Cowen continued. “But it is thriving, ambitious and innovation-intensive companies that will create the products and services of tomorrow...
“As a small nation, Ireland will, more than ever, have to look beyond its shores to forge strategic relationships with others, for our mutual benefit and the prosperity of our citizens.”
Tonight Mr Cowen will make the keynote address at the annual dinner of the American Ireland Fund in Washington DC. His speech is expected to focus on developments in the North. The Taoiseach will also meet US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, who will be honoured for her contribution to the peace process.
The Taoiseach will also meet members of the Ireland America Economic Advisory Board, and the Global Irish Network, which was formed as a follow-up to the Global Irish Forum held in Farmleigh last year.
Tomorrow, the Taoiseach will meet US president Barack Obama for the traditional St Patrick’s Day celebrations in the White House.