Madam, - I am deeply touched by the evident concern of our Government about the problems of competitiveness, inflation and unemployment. They wrestled with these weighty issues in the splendour of Farmleigh House the other week.Meanwhile our business leaders were making some practical suggestions. The Irish Hotel Federation and the Small Firms Association were proposing the globalisation of the labour market as a solution to these problems.
When business speaks, governments must listen. In fact a new ethical code has been established (since our little argument on neutrality during the Iraq war), which states that we must no longer ask ourselves if something is right or wrong but whether it is good for business or not. With this in mind we must carefully consider what our business leaders are saying and come up with ideas to help them.
In this regard may I make a modest proposal? It's a simple idea involving the export of an undesirable commodity and the import of a desirable one.
The desirable commodity we must import, as identified by ISME, the Irish Hotels Federation, FÁS, and Mary Harney at the Department of Enterprise (where she has been busy signing the permits), is cheap labour. The wages for these workers are, in general, no more than a minimum wage. They are much more plaint than locals and any disputes that arise can usually be resolved by a judicious reference to the terms of their work permit.
Another great advantage of this cheap labour is that because it is not locally based, it offers the prudent employer the opportunity to recover some of his costs. Half or possibly more of any outlay on wages can be recovered by renting accommodation to foreign workers. The provision of in-house food, transport, clothes, energy and other services offer further opportunities for clawback of the initial outlay.
The export of the undesirable commodity is a bit more problematic. Traditionally we exported up to 60,000 workers a year but in recent years this has stopped. This healthy tradition must be revived, perhaps with the help of Government or EU incentives.
Areas in which the native Irish are particularly skilled, e.g. the building and construction industry will be in great demand in the Middle East in the coming years. Increased oil revenues in the area can fund the exorbitant wage demands of this sector while at the same time showing the natives of those places that there are alternative lifestyles to traditional Islamic models.
The 173,000 unemployed, almost the same as the number of work permits issued, could be offered an incentive to emigrate to other EU countries where the cost of living is lower, thus reducing poverty. The trade unions might oppose this but their record as the most ineffective organisations in the country should ensure that opposition is minimal.
I am confident that these measures would be of enormous benefit to our economy. I am sure we could revive the Celtic Tiger, defeat inflation, increase competitiveness and bring about a new era of unprecedented prosperity for the Irish business community. What greater good could there be than that? - Yours, etc.,
FRANK COSGROVE, Ardmulchan, Co Meath.