Northern Ireland Economy

I have never been afraid of hard work, and I can be wherever I am needed, whenever I am needed. Maximising all that renewable energy will not only reduce our dependency on fossil fuels but it can be a key economic driver, and not just in Northern Ireland but on the island as a whole, where we have a single energy market. My hon. Friend the Member for South Down has talked about corporation tax; I will not delay proceedings by repeating the issues about corporation tax, but they are there. I took part in the Northern Ireland Committee when it discussed corporation tax and I commend the Chairman, the hon. Member for Tewkesbury (Mr Robertson), for his outstanding chairmanship and for delivering the report on corporation tax, as well as the report on air passenger duty. We produced the report on APD in a remarkably short time; I think that three or four weeks was all the time it took to produce it. As I say, my hon. Friend the Member for South Down covered a lot of the points about corporation tax and the economic benefits, and I will not use the precious time left to me to repeat those points. APD is an area where the private sector is disproportionately hammered. Because a business happens to be in Northern Ireland, it should not be crucified in terms of the cost of transport links with the US and the continent. Beyond corporation tax, the SDLP is keen to explore some possibility of creating bonds, and I certainly want to see a bond of £400 million or £500 million that could be used to pump-prime the construction industry in Northern Ireland. I have no doubt that there are ways and means by which that bond could be developed, but I will leave discussion of those ways and means until another day. Such a bond would allow our construction firms to get up off their knees and begin to build the schools, hospitals and the road infrastructure that we need. Yes, we would have to pay such a bond back, but it would be easier paying it back if we had the functioning infrastructure there in Northern Ireland. Such a bond would remove many of the bottlenecks that currently exist in our economy, allowing the dysfunctional parts of the economy to function again. We have also been working with local companies, Invest Northern Ireland and the European Commission to find ways and means of successfully unlocking European research and development funds. Certainly framework 7, as it enters its last years, offers tremendous opportunities for research and development, and framework 8 will no doubt do the same. Unlocking funds for research and development would help to boost business links, the private sector and university spin-outs. We need to grow the private sector rapidly, but I agree with the hon. Member for East Antrim that it is not a question of dismantling the public sector but of growing the private sector five-fold or six-fold. It is only by being ambitious and courageous in our thinking, our planning and our building of dynamic partnerships between business, Government and the education sector that we will become equipped to compete successfully in global markets in the future. Before I end, I will repeat a point I made earlier, which was also made by a number of Members, particularly the hon. Member for East Antrim, regarding the banks. The banks are a disaster, and small businesses are being crucified and put out of business. Our single biggest challenge is a lack of liquidity in the banking system. I have experienced it myself—cheques are being bounced and companies are being driven into administration and bankruptcy. That is not good for the economy. In many cases, those companies are viable but they are being put to the wall. If anything can come out of this debate today, it is that we have to get some mechanism for tackling the banks.