Good afternoon everyone.
I am delighted to be able to join you today at the opening of this new facility in what is becoming the ‘bio cell/bio valley’ of Dublin. On the 50th anniversary of your foundation you have much to celebrate. In that time you have become one of the most respected names in the areas of transportation, refrigeration, storage and value added services, and today’s opening now allows you to move into the area of temperature controlled storage.
This €20 million investment creates a technology advanced warehouse facility to meet the needs of your clients.
It will also see the creation of up to 100 new jobs.
Around 80 percent of Irish manufactured output is exported. So a strong and healthy transport, logistics and distribution network is vital to our economy.
When I think of what is needed to succeed in business today, I look for a company that is adaptable to the needs of clients, as well as being able to expand into new business areas and markets. Your family business does exactly that, providing a portfolio of complete logistic solutions in the pharmaceutical, medical device, nutritional and consumer goods sectors.
It is wonderful to see this kind of adaptable innovation from an indigenous Irish company.
Technology, as is so often the case, is transforming this industry. The Transport, Logistics and Distribution sectors are facing new disruptions as digitisation takes hold and clients’ needs change.
Your great achievement is the way you have embraced digital technology to meet supply chain management challenges.
At Hollystown you will have an opportunity to serve a wider cohort of clients and prepare for challenges, such as Brexit, as well as for the opportunities that lie ahead.
And there are many opportunities in our growing economy. There are now more than 2.2 million people at work here in Ireland, and the next set of figures will show that we have more people working now than at any point in our history.
We have sustainable growth and we want to use this to improve the lives of all our people and all parts of the country.
Whenever I talk about our economy and society, I tend to do so in terms of six principles.
The first is prudent management of the public finances and reducing our national debt.
Last year, for the first time in a long time, we ran a budget surplus, and we reduced the national debt as a percentage of GDP.
Second, we want to continue to raise living standards in a sustainable way for all our citizens, reducing the cost of public services.
The third is achieving full employment with good jobs. We are approaching full employment, so our emphasis now is on good jobs, jobs that pay the bills so people can aspire to home ownership and have pensions so they can plan for the future.
Our fourth principle is investing in infrastructure. With Project Ireland 2040 we have an ambitious ten-year plan to invest €116 billion in our public infrastructure.
This means investment in housing, healthcare facilities, education, transport and climate change.
It’s a long-term strategic approach and it provides the clarity and certainty that businesses require in order to plan ahead with confidence.
The fifth is our commitment to reforming and modernising our public services. This year we are spending over €15 billion on health, representing the highest ever level of expenditure and one of the highest per-head anywhere in the world, and we are spending over €10 billion on education.
The sixth principle relates to our role internationally, as an island at the centre of the world.
We see ourselves not as an island at the edge of a continent, but an island that’s at the centre of a connected and globalised world.
We are at the heart of the common European home we helped to build, committed to multilateralism as the best way to solve the world’s many problems.
These six principles shape our plans and they are ambitious, far-reaching and imaginative for the future.
They need to be, because around the world there are uncertainties and risks in a rapidly changing global economy.
We cannot predict exactly what impacts Brexit and the broader international shift in attitudes to trade and globalisation will have.
However we are involved in intensive preparations and contingency planning for whatever happens.
Access to and from the island of Ireland for trade is wholly dependent on the strength of our networks.
With your operations in Monaghan and Louth you know better than most that any additional barriers to the current access arrangements between the UK and Ireland – including between Northern Ireland and Ireland - will be detrimental to the efficiency of our transport services and operators and to the economy. It doesn’t matter whether these barriers are physical, regulatory or technical, they will damage us.
So we need to be vigilant and keep searching for viable solutions.
As we enter another critical stage in the Brexit negotiations, the Government will continue to work to ensure that what has been promised is delivered and that Ireland's interests are protected. Later this month I will attend the European Council, where the EU-27 will assess if satisfactory progress on the withdrawal issues has been made.
At the moment, I am not convinced that it has.
In the meantime, we have redoubled our efforts at home to prepare for the UK’s exit.
The €300 million Brexit Loan Scheme for Business, launched at the end of March, provides competitively priced finance for Irish businesses facing working capital challenges brought about by Brexit.
Alongside this work, it is vital that businesses engage in contingency planning, including preparing for a no-deal or disorderly Brexit scenario.
The companies that will succeed are those that are able to adapt, while continuing to provide the best possible service to clients. That has always been the McArdle-Skeath philosophy and it is one that on a national level will help us through the times ahead.
The hard work and sacrifices of the Irish people, matched by the right economic policies of the Government, has brought our country out of crisis and into a period of prosperity.
The Government is now charting the path to a positive, sustainable future. We have a vision for how we can prepare for and build a better Ireland for all.
Tomorrow is Bloomsday and I am reminded that ‘Ulysses’ is as much a novel about geography and transportation as it is about anything else. Joyce believed that we are tomorrow what we establish today. By developing this new facility, you have helped prepare for the world of tomorrow. And for that I congratulate you.
Thank you.