We need more focus on indigenous industry

IRELAND’S policy of Foreign Direct Investment is credited with spawning the Celtic Tiger.

Research published by Trinity College’s Professor of International Business, Colm Kearney, and Frank Barry of UCD, concludes the strategy of targeting foreign multinationals in the fast-growing high technology sectors was a major factor in giving this country its modern industrial base.

Multinationals account for 50% of manufacturing jobs compared with 19% in the rest of the EU.