We must ensure our clean, green food island remains a recipe for success

The good and great assembled in Dublin Castle, deliberating at the Global Irish Economic Forum, to conceive new ideas for our economic prosperity.

Their creativity included establishment of a new social networking website worldIrish.com, tourism initiative The Gathering to welcome emigrants in 2013, expanded graduate schemes, unpaid service on state boards and diaspora awards scheme. It’s a pity they seemed oblivious to Ireland’s greatest strength — our natural resources — food and drinks. Ireland’s world-class brands include Guinness, Bailey’s, Jameson, Kerrygold. We are global leaders in food ingredients, infant formula and prepared consumer food products.

There was no mention of our indigenous industries’ global potential, nor any attempt to showcase our array of superb products to 70 million Irish worldwide. Preoccupation with global multinationals ignores the fundamentals of food security and net benefits to our economy. Take the IDA success story of Google, now employing 2000 people in European HQ in Dublin. Their 2010 accounts reveal on €10bn turnover, they contributed €2m in profits tax here. There are no repatriated profits from €24bn of output from agribusiness, seafood and timber sectors, delivering €9bn of exports.