Sorry about the smart-This post will be deleted if not edited to remove bad language reply earlier Nermal !
Its just a reflex action with me when people automatically assume that manufacturing and industry are , so like totally , 19th century and services are the way of the future.
I don't what it is , but I get the impression when you mention the word "industry" or "manufacturing" many people seem to get visions of the opening sequence of the Deerhunter film , or giant posters from the Communist era with all us industrial workers piling into work arm in arm , with our cloth caps on , sitting down the bottom of mineshafts eating pot noodles etc etc - dinosaurs waiting for the end - while services is the shiny new modern future for the western elite - let all them easterners and other assorted foreigners toil away to make the bits and pieces that make up the fabric of our lives while we make our fortunes selling each other expensive coffees and danish pastries!
An oversimplification I know - the truth is probably somewhere between the two.
Irelands Service industry remarkably mirrors the manufacturing industry with the vital exception of tourism. The vast majority of the Irish owned entities are small scale and inward looking - servicing the domestic marketplace ,therefore at the this moment in time massively overdependent on property and the public sector spending.
The multinational sector of services has been shrinking , call centres etc etc have been contracting and moving department by department to lower cost locations , primarily the indian subcontinent and even back to Europe and the States as rising costs , lack of skilled labour prepared to work at competitive international wages and most importantly our chronic neglect and deficit in both of physical and electronic infrastructure -something that comes up again and again.
The IFSC has been a great success both in badly needed financial revenue and jobs for the first decade of its existence - more importantly was the image it gave of a country that was ready to do business. That was vital in bringing in so much foreign investment in the 90's - pity the illusion ends the minute you walk out of the place.
Currently its importance is less as there is a rapid turnover of companies in the centre apart from the anchor tenants (Nearly all our large commerical banks are dependent on the home market for a large % of their revenue - their foreign adventures , how shall I put it, have been less than awe inspiring) and because of the financial sweeteners given out its impact on revenue is less than it should be - its not for the scenery and the craic that it is listed as a tax haven in the classified section of the Economist magazine- and lets be honest : its not New York , London , Hong Kong or Frankfurt - in this electronic age where would you rather be doing business?
Anyway Im starting to digress and fly off on tangents here so back to main point I was going to make originally in response to your comments vis a vis services taking over from industry as a natural way of things.
One thing I have noticed in my travels around this air filled bubble we call Earth is that primary economic activity , manufacturing, agriculture, etc etc is the creator of wealth that all other sectors , services and banking feed off, either directly or indirectly- with a few economically perverse exceptions like stock market and property bubbles.
Im thinking primarily of the economy, culture and nation that we try to imitate (whether conciously or subconciously) most here - the USA. I travel there on Business 4 to 5 times a year and lived and worked there for a couple of years and have travelled the length and breath of it as tourist many times - Its a country that drives me nuts - I have a real love- hate relationship with the place but I'll will be fascinated with the country and its people till the day I die. One thing that has stood out to me , with relevance to this thread and Ireland is that the places where services , property prices and general around standard of living are highest , are areas where there is a high concentration of industry , manufacturing and research and development - period. Take any example you want -
Seattle and the north west - Aviation (Boeing), Computers (Microsoft) , horticulture) Damn nearly 30% of all the apples produced in the world come from Washington State -
California - the bay area - Computers (HP , Intel , IBM ) , Aviation and defense ( Lockheed Martin)(Raytheon), wine and a vast arrray of pharmautical , Agribusiness and other primary producers
LA and San Diego - Film/Media, Aviaton and Defense (McDonnell Douglas , Grumman, etc etc
I could go on and on thru the Sunbelt and midwest and North East - Each time what you will find are the same things - indigenous industry props up and is the main wage earner , whether its the same company or companies
that have replaced them having sprung and flourished in the fertile soil of big industry spending , the high class educational facilities, great infrastructure and extensive research and development that comes with from the large tax base that manufacturing wages and purchasing bring in - property banking logistics all feed from that - there should be lessons for us here - the US Senators and Congressmen are aware of this too - you should see the fighting that took place over the budget bill when Defense bases and contracts came up for discussion - puts our own mob in the ha'penny place when it comes to bringing home the bacon !
The other side of the American dream should have lessons for us aswell.
the next time you go stateside , take a train, say the Lakeshore Limited from NYC to Chicago - or the Empire Builder from Chicago to Seattle . They will take you through the rustbelt - what happens when the Big industry dies or moves away - Ghosttowns , cities falling apart, and rusting away - once the primary generator of income goes , the tax base contracts , public services and facilities are starved , Banks close up , unemployment and crime increase, who the hell would want to live there , property goes south - anyjobs that are left are dependent on the much reduced income of the remaining inhabitants , so the pay and conditions will match , low skilled , low paid unless you happen to be the local drug baron or the pastor of the local evangelical mission (heh Heh If I was a member of the lrish Catholic Clergy I'd be on me fecking knees praying for a property crash - nothing like the end of your financial world to bring you back to God!) . Its an eyeopener Ill tell you - Its Happened here in Ireland before - nothing is written that it wont happen again.
the Arguements I have been making on this thread have been quite simply - we have to start investing seriously in our native industry and our entrepeneurs and industrialists of the future . That means serious investment in our infrastructure, educational and research estabishments, the introduction of a risk taking culture ( in industry and tech and development only - there has been quite enough in property already thank you very much!) backed up by state funding if necessary (As I have been witness to a million and one ways to blow a buck courtesy of our public service - we couldn't do any worse could we?). As a Country that depends massively on the world market for our standard of living (Both exports and Borrowed foreign funds to buy and build our little castles) the above is vital and will be more vital as the free money from Europe is drying up and our consumer / property boom cannot last forever - bills will have to be paid in the end. Get The primary industry right and the rest will follow.
Night All