On Monday February 8th, the day journalist George Lee abandoned the national parliament within months of his election to return to the security of the sheltered workshop that is the State broadcaster RTÉ, the former head of Ireland's biggest industrial enterprise and most significant foreign direct investor said the FDI (foreign direct investment) era is over; real economic investment will be indigenous and growth will come from investment in new ideas. However, developing a significant  indigenous exporting base is a huge challenge; it requires people prepared for a hard slog and a modern political system underpinning prudent economic policymaking.