Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. Is he confident that the issues that affect the operation of this scheme are being dealt with and that we will see improved efficiency? The feedback I am getting consistently is that the scheme is overly cumbersome, an administrative nightmare and that it is taking too long to get approval, with the overall consequence of it not being an attractive investment proposition. If we want to reduce our reliance on inward investment, foreign direct investment, FDI, and multinationals, we need to help our small indigenous sector to scale up. There are many SMEs that have the potential to reach new levels of scale, and schemes like this are of critical importance to them. For me, this is the key issue. I am aware of the context in terms of the general block exemption regulations from Europe as well.

The Minister of State said that he is open to examining what rule changes may be necessary next year and he mentioned the amount of relief, for example. Leaving aside the Indecon report, what work does he intend to undertake between now and then to guide and inform that review?

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