Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The third is that "immigrant entrepreneurs are encouraged to come to the country". It has been proven down through the centuries that wherever shifts in population occur and people have moved to a country, those who have come as immigrants to Ireland have a strong entrepreneurial spirit. They are rarely or never a liability on the State because they come here to work and to thrive. If they thrive and prosper - usually in small businesses and possibly self-employed - then the country benefits.

I refer to Senator White's remarks about the education system and to the same report. I was struck by the report's statement - about which the Minister of State will have a view - that a lack of specific entrepreneurship education modules in teacher education programmes creates challenges because most teachers lack the experience to deliver these specialised programmes. In the view of the report's authors, teachers as well as students should receive some entrepreneurship education. They further state that there is an immediate need to introduce modules, courses, boot camps, hackathons and start-up weekends at primary and secondary school level. In my opinion these are very worthy and commendable proposals and I will be interested to hear any comments from the Minister of State.

I have very little time and I thank the Cathaoirleach for his indulgence. In the context of access to credit it remains the responsibility of the banking system to provide credit to businesses. That point should not be lost. Senator Gilroy referred to Morgan Kelly and I had intended doing same but he has covered that aspect in his contribution. Morgan Kelly has made a very serious commentary about the level of debt in the SME sector and what the Central Bank is doing about it. It is a warning shot and a wake-up call. In fairness to the Government the reaction of the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, shows he has taken on board Professor Kelly's views in this regard. Perhaps the Minister of State, Deputy Perry, will comment. I wish him well in his very important role and one for which he is eminently suited. He has shown in the conduct of his Ministry how he is succeeding against all the odds in a very difficult economic environment, both nationally and internationally. He is highlighting these important issues about the need to create jobs, to sustain the economy and most important, as he and I come from the same neck of the woods, sustaining local communities.