Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will take that on board. State aid is an issue and one that I have mentioned on a number of occasions at this committee. It is up for renegotiation this year. Ireland has been regionalised historically and each region has been allowed give a particular level of state aid to foreign direct investment, and also to indigenous investment. When those initial terms of reference were outlined, Ireland was in a far different economic position than its current one. Due to the closure of Dell and a few other companies, Ireland managed to change its state aid. I want the Government to fight hard in order to offer County Meath and other counties, which are having difficulties with job creation, incentives to create jobs.

Public procurement is discussed in terms of access, which is important. We do not look at public procurement - or at least I do not get the feeling that we do - as a way to create jobs or act as a tool that will help create jobs. One of the points that we always discuss here is that we feel that public procurement militates against the easy access by small to medium-sized or micro-enterprises. Often public procurement is bunched together rather than broken down so its access is limited. We do not use social clauses enough in this State for public procurement. They are excellent tools for tackling disadvantage, long-term unemployment issues and apprenticeships. I have heard that other EU countries use procurement in a manner which, while not against European law, effects some level of advantage to local work and local companies. In this regard Ireland is the best boy in the class but it is to our detriment again. I would like to hear the Department's thinking on how it will resolve all of those problems which have general cross-party support.

Denmark will hold a referendum on whether to join the unified patent court but will Ireland need to do so? If so, would it be a good time also to have a referendum on upward-only rents?

The Ministers and the Commission had an informal working lunch to discuss the Single Market as a driver for growth in jobs. Has anything more been done to resolve the issue?

Recently agreement was reached on a 60 day payment period. Can the Secretary General explain what legislation can be used to resolve outstanding problems regarding late payment periods? I spoke to the MP Ryan company today which has a contract with Bord Gáis Networks but it still has an issue about its payments. How close is the Department or the State to reaching the 3% GDP target for research and development?