Mr. John Murphy:

I apologise. I meant to revert to that question. On the remit of Enterprise Ireland, it is focused on companies that are or can be in the export sector and that is for very good reasons. Were Enterprise Ireland to try to get involved in funding every small business, one would have a huge deadweight and displacement impact. That does not mean there the State cannot do things through other programmes. Consequently, the provisions to improve access to finance or to working capital, for example, would be extremely important to the retail sector. Moreover, the Deputy must remember that every job supported by Enterprise Ireland and the IDA in turn supports jobs in the domestic economy, which is the sector about which she essentially is talking.

On the question of regulation and how it is enforced, there are different issues in this regard. First, there are issues concerning licensing and who administers regulations, how they are administered and the manner in which that can impose a burden on businesses if they must deal with several different authorities which might have slightly different requirements. This is something that recently has been examined, at the request of the Minister, by Forfás, with a view to bringing forward proposals to try to streamline licensing. The starting point for this will be the retail sector, because that sector is particularly affected, especially if one has a combination of food and drink or of food on or off the premises and so on. There can be a large number of different licensing requirements to be met. In the area of markets, there are many vibrant markets, including within the Deputy's own constituency, and I have attended many of them over the years.

Whatever the regulations are, they have not stopped them from thriving. I had occasion to travel regularly to Paris in a previous job and I always passed a street market on my way to a particular meeting. The efficiency with which it was run was top class. Whatever regulations there were, they were being enforced, that was plain to see, but it was a vibrant and efficient market so it can be done. We are in the business of ensuring regulation is proportionate and sensible and not impossible to comply with. There must, however, be agreement. Within the European Parliament there is a very strong pro-consumer lobby which pushes for more food safety and greater regulation rather than less.