Anthony Lawlor (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Of the 2012 actions, 10% were not achieved and these are obviously part and parcel of the plans for 2013. Could we have a progress report on the achievement of these targets? There has been a reduction in the number of licences for small businesses. What is the timeframe for the introduction of this measures?

There was a proposal that there should be 20 major energy efficiency projects. The funding for Sustainable Energy Ireland is only coming in but there is already talk of changing the scheme. Would it not be better to put this into numerous smaller projects instead of 20 large projects? That might create more employment.

I raised the issue of ICT and science in schools with the Minister for Education and Skills. Science is not a core subject up to junior certificate. I am looking at schools in Kildare to find out how many children are doing science up to junior certificate. It would be nice to see that in the ICT sector, with the Minister advocating that science be taken on board. We are planning for something in 2018 but it will be in place for much longer.

There was no mention of procurement. It is not directly the Minister's responsibility but €9 billion is available in the procurement sector for small companies. There is a problem with the asset procurement services that want to amalgamate everything into bigger companies instead of smaller local enterprises.

The young entrepreneur action was mentioned. I urge the Minister to follow up on the significant success of the female entrepreneur fund last year. It would be nice if there could be a youth entrepreneur fund, even if it was to start at €250,000, to show we are serious about youth unemployment.