Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

It costs nothing for the owner of a business to contact his or her local institute of technology or technology gateway centre. I have with me the Technology Centre Expo 2013 booklet, which acts as a very good guide to the technology centres that exist within the institutes of technology, for example. Those centres are natural gateways for industries involved in a range of sectors, from the production of food right through to medical devices, to come on board. The key point is that the system relating to more well-established or technology-driven companies is quite advanced. What we are concerned with here is trying to get those who operate small or medium-sized businesses to start considering how they might obtain access to the information that is available. As stated, it costs nothing to get involved in a conversation. It could be argued that the walls are impenetrable. However, I am of the view that those walls are being broken down quite quickly. The Deputy would be surprised by the number of people who attended the launch of Horizon 2020. I met a man from my region who is a painter and decorator by trade and who was present at that launch to examine a business opportunity. There is a new confidence among people but we need to do more to drive business forward.