Mary White (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Ms Sinnamon for her presentation. I welcome all the witnesses and appreciate their attendance.

I shall be honest with Ms Sinnamon by saying I would have liked her to be more specific. I want to know what we need to do to encourage more women into the sector and to achieve a more equal balance between the number of men and women.

I wish to highlight another serious issue. Taxation prevents people from starting up a business but it was not mentioned in the presentation.

I have another problem. Last week at our meeting, reference was made to the shortage of people with selling skills. Just because one does programming does not mean one can sell. To be honest, I believe the information is a bit general. I believed it would be more specific.

My third point is on skills. Rather than having a general statement on female entrepreneurs, I would like a statement outlining what we need to do from a practical point of view to encourage more women. I would like examples. The report is a bit general. I refer to the availability of skills and the question of taxation.

Child care was referred to last week, but I would not expect Ms Sinnamon to answer the question on this. It concerns circumstances in which a person has to travel. It was a very good point. I am concerned that there is not enough meat in the submission.