John Perry (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Mr. Martin Shanahan and Ms Julie Sinnamon and congratulate Ms Sinnamon on her appointment. I also acknowledge the role played by Barry O'Leary and Frank Ryan.

Deputy Ross is not here at the moment, but I am always amazed at how subjective his views are on Enterprise Ireland, not alone here but in his articles in the business section of the Sunday Independent.I am often disappointed immensely with his articles. The cost of jobs is based on many variables, but I believe many jobs are based on the potential turnover of €18 billion of many Enterprise Ireland based companies. We can look at the success of the bottom up approach in this regard. Will Ms Sinnamon explain the role of the service level agreement in regard to Enterprise Ireland and connectivity with local and small enterprise companies?

The issue of cross-Border development was raised. Amazement was expressed at the reference to the shareholding in Northern Ireland based companies, but I am aware from my experience there has been significant development and collaboration with InterTradeIreland and both Northern and Southern Ireland based companies.In my experience, this is par for the course.