Marcella Corcoran Kennedy (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Like the other speakers, I very much welcome the regional aspect of the Action Plan for Jobs. Has a date been set for the launch of the midlands one, in which I am obviously very interested?

On the talent bank and the national skills strategy, Senator White referred to the report on women in entrepreneurship. She gave me credit for initiating it, but in fact she initiated it and I supported her in it. A witness who appeared before the committee talked about the importance of salesmanship in everything that is happening here at the moment. She was very clear that it is not necessary to be the expert in order to get a company up and running. Someone with the skills and talent to get the company going can bring in what is needed. She made the point about salesmanship. The Minister referred to sales and language. I ask him to comment on whether we should focus more on it.

I attended the launch of the Startup Gathering last week. It is a tremendous initiative and I hope it will be very successful. What outcomes does the Minister expect from that through the Action Plan for Jobs?

Regarding what Senator White was saying about the Enterprise Ireland funding, is it possible for us to get details on the amount of investment in companies on a county-by-county basis? I recently came across a document indicating that more than 400 jobs had been created in County Offaly, which I represent, through Enterprise Ireland investment. I thought that was a fantastic figure but nobody is really talking about it, whereas if there was an FDI announcement of 30 jobs, it would be all over the newspapers.

Sometimes we do not recognise our own talent. These are the people who are working on the ground and developing, over decades perhaps, outstanding companies and who are aided and abetted by the State agencies and the Departments. From that perspective, it would be good for us to come up with some idea of, first, how we can get the word out about the outstanding indigenous companies we already have across the country and, second, how to reach out to others which might need a little more support. The Government has already done this in a way through the websiteactionplanforjobs.ie. This is a great idea as it brings together all the supports available to start-ups.

I have also heard comment on local employment offices, LEOs, and whether a consistent approach across the country is being applied or whether they are being left to their own devices with different budgets and emphases in different areas. It might be possible to clarify that. Finally, there is a question about the CEDRA report and how this fits in. There are some great recommendations in the report such as on rural economic development zones. Some counties have already been proactive on this. How will that report feed in so that we can see results very quickly? Marrying the regional strategy and the CEDRA report may be the blueprint for getting action into the regions very quickly.