Mr. Felix Regan:

I can add to the response to the question put by Deputy Rabbitte about the significance of capital market union for SMEs. The standard definition of an SME in EU terms is any business employing up to 250 employees. The reality is that 91% of SMEs in this country are employing fewer than ten people. Let us look at the impact on the SME sector of capital market union here and in other countries. Talking to business representative bodies, I have recently discovered that the vast majority of SMEs in other countries are also quite small. Ireland is not unique in that respect. We all share the concern about this challenge. The previous speakers, Mr. Mark O'Mahoney from Chambers Ireland and Ms Regina Breheny, alluded to the same. Either we can collectively focus policymakers at European level to make an element of capital market union realistically tangible for the cohort of SMEs, 91% of them in this country, or else we acknowledge that capital markets union will always be about the 9% of SMEs in this country that have been scaled up. The figure might actually be 3% or 4% of companies in this country are of that scale. It is a challenge that is recognised to some extent by everyone but we have the opportunity at this early stage to interrogate it and challenge it. If we cannot succeed in that regard, we must make sure collectively that the message does not go out that capital markets union is for SMEs because SMEs in Ireland mean the joinery works in Wicklow employing eight people or the restaurant in Dublin employing seven people. That may not be the typical SME that will benefit in any way from capital markets union.