Mr. Conor Fahy:

I thank Mr. Sherry. Trade missions are an integral part of the overseas promotional programme. The outcome for companies is to foster business relationships and prospective customers. In last year's trade mission programme, companies announced over €200 million in contracts signed. There is an ambitious programme again for 2015. Last week I returned from a trade mission to central Europe with Minister of State at the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Gerald Nash. We had 42 companies announcing €30 million in contracts in the course of a two city trade mission to Warsaw and Prague.

Our programme for the year ahead will focus significantly, as Mr. Sherry has said, on high growth markets. If one contrasts 2010 with the year ahead, one will see that we have increased the level of focus on high growth markets by over 40% in relation to our activity in those regions. As the leading sponsor of ID 2015, Enterprise Ireland supports Irish companies in celebrating world class design skills through a range of programmes and events which have been incorporated into our trade missions across the world. Such skills will be a feature of the programmes that Ministers will participate in and will be a key message in the speeches delivered to the audiences who will participate on our programmes internationally.