Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

If there is nothing else, we will conclude the debate. As I said, I am sorry I was not here for the beginning of it. The representatives are to be congratulated on the work they do in Enterprise Ireland, particularly overseas and given the resources. In the end it will always be about resources and prioritising areas, but I suppose that is the reason we are preparing this report. We see significant potential in ASEAN countries which is reflected in the fact that we opened new embassies in these areas. We would like to see more growth in the business being done from those areas, both inward and outward investment. Obviously, it is important in both ways.

We are aware Enterprise Ireland is competing with powerful agencies in those countries. For example, there is KOTRA in Korea and JETRO in Japan. These organisations have significant resources and considerable manpower, as well as the foreign embassies of these countries. Where our embassies have only three or four personnel, they have maybe 40 or 50 in embassies. That is a real challenge for us. At the same, it is important to have a presence. I would encourage Enterprise Ireland to have a greater presence, if at all possible. It is something, I presume, Enterprise Ireland will be looking at in future.

I thank all of Enterprise Ireland's representatives for coming here this morning. We had an interesting debate. They enlightened us on Enterprise Ireland activities abroad. It is good for us, as a committee, to talk to representatives of Enterprise Ireland from time to time about its activities and to see the important role it plays in our economic recovery. Trade is part of our economic recovery and has played a major role there. We look forward to having Enterprise Ireland's input into our report when we complete it later on this year.