Mr. Pádraig Dalton:

I thank Senator Conway-Walsh. On the question of how long it will take to come up with a metric, that is difficult to answer because we do not control the process. The precursor to integrated European social statistics, IESS 2010 was IESS 1995. That might give the Senator a sense of how long it can take to change global standards. There is certainly a new urgency that we are consciously aware of at European level. We have been actively engaged since July with the IMF, the UN and EUROSTAT and they are incredibly exercised by the importance of ascertaining how we can address this at European and global level. That is reflected in the fact that we have observers from both EUROSTAT and the IMF on the expert group. The next set of international standards may not be as far away as we think. I think what the Senator is talking about in regard to international standards is definitely years away.

We are talking about multinational enterprises a great deal and that is wholly appropriate. Multinational enterprises play an important role but I would not like us to forget the role of small and medium enterprises in this country. The SME sector is very important from a labour market perspective and in particular in respect of regional employment. The multinational enterprises dominate the level of GDP and GNP, and they are also extremely important employers. Sometimes the SMEs have got lost in the conversation but we put a focus on the SME sector which plays an important role in employment, in particular regional employment.

I think I have covered the main issues.