Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I ask Mr. Sherry of Enterprise Ireland to give us an overview of its current and capital Vote allocations for 2017 and how that will impact on its new staff head count. He alluded to it but has not given us any detail in terms of how many staff we are talking about and how they will be spread across the globe. He could give us a little more detail. There was reference to boots on the ground. As part of that answer, could Mr. Sherry give us an overview of Enterprise Ireland's footprint around the globe.

Second, I ask Mr. Sherry about our competitiveness vis-à-visour capital gains tax rate.

Obviously, we are going to be competing with the UK. We are competing with it today and we will competing with it post-Brexit. In terms of our rate and the UK rate, we have a €1 million threshold and the UK has a threshold of £10 million, which is almost €11 million. How does Enterprise Ireland feel about that in terms of its impact on and potential to damage our competitiveness? What is Enterprise Ireland's plan to address that? While I acknowledge that Government has a role to play in that, what has Enterprise Ireland been doing to influence that? If we are going to lose entrepreneurs into the UK because of the higher limits, it is a factor we have to be concerned about.

My third question is for Mr. Gough. Can he comment on the report in the media recently, particularly in Northern Ireland, that InterTradeIreland was blocked or vetoed from making a presentation to the economy committee? I understand the DUP Minister vetoed InterTradeIreland from making a presentation to the Assembly committee. We know the direction from which the DUP is approaching this. It is pro-Brexit and campaigned to leave the EU. How is that impacting on the work InterTradeIreland is mandated to do? Was it an isolated incident? Was it a one-off or has it had an impact on the organisation since then?