Mr. Pat Farrell:

I will briefly mention two things. The hospitality sector is extraordinarily important for all rural constituencies. We held a major conference on business in this sector in recent days. We have lent over €110 million throughout the country to the sector already in the year-to-date.

Another point cuts to the heart of the discussion today. This relates to our support for enterprise towns. We have made a significant investment in recent years in a concept called "enterprise towns". We decided that if we wanted to benefit from economic recovery, we could not be bystanders. We decided that we had to stimulate economic activity and support local communities. As part of the first run, some 50 enterprise towns were designated. This year, we plan to run 100 enterprise town events throughout the country in all constituencies. In the Chairman's constituency, events will be run in Ashbourne, Navan, Kells and Trim. Events will be held throughout all constituencies. There will also be events in Kildare, Westmeath and Kerry. In several towns in the constituencies in these counties, we will run extensive programmes of support and networking activities for the small businesses and enterprises in those areas. They represent the anchor of rural communities. We have spent €1 million this year alone in cash to support the initiative. A total of 600 of our staff are indirectly and directly involved in driving the programme. We are seriously committed to it and it is something we have expanded rapidly since its inception some years ago. We are continuing to invest in this project.

We have provided space in our branch infrastructure for start-up and workbench activities. We invite people from start-up companies. They represent the future in terms of generating the next generation of jobs. They can use the Wi-Fi facilities and the workbench, space and support services and meeting rooms. These provide the entrepreneurs with a safe-haven environment to get their business up and running during the fragile early stage when they are trying to get things moving. There is major investment in this area and extensive connectivity with our small business customers.