Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

While Deputy Boyd Barrett is right, it is a very diverse economy at present and is becoming more so, especially in the SME sector and the new digital economy. I saw figures recently and, although I cannot recall the exact amount, it was something like 11,000 new companies incorporated in the first three months of the year. They are in every direction. Some of them will never trade but a lot of them will. We can see it in all parts of the country now - small operations of two, three, ten or 12 persons. There are a lot of them in the food business and in light engineering and the digital economy. The diversification is there. The general advice to companies that are too dependent on the UK market is to diversify their market. The argument would be for a diversification of markets rather than of activity, if the Deputy can get the distinction.