Michelle Mulherin (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for attending today. It is very clear our indigenous companies dealing with Enterprise Ireland are in a different situation from the foreign direct investment companies that are not going to have the same adverse impact arising from Brexit. The indigenous sector is more highly dependent on the UK market and faces a significant fallout.

Enterprise Ireland has described one of its strategic areas of action, namely, innovation and research and development. I believe it is the case that there is more innovation, research and development in foreign direct investment companies than in indigenous companies. I see that in a comparison of Irish indigenous companies with indigenous companies in other countries, we are falling behind in research and development. Why is there not the same level of interest or activity in research and development? Is it to do with cost?

Does Enterprise Ireland match education and training needs of citizens with the needs of the companies it attracts to Ireland? To what extent is Enterprise Ireland being asked to engage with educational institutions? I am thinking in particular of the IT colleges where a recent study shows that the ambition is that there would be more of a correlation between the needs of business and the types of courses offered. It also shows that the institutes of technology would be an integral part of economic growth for these companies. Is this happening?

Do the staff of Enterprise Ireland meet boards of management, governing bodies or departments in the colleges? Is it pretty specific or is it a high level notion? It is important to grow the institutes of technology and also to grow the businesses.

How do the number of start-up enterprises in Ireland compare with those in other similar countries? The view is that we are not seeing the same number of start-up businesses or entrepreneurship in our indigenous sector.

I know that Enterprise Ireland has a drive to scale up companies, but there is also the problem that many Irish companies sell out once they get to a certain point. If the business continues and grows, that is good and well, but if it sells out and goes somewhere else, that is not desirable. What does Enterprise Ireland do to counter that?