Mr. Patrick Daly:

I spend my days working with both multinationals and Irish-owned companies and there is a stark difference between them. It is almost like a time gap of perhaps somewhere between ten and 20 years in the sophistication and, I guess, the resource and the world view of business. Irish companies are somewhat at sea in terms of how they go about doing it. They know it is a pending subject but they wonder how they are to tackle it because they do not have the resources or the skills, principally, and consequently they do not have the confidence. A lot of this is an issue of confidence.

I would therefore highlight two things. In Enterprise Ireland we have a very capable network. However, in some regions of great opportunity it is under-resourced. For example, prior to this year, I chaired for two to two and a half years the Latin America trade forum in the Irish Exporters Association. We saw opportunities in countries such as Ecuador and Mexico, Colombia and Chile in particular - the Pacific Alliance. Those countries are open for business. We had a number of events throughout the country and there was a lot of latent interest in them. However, how does one go about it and what staff does Enterprise Ireland have? It has an office in Brazil, which I think is not one of the four that would be of most interest. In Mexico, we have a consultant but we do not have a permanent Enterprise Ireland person there.

The great capabilities of Enterprise Ireland may be to extend into the countries that are open for business and where there are real opportunities for us. We have focused a lot on the BRIC countries - Brazil, Russia, India and China. If one thinks of those four countries, they are quite protectionist in their outlook. There are many other countries which are not so big but of medium size that really are open for business, including Morocco, Mexico, Indonesia and Colombia, which I quoted. I think we would be pushing an open door there.

The other aspect is skills and knowledge. We have the National Institute for Transport and Logistics which has been doing a good job with the resources it has. It is located inside DIT in Aungier Street. It has developed qualifications in supply chain logistics, transport and so on. In terms of investment in those skills which are related to supply chain and the new wave of technologies that are coming down the track, we have a great opportunity to get ahead of the pack. I am speaking about technologies such as additive manufacture, 3D printing, robotics and automation, the Internet of Things and blockchain technology. To be able to get to the front of the queue on this, we will have to develop highly integrated and robust digital infrastructure. We will need 5G communications networks in this country.

The Minister, Deputy Naughten, announced last year that the auctioning of the 5G bands is in plan. I am aware that something is happening on that front. We could leapfrog some of our competitors in respect of education and developing expertise in this area, if we go about it the right way.