Michael D'Arcy (Wexford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will make one point to Senator Boyhan. Many years ago, in our previous lives, Mr. Walsh sold me a diet feeder. Both Mr. Parlon and I were dairy farmers in the past. I have been making the point for a long time that many people start up business with a good idea but do not understand that the reason to be in business is to have a margin and achieve a profit. A person can have the best idea in the world, but if the structures, background and supports are not in place, he or she will not survive in business.

We are not good enough at delivering that message from day one. Day one is in secondary school when we should provide courses on entrepreneurship and how to establish and structure a business. We should all take stock of that, whether we are involved in a representative body or a company. Mr. Parlon and I were both involved in a company. We all have to understand margin because it is crucial. That is one issue.

To respond to Senator Kelleher, the EII, SURE and KEEP schemes provide tax benefits that result in tax foregone. We analyse these schemes. A point was made about exiting the research and development measure. The reason we changed the research and development structures and applied self-certification was to ensure additional cost is not incurred for hiring professional services such as accountancy and other advisers. We analyse and change the schemes.

As each Finance Bill comes through each year, following each budget, we try to ensure that if we do not have the uptake that we would like we analyse why. The KEEP scheme is the best example. We got a lot of representatives from companies that found it difficult to be competitive due to an inability to attract staff. Due to being back to full employment those companies were unable to be as competitive as the larger foreign direct investment companies. We thought that the KEEP scheme would be a good opportunity as it means a person can have a share option in the business, retain the shares and choose to exit as they require funding. Unfortunately, uptake has been poor and that means something is wrong. We are quite satisfied that if the uptake is poor, it is a pretty good indication that something is wrong with the design or workings of the scheme. I do not take that criticism personally. I take the criticism that we have not designed a scheme well enough. If we have not designed it well enough then we are satisfied we will try to ensure that we design the scheme better.

I wish to highlight the following to Senator Kelleher. The paternity benefit was a big benefit in the last budget. While it has always been the case that when family came along maternity leave played a crucial part, it is important to give an opportunity to dads who are working, which people forget. We want to do more in this important space. Yesterday, members will be aware of the announcement of 45 professorships that will be available to females only. That is a space that is very original and innovative. I always point out to people that we have come out of a hellfire of a decade in business and I know because my business has traded through that decade. There will be more opportunities to do these things in the next decade. Unfortunately, we did not have that opportunity in the last decade when we just tried to keep the lights on, which we have done. I hope, for the next decade, that we will have opportunities to do more for women in business, particularly because they are a hugely untapped resource. Many women have good ideas and we would like to encourage them and give them the benefits of advancing because, like Ms O'Toole has said, jobs revolve around ideas. Whether a person is male or female, we want to ensure there is an opportunity to create jobs, and indigenous jobs, whether they are in Connemara, in my own neck of the woods in Wexford or in the other corner of the country in Donegal. It does not matter where it is because wherever there is an idea, jobs will flow.