Ms Evelyn O'Toole:

Yes. I thank the Minister of State for his comments and thank Senators Freeman and Kelleher for their questions.

In terms of nurturing participation and getting more female and male entrepreneurs in the system, I will put a little more emphasis on female entrepreneurs. It would be helpful to make things easier, give a little bit more security and lean more towards a more customised version of what might work for females. One of the most common comments that I see is, in terms of training and investing in developing female entrepreneurs, is that sometimes there is a challenge between being carers and mothers and there are challenges with going overseas. For example, when Mr. Walsh and I chatted here earlier we realised we have a lot in common. We are finalists or winners of the Ernst and Young, EY, competitions. We both participated in the leadership for growth programme. Mr. Walsh said that it was one of the most important programmes that he did and the same applies to me. In 2014, when I participated in the course there were 23 Irish owners of SMEs of whom two were female. In 2000, I undertook the business development programme at the Irish Management Institute, IMI, and I was one of 19 business owners of whom two were female. Women's representation has consistently scored below par. From what I have heard on the ground, the cost of promoting a business overseas is prohibitive so having local education and upskilling for females will help a great deal. It will mean that women will not have to leave their responsibilities that they fulfil for the rest of the time. I represent mothers on this issue as I have got a lot of feedback from them.

It would be good if female entrepreneurship was funded exclusively. Enterprise Ireland raised a special fund for such an initiative but, unfortunately, there was a very low uptake. We need to revisit the initiative and perhaps change the structure; sometimes it is not the money but the structure or a lack of a soft skill that is at issue. Let us create a better structure. Recently a group of us came up with the idea of a residency for entrepreneurs. People would be placed with a company and given all of the benefits of the structure of the company and align with it to see if we can create female entrepreneurs in higher numbers.

Ireland, in line with Europe, has a rate of 9% female entrepreneurs. Going back to diversity and inclusion, and with special emphasis on the female piece here, Ireland has a huge opportunity to be a leader in Europe. At present the number of entrepreneurs here are just about on par with the rest of Europe. We can create a plan for Ireland to be leaders in this area. In the US post-war as part of the tender process for public procurement a tickbox was included in the application form which meant the applicant failed or pass. The tickbox sought to identify whether companies had a policy to include minority groups. If one did not have a policy to include females then companies were not awarded the contract. Companies started to include minority groups to comply with the tender application and win contracts. Surprisingly, over time it was found that the companies that committed to inclusivity performed better financially than the companies that did not. The initiative not only makes gender and leadership sense, it helps the economy and businesses. As the Minister of State has mentioned, a business has to be formed, created and lead in the finance area. If a business does not make financial sense then it will not survive. Therefore, we want something sustainable that makes sense. We have a real opportunity now and Ireland should do this.