Pádraig Ó Céidigh (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Enterprise Ireland has done a great deal of work on female entrepreneurship, an issue that was discussed earlier. Will Mr. Sherry tell the House about some of the positive things that have been done in this area in the past three or four years and provide some European comparisons? I do not have figures, but my sense is that the number of female entrepreneurs promoted by Enterprise Ireland is almost twice as high as the EU average. Mr. Sherry will have more accurate figures.

Mr Neil McDonnell spoke about broadband, foreign direct investment and Brexit, all of which will be a serious challenge for us.

I very much appreciate the contribution of Professor Stephen Roper who came all the way from Warwick.

I cannot agree more with Mr. Brady and Mr. O’Brien on the global trends. We are extremely dependent on foreign direct investment, but we must do this ourselves. We can no longer be dependent on foreign direct investment. This will involve a longer term strategic policy that the Government and others must seriously consider.

Go sábhála Dia sinn. D'fhéadfainn a bheith ag éisteacht anseo le Dr. Tom Healy go maidin ag labhairt as Gaeilge. Ní amháin é sin ach na pointí a rinne sé, bhí sé chomh maith agus chomh domhain agus chomh tábhachtach. There are different types of ownership and we should explore this type of thing and expand our minds. There are different ways to skin a cat and achieve success. Dr. Healy spoke about banks and personal guarantees. I have been subjected to the practice to which he referred and almost lost my house. I did everything I could to grow a business. He also referred to an enhanced social insurance scheme. These kinds of things are important. Social insurance reduces the level of stress because it helps to provide for a family, whether someone is a man or woman.

The need for a much stronger role for local employment offices was raised, as were the issues of ownership types, education and training and life-long learning. Whereas first, second and third level education is very strong in this country, executive education is very weak compared with many other countries and this is a big problem. I thank the witnesses for attending today.