Pádraig Ó Céidigh (Independent) | Oireachtas source

First, I commend the Minister and her official, Mr. Eoghan Richardson, on the work they have done. The Department is proactive and introduced a Brexit loan scheme a year ago.

I would like a stronger unilateral focus on SMEs and one of the issues that might be considered by the committee is that we would have a Minister who would focus on SMEs to correlate them.

A number of Government agencies and Departments focus to some degree on SMEs in areas from tourism to agriculture. I refer to agencies like Bord Iascaigh Mhara. I have a couple of questions for the various witnesses. What are the three most significant challenges faced by Mr. Ó hÉanaigh and Ms Ní Fhátharta of Údarás na Gaeltachta as they seek to foster SMEs and help them to grow in Gaeltacht areas? That question applies also to The Mill Enterprise Hub, which is at an earlier stage, and to the Western Development Commission. Does Mr. Ó Síocháin of the commission have any suggestions or recommendations on the key question of how we can encourage talent to come back into rural Ireland? My final question is for Mr. Boland of Irish Rural Link. Quite frankly, I found his contribution most valuable from my perspective. He mentioned the Sparkassen bank in Germany. In his view, what would a local public banking model for regional Ireland look like?