Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

That will be more difficult.

I want to ask about Knock airport, on which Enterprise Ireland had discussions, and the potential to connect with flights to Brussels, which would be a real help to people from the west. I also want to ask about the Enterprise Ireland's interaction with the LEADER programme. I concur with the audit skills report. However, many of these reports were carried out in many counties and I would not want us to reinvent the wheel or waste resources. Such audits were carried out when I worked with the enterprise companies.

Other natural resources are used in creating employment and developing enterprise. Seaweed is one such natural resource, from which many good products are made. What interaction does Enterprise Ireland have in licensing the use of some of these natural resources? How much of the funding from the disruptive technologies innovation fund was allocated outside the main urban areas?

I am aware that 27 projects, involving €70 million in funding, were approved. How many of those went into the more rural areas outside Cork, Dublin and Galway? When applications are being assessed, the criteria can be very narrow at times. We need to weight them in favour of rural areas. This is not to say that they would not meet the criteria but if, for example, we have a successful company in Belmullet, we need to ask how we can support it because 20 jobs in Belmullet or Erris can mean the same as 2,000 in Dublin. When the innovation, technology and so on are in place, we need to harness, encourage and support that with resources provided directly to the people who are making a difference in these communities.

I would have the same concerns about centralisation and privatisation of services but centralisation in terms of hospitals and medical services will prevent people moving to and remaining in the more rural areas. Education is connected to that as well, even in terms of school transport. People may relocate to particular areas and set up their businesses only to discover that there are no places on the school bus for their children. All of these matters are connected.

On the curriculum, how do our guests believe they have changed the curriculum in primary or secondary schools in terms of matching the skill sets with existing and future jobs, particularly in the context of technology? Are the software and hardware available? Has the curriculum been changed? I have always found that the curriculum is slow to be changed. Has it changed in terms of languages? How many schools are teaching Mandarin? I refer to some of the markets that were opened up heretofore. Are schools still teaching the languages we did 20 years ago? I have put many questions but I have to be in the Seanad for the Order of Business so I will not be asking any more.