Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the trading online voucher scheme but, as the Minister of State said, it is limited to companies that employ more than ten people. I am from Scariff, where one hundred years ago, there were a number of milliners, and now there is a milliner in Annaghneal again. It offers opportunities. Philip Treacy had to leave where he grew up to go to London to make his name, but I wonder whether that will always be required and whether the scheme could be broadened. It is an excellent scheme, and I commend the Minister of State and Údarás na Gaeltachta on it, but I wonder whether the opportunity to get craftspeople, in particular, online could be broadened.

I appreciate this is probably not a decision for a Government in its twilight but the Minister of State is a member of a party which is more than likely going to be in government. Is there something from this scheme that could feed into a national policy and a broader application in future? Milliners or shoemakers in small towns face significant challenges from imports. Equally, however, they now have an opportunity as craftspeople to sell to the world.