Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

To answer the first point, I am not sure what defunct Marxist economist the Deputy has derived the view of, that the form of economic development that we have is akin to a Third World country transitioning to some other form. Maybe the Deputy could elaborate his point a little bit more. An investment model that has, as one of its major pillars, a service exporting sector containing within it many different forms of businesses and different sectors is a form of economic development which, I can tell the Deputy, is one that many other countries at the moment are eager to be able to match by moving out of Ireland the kind of investment in jobs that we have. This has not been done at the expense of developing our SME sector. We have a very strong and diverse SME sector. We have an SME sector that is scaling up and scaled up in the aftermath of the great financial crisis to be more international-looking and to be more export-orientated.

To go back to the point I made to Deputy Mairéad Farrell, the very reason we have put in place such a range of supports here in Ireland in our economy is to support the SME sector. Those within the sector with whom I engage regularly acknowledge publicly that the level of support they have received has made a huge difference to them getting through the pandemic and is an articulation by our country of the value placed upon those kinds of employers.

As for the question about the new Secretary General for the Department of Health, I stand by the process that was in place in regard to his appointment. That appointment was made today by the Government. I understand that Mr. Watt has issued a statement saying that he will not be accessing that salary, given the current circumstances of the country.