Mr. Martin Shanahan:

I thank the Deputy. I note his comments on the N24 and N25. I have probably already dealt with those.

I am sure we are engaged with client companies in relation to biomethane. I am not specifically aware of that but I can look into it and come back to him on it directly.

On private trade missions, my strong preference is that trade missions from any region are done in concert, that is, both public and private. Then we are bringing the best proposition we possibly can to potential investors. We will work with any private sector companies, or local authorities, that feel they want to undertake some marketing for whatever reason. I should say at this point we are supported by many other bodies, agencies, local authorities and professional services companies, both in Ireland and across the globe, who help us in marketing Ireland. It is very much a team effort in that regard. If there are proposals we are anxious to hear them.

On SMEs and access to procurement pipelines, we have a system in place with Enterprise Ireland, EI, where we ask any new company coming into Ireland what its procurement requirements are. We then ask if we can share that information with EI, which can in turn share it with companies it feels may have a possibility of servicing the new company. That is one aspect of it and captures companies on the way in. We then have, as Deputy Bruton alluded to earlier, the trade mission to Ireland whereby we bring together in several regional locations throughout Ireland on an annual basis, multinational companies that have procurement requirements and SMEs, typically, that are trying to access global supply chains. EI has a programme of work in place where it supports the companies to make those pitches and develop them to the point where they can access those supply chains. We obviously engage with EI around that as well in terms of any specific opportunities that might exist where companies may be seeking access. We are happy to do that. I should point out we have many overseas missions on which we engage with EI throughout the year where companies come and pitch. Many of them have political support.

We are indeed refurbishing our office in Waterford at the moment. Waterford is obviously where our regional manager for the south east is based. I have no doubt I will be in Waterford, as my team are regularly, during the course of the year. I thank the Deputy for that further invite.