Mr. Martin Shanahan:

The IDA and EI work extraordinarily closely together at every level. We look at each other's strategies. The Chairman will be aware EI launched its new strategy in the last couple of weeks. The IDA was heavily consulted on that. We have senior teams that are charged with interacting with each other. We both have point people who interact with each other to ensure there is co-operation. Teams right throughout the organisations work in very close contact, so each of us knows what the other is doing and what we are trying to achieve. As I probably mentioned throughout my contribution today, there are a couple of key things we do together around SME-multinational engagement. First, the trade mission to Ireland is key. That is an annual outing where we bring together SMEs and multinationals, one of which is trying to procure certain goods and services and the other is trying to supply them. We have the capability I mentioned in response to Deputy Shanahan there where we seek the procurement profile of companies coming into Ireland and share it with EI for onward sharing with its companies. We have identified a number of sectors where we are working together to develop strengthened clusters. At the moment these include medical technologies, cybersecurity and connected and autonomous vehicles. They are clusters that both EI and the IDA are working on together in order to foster the relationship between SMEs and multinationals. That is obviously an ongoing effort and it will continue. Part of our own strategy is to increase the impact multinationals have in Ireland. In order to do that, co-operation with EI is key.