Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

To clarify, who is on this task force that the witnesses are suggesting needs representatives from the industry? Is this an internal cross-Government group or does it have a lot of outside sectoral players? One of the central concerns seems to be that some of the knowledge within the sector is not being brought to bear on those framing the policy.

My second question is for my own understanding. We have regional enterprise strategies that are drawn up on a three- or four-year cycle. We also have regional skills fora. It seems to me that if you are talking about a number of clusters in Ireland, these might be the vehicle for developing the thinking, as well as for preparing the universities, the colleges of education and the education and training boards, ETBs, for the opportunity. This would also embed within Government thinking where this opportunity could flow further. To what extent have the witnesses sought to embed this into these emerging regional enterprise strategies and skills fora that are run regionally? It seems to me that that is the way to get clusters to work. It will not be by going to Kildare Street or Merrion Street and by getting someone to call the shots. It may be the case that a bottom-up, as well as a top-down strategy might be good.