Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Tánaiste. I was quite shocked when I read that article, particularly with regard to data centres, because as the Tánaiste rightly points out, they are not big employers. They are big energy consumers but not big employers, though I understand they are related to employment. In his opening statement, the Tánaiste said:

Our success as a nation is entirely based on trading the goods and services we produce internationally, our attractiveness as a place to invest and our ability to enter into international free trade agreements... with other countries.

I would add that non-exporting SMEs, microbusinesses and family businesses have also played and will continue to play a significant role in the economy. What are the Tánaiste's views on the establishment of an Irish enterprise agency to assist small and medium enterprises that are trading domestically? The Tánaiste will know this is a long-standing policy of Sinn Féin. IBEC recently backed a similar idea. We think this would be of tremendous benefit to our non-exporting small and medium-sized businesses, microbusinesses and the family business sector which do not fall under the remit of local enterprise offices, LEOs, Enterprise Ireland or IDA Ireland. They are a significant group and the State could do much to assist them.