Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

That is fascinating. Professor Kinsella has noted different weaknesses in our current industrial strategy. We have weak linkages and spillover between the foreign direct investment, FDI, sector and indigenous businesses. Would this be different if we had a State-owned enterprise working as a strategic partner? For example, with the wind energy industry, a State company that was heavily investing, doing large amounts of research and development, experimenting with different technologies, etc. This would not be to build a national champion but a strategic partner to boost the industry and support it through subcontracting.

Professor Kinsella mentioned the success of South Korea in electronics and that. There was significant state ownership of companies, some of which were later privatised. Technology spillover and linkages from the state sector to the private sector was a significant factor in that success. What are his thoughts on that?