Mr. Erik O'Donovan:

To build on Ms Fitzpatrick's comments, another area that could actually help SMEs is in procurement. The Government can act as a catalyst in driving digitalisation. The 2019 Cruinniú GovTech report is about encouraging GovTech.

Through procurement it is possible to bolster our indigenous tech sector. Implementation of the recommendations of that Cruinniú GovTech report would be great. Procurement on the cloud can also bring benefits to the public sector. We should also build on talent and not just say that talent is important. As a practical solution in our budget submission, we proposed leveraging the National Training Fund, NTF, which has a surplus of nearly €1 billion. Leveraging that to pay for the upskilling and reskilling of people would also be useful.

I think this point has been touched on by colleagues from IDA Ireland. This digital transition is not only happening in the technology sector, but in the wider economy as well. The Data Protection Commissioner, Helen Dixon, has said we are all data companies. It is arguable that we are all technology companies in terms of manufacturing, SMEs and so on. We have done research and other research has been done by Amárach and the CSO, showing that the smaller firms understand this is important. They are ambitious in this. Supports are in place but the message we want to deliver today is that we need to go further. Considerable effort is being put in, but we have more to do on this. The evidence suggests that about 62% of SMEs currently feel they are about halfway on their digital journey but they need help on the strategic clarity of what to do next with investment. As Ms Fitzpatrick said, having the rights skills is also important. Our research on founders found that nearly nine out of ten founders say that digital skills are important or very important to their future success. However, half of them feel they do not yet have the skills to meet that business need.