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

I might make a few observations. Given other members are waiting, I do not expect any response now. I acknowledge that the employment performance is outstanding. That 50,000 jobs have been created by IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland and the LEOs is an extraordinary performance, although I recognise it will be impossible to sustain it.

I think the explanatory material we get with the Estimates could be improved. I would like to see more detail of regional impact. The Minister's Department and its agencies have put a lot of effort into developing regional enterprise plans and they are having a positive impact. We should see some measure of their performance because a genuine concern relates to ensuring the attempt at regional balance is delivering. In my view, it has done well and IDA Ireland, in particular, has shifted its ground.

The second area on which we ought to see performance data relates to the various loan schemes that have been put in place. They are out there and we should try to see some meaningful data being reported to us on how they are performing in terms of impact. Another area where I would like to see better data relates to the performance of startups. We have put a lot of eggs into the basket of high-potential startups, HPSUs, and the competitive start fund. I believe that is the correct approach, but these are undertaken on the basis they will deliver jobs within a certain period. I think we should track that systematically and see not just the number that have been approved, given that tends to involve just picking the 80 best and investing in them, but also the impact of the policy over time.

We need to be alert in this area to companies running into difficulty at the moment for all sorts of reasons, such as Covid, energy costs and so on. We should get fairly regular reports to this committee on the impact on small business from the small business rescue scheme. There is a concern in this committee about whether companies getting into difficulties are getting reasonable accommodations regarding rents that may have been fixed at the wrong time, bills from various providers or Revenue withdrawing some of its warehousing. It would be good to see that sort of qualitative and quantitative reporting made available to the committee and perhaps then being reflected in the Revised Estimates Volume. That would be a more meaningful indicator of the impact of the Department.

Having worked at the Department, I know that the progress made since 2011 by Irish enterprise and Irish workers, supported by the agencies and the Department, is truly extraordinary and deserves to be acknowledged. When I was there, things were not quite as rosy, and the superhuman effort put in by people to make an impact, whether at home or abroad, from within the public service and its agencies was extraordinary. We should not go without recognising that considerable effort was put in, and the rewards speak for themselves.