Mr. David Hegarty:

I will take those questions in turn. I will ask one of my colleagues to come on the issue of difficulties for SMEs to access exports markets. A hydrogen strategy is being developed but that is being led by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications. It is working on that at the moment as I understand it. I agree that it is highly relevant to the offshore wind agenda because if we get a sufficient supply of offshore wind on stream, it opens up the possibilities of using some of that surplus energy for the production of hydrogen. This has all sorts of important uses including in the decarbonisation of some difficult to decarbonise industrial sectors. I think it is mentioned in passing in the White Paper but we do acknowledge its importance and it is something that is being worked on across Government at the moment.

I cannot really comment on the question about the community dividend. The licensing process is rolled out through the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications.

In 2021 our Department was responsible for the development of the Government's artificial intelligence, AI, strategy. The Deputy is right that AI will have disruptive effects but we have to get ahead of that. The AI strategy sets out an approach that we try to maximise the benefits for Ireland Inc. and from our enterprise sector from artificial intelligence. There are a lot of predictions made as to the impacts of AI on the labour market. Different experts will say different things. The view is that we need to manage it properly and use it appropriately with the appropriate regulation which is being developed at EU level. The title of our strategy is AI-Here for Good so it is about trying to harness the positive benefits of the technology.

I refer to the Deputy's comment on FDI being largely tax-based. The analysis in the White Paper is very much that our offering is based on a range of factors. Tax is one of them and that is going to change with the OECD BEPS process. There are a range of other factors that make Ireland attractive for FDI. These include our skills capacity and membership of the European Union and the Single Market. There is also a kind of demonstration effect that multinationals have been very successful in the Irish economy. Success breeds success and reinforces itself. The expert analysis in the White Paper would be that tax is just one element of a package that makes Ireland attractive for FDI.