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

That brings me quite neatly to my next question. I thank the Minister. I want to ask about two matters. The first is the expansion of SMEs and microenterprises and ensuring that they have strong exports. Second, once this is achieved, there is the issue of the failure to scale SMEs into mid-caps and then to global corporations. This year alone, we have heard from organisations that have spoken about a weakness in what they call an early exit, where companies are sold at an early stage. There is a well-referenced value of €75 million. Once companies reach that value, they sell up. How can we help these companies to scale up and not sell up? What does the Minister think needs to be done to address the situation where Irish SMEs sell up to foreign buyers rather than get the help they need to scale up and grow their business? I fully appreciate the ambition. It is in the White Paper. Practically speaking, are there targets? I have read the White Paper several times. When one looks at what is actually happening, that €75 million is like a target or ceiling. Once it is hit, companies sell up rather than scale up. There is scope to assist companies in scaling up rather than selling up.