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

Absolutely. It is welcome to hear that and it leads me to my next question.

Historically, we have not been brilliant at helping businesses to develop and grow into large corporations. There seems to be a feeling that is hit early. The State has a responsibility and a direct role to play in ensuring we help micro businesses to become small businesses, small businesses to become medium businesses, medium businesses to become large businesses and large businesses to become global companies. Will Mr. Carey speak a little about the fact that we often see Irish SMEs sell up to foreign buyers rather than scale up to the level of a global corporation, which they could perhaps do if they got help? I have heard anecdotally from SMEs that they almost feel as though they are encouraged by EI to sell up rather than supported to expand further. I agree that an overreliance on FDI is not good. Indigenous business need to be expanded. This is an area I have a particular interest in and I would love to hear what the State and EI can do to encourage companies to scale up rather than sell up.