Mr. Martin Robinson:

Yes, we have a strong focus on the SME base, particularly the small and micro companies. Much of our support is focused on providing those companies with the advice and practical support that smaller businesses typically need. There has been a great uptake of our supports right across the business base, but in particular with smaller businesses. That said, we need to message clearly to them and ensure we get the outreach to encourage them to step forward and participate. In some cases, with the smaller businesses, we need to promote to them the benefits of why exporting or innovating is very important to them to enable them to grow and to achieve the potential they can.

On the second question of uptake, we are very pleased, and I mentioned the fact, that we have supported businesses across all the counties. Clearly, to some degree, because of the concentration of businesses, there will be concentrations in Dublin and Belfast and other areas. However, we have had strong regional representation and strong examples of businesses right across all regions taking advantage of the supports we provide. Whether they are based in Cork or the midlands, there are great examples of collaboration between some of the businesses and companies taking advantage of some of the supports we have such as our Acumen programme, which enables them to get a dedicated salesperson in the cross-Border market to open doors, find contacts, source suppliers and drive business growth.

Yes, is the short answer to the Deputy's question. It is a focus and we work hard to ensure there is a regional presence. We are proposing to do some more in-market events in the next year. This is important in our 25th anniversary year to really get our message down to the grassroots level and the small businesses throughout the country.