Albert Dolan (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Go raibh maith agat, a Chathaoirligh. I congratulate you on your election to Cathaoirleach and sincerely wish you the best of luck. I thank our clerk and our staff who are here helping us out.

The importance of this committee cannot be underestimated, especially in a time of serious global turbulence. The Irish economy remains strong and we intend to see it continue in that fashion. It is important, though, that we encourage a larger Irish impact globally. Right now, Irish firms are innovating and trying to succeed in international markets. We have a framework in place to help them do that, but this committee has a vital role to play in ensuring they are facilitated. We need to support our SMEs and be conscious of the regulatory burdens on them. I come from a small family accounting firm where we deal with a wide variety of SMEs and the sort of environment they are operating in is one in which revenues remain strong but margins have never been so razor-thin, so we need to support them in every way we can.

I look forward to working with everyone on this committee to be as productive as possible and ensure we create that environment for success in Ireland.