Paula Butterly (Louth, Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister of State for his opening statement. I have two relatively net questions for him. He spoke a lot about competitiveness. The Draghi report has highlighted how Europe invested €270 billion less than the US in research and development in 2021 and that Europeans are practically flocking to the US in search of funding. I think the report stated that up to 30% of the unicorns are leaving Europe to get their funding from the US. There is a brain drain and a resource drain.

With regard to this innovation and the lack of it, it would appear that the term "the old Continent" seems more apt than ever before.

I know it is early days but I would like the Minister of State to expand on how we are going to close that gap. Are we expecting states to become angel investors? This is really crucial. The Draghi and Letta reports provide a very useful roadmap for how we are going to progress but I also believe there is a sense of urgency to it.

My second question is about what is being termed as the foreign-economic policy. I would like to hear the Minister of State's thoughts on that and how we in Ireland will approach that or engage with our European counterparts on that. That was about being more independent with regard to our raw materials, not necessarily sourcing them from the cheapest source and becoming more independent in producing our own energy and materials. I would really like to know that. How do we propose to finance that? I believe Mr. Draghi recommended we go down the route of the debt option.