Mr. Fergal O'Brien:

We will get the benefit by Christmas.

On the employment incentives, the tidying up of the schemes we had into the jobs plus scheme will make a difference. It also is taking a little time to gain traction. Previously, we probably had too many employment support schemes. Ms Fitzpatrick would be aware of the work we did on awareness and the awareness of the available schemes was poor. The tidying up into that single jobs plus scheme will help.

In response to Deputy Kyne on the points about the timing of the budget, obviously, there are issues around so much of that tax coming in in the key month of November. I suppose our main reflection is on the potential for giving certainty in the domestic economy. Having the budget two weeks before Christmas always killed the retail sector over the past couple of years. We would see significant benefit in bringing the budget back to October and trying to provide certainty. If, in particular, there was a budget with less or no tax increases, we could have a great Christmas out of it. Moving it out of the Christmas shopping period is a real positive.

We must wait and see whether we will have to go back to look at the timing of some of the tax payments. Overall, what we would like to see long term is that budget day becomes less of a big issue, that we do not see as many surprises, that we operate more on genuine multi-year budgeting activity and that consumers are not getting surprises or shocks when it comes to budget day. In the short term, there probably still are some risks.

The sick certificates issue has come up with many employers, particularly with all the debate about sick pay over the past couple of years. It seems particularly easy in Ireland to get sick certificates. It is commented on by those who have international experience. We also see it showing up in terms of the numbers of recipients on illness benefit. When one compares those numbers internationally, they are high. That is part of the challenge.

In terms of the United Kingdom attractiveness for investment, I suppose I am unclear whether it will be an advantage or a disadvantage. Business does not like uncertainty. I could see why some deciding on big investment in the United Kingdom, particularly if it is a big infrastructure investment, such as energy, might ask over the coming years where the United Kingdom will be in terms of EU energy policy. One could see such concerns. However, it could give them more flexibility. They have been very aggressive on mobile investment. They are now a real competitor for us and we need to watch them. On a regular basis, we see professional services companies from the United Kingdom over here pitching the attractiveness of companies moving to the United Kingdom. These will not only be foreign companies. We will see Irish companies potentially move their operations to the United Kingdom as there is a more attractive offering over there.

I thank Deputy Áine Collins for her comments. On the seed capital scheme, if one asks, not only those out on the street but small business persons and entrepreneurs, what is the EIIS or the seed capital scheme, they just do not know. It is a shame. On the EIIS, we have a couple of specific proposals looking at what they have done in other countries within the state-aid rules. The issue one runs up against here when the Government is providing tax relief to invest in business is always whether it is within state-aid rules. We have looked in detail at those state-aid rules and we think there is more we could do on potential risk sharing. One of the key challenges is that, traditionally, it was a small cohort who invested in BES and we need to widen the net. We need to get the more typical household investor. They will have a different risk profile and we need to change the scheme to reflect their risk profile. There is significant untapped potential in terms of those who might invest in Irish business and jobs, if they were given the rightly packaged and promoted scheme. I will not give up on it yet. It is something we can turn around, but it needs to be changed, re-branded and better promoted.