Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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On the issue of European company law we had engaged with the Department about the general approach, the auditing directive and regulations. The committee spent a lot of time scrutinising that directive and I ask what the current situation is. With regard to the EU Patent Court, is there a concern that we could lose expertise in the country? It has been brought to our attention from legal experts that if the EU Patent Court is based in the UK and not here, in the long run this could become difficult for Irish businesses wishing to access the expertise required to challenge a patent ruling or to register a patent. If the Secretary General wishes, he can provide the information later.

I compliment the work done on the youth guarantee scheme and Pathways to Work scheme. It is important that the enterprise side of the Department should play a role in this regard. The committee recognises the speed at which the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Joan Burton, has brought this issue to European level but a cross-departmental initiative is needed in order to make it work. It is clear that the pilot stage will need to be completed in order to draw down the funding for 2014 and 2015. Certain projects may need to be reclassified, renamed, in order to come under the guarantee. The focus must be on youth.

There is a necessity for the business community to link in with Intreo. I am concerned that this is not really happening as yet. There have been delays in the opening of Intreo offices because of accommodation issues. The Pathways to Work document is excellent when taken in conjunction with the action plan for jobs but these projects need to be driven and pushed. Businesses must be encouraged to tap into those projects through the influence of local chambers of commerce. We need to have business engage with social protection. This is not happening, in my view. Perhaps the Department could encourage and drive that connection. We are often told that local businesses are unsuccessful in finding employees. However, I accept that on investigation there is not always proof of this statement. We need to tell businesses that we expect them to engage with the services. I commend the JobsPlus scheme. Other services are there to help employers employ staff. We need to put that message out there.