Mr. John Murphy:

I am mindful of the fact that Deputy Calleary has to leave so perhaps I will deal with his questions first. The first question was about the integration of Forfás. I am pleased to say we have worked closely together on delivering the Government decision and in particular on delivering the set of objectives and principles which the Minister laid out. Deputy Calleary raised two specific points. The research budget for Forfás is not being reduced. There will be a research budget. It will be managed as part of the overall research budget for the Department. There is no intention to reduce the resources for research. The policy staff within Forfás have reduced in number in recent years but there is staffing in the Department. The staff are being kept in a strategic policy division and I will add some resources to that. There are certain dependents. We have given a good deal of thought to that.

Forfás, on its own account and through bodies such as the National Competitiveness Council, has provided a strong analytical evidence-based critique of policy and implementation deficits over the years and we have no wish to lose that capacity. In fact, I see it being strengthened by the organisation being part of the wider Department and by being more plugged-in to the wider range of policies that the Department deals with, when able to call on resources throughout the Department. Certainly, it is our intention that this capacity to say uncomfortable things - whether it is about the Department, other agencies of the Department or across Government - should be retained because that provides a service to Government. Certainly it is our intention to maintain that.

A question was asked about Action Plan for Jobs. I will cover the question raised by Senator Cullinane as well. The Minister has not been box ticking on access to finance, particularly in the case of Microfinance Ireland and the credit guarantee scheme. We established those two schemes. We have acknowledged that the take-up has not been what we would have wished. The Minister brought forward the review of the credit guarantee scheme because of that concern. We intend to identify several changes we can make to the credit guarantee scheme which would improve its operation.

The case of Microfinance Ireland is relevant to the question raised about trying to get at the detail of access to finance more generally. We have been working closely with the Cabinet committee on access to finance and mortgage arrears, the Credit Review Office and the Central Bank to examine the statistics and what they mean qualitatively as well as quantitatively. We have asked whether there are areas where access to microfinance can be made more readily available. For example, should we wait until someone has been formally refused? Are there other things that could be put in place which would facilitate access? We will look at changes to improve its operation.

I am unsure what the question on Microfinance Ireland staff is about exactly, because MFI operates at arm's length. It is not formally an agency of the Department. It is a sub-agency of the Social Finance Foundation. I know there was a change in staffing before Christmas at one level and I understand a post is advertised at the moment.

There were questions about regional targets. We have not abandoned those targets. However, we have acknowledged that they are difficult to meet. We are not corralling investment in Dublin and Cork. It is not possible to corral investment in any particular part of the country, much as we might like to. We must accept that companies will locate their projects where it best suits their requirements. There is limited scope to influence that.