Ms Julie Sinnamon:

The sector which received the highest funding from Enterprise Ireland last year was food. It represents 55% of our exports and is the most important sector. Food is not getting 55% of our funding; it is getting a bigger percentage because there have been massive capital investment programmes in food. It is seeing growth that it had not seen over the past 30 years, in particular on the dairy side, and this also is spinning off in the start-up side through the programme Enterprise Ireland runs jointly with Teagasc and Bord Bia. It is attracting male and female entrepreneurs into the early stage food side and there is a higher number of food start-ups.

We are not seeing as many large-scale start-up companies in food, something which is a key focus. We had some success last year.