Ms Julie Sinnamon:

With regard to a comparison between Denmark and Ireland, I saw a report produced by Finfacts last month on Danish exports versus Irish exports and numbers of companies involved. I was surprised by the figures and asked our planning side to have a look at it. It is very difficult to compare like with like. The figures included in the Danish figures in terms of their exports included areas such as real estate, transport, storage and retail, areas which are not part of the Irish comparator figures.

If one takes Enterprise Ireland and IDA clients, there are 1,000 IDA clients - approximately 4,000 clients in Ireland export. Enterprise Ireland has about 6,000 clients on its books and then there are the local enterprise offices. It does not count if one does not export off the island. Many people in Dundalk would say they export to Northern Ireland. It is very difficult to count the specific numbers so I am not sure about the accuracy of the numbers I saw in the report as it does not compare like with like. That is not to say there is not a challenge to try to get more people to export because if we want to grow, then export-led growth is the key. That is why the focus of the work we are doing with potential exporters is to try to encourage people who are successfully supplying the domestic market to look at new opportunities elsewhere. However, some of the figures do not compare like with like. The Danish figures and the Irish figures showed a significant differential. I would take some of them with a pinch of salt, or at least I did when I read the detailed comparison between them.

A question was asked about the difference between FDI and indigenous industry. I started my career in IDA Ireland and then moved. In the early stages there was very close collaboration between the two agencies and then they became very separate. Increasingly, in recent years there is a recognition that many of the smaller multinational companies could benefit from the work done by Enterprise Ireland with its clients. Our leadership programmes have included IDA Ireland clients, access to international markets for some of the smaller multinationals and as IDA Ireland continues to go for earlier stage companies rather than companies with massive global operations such as Intel, Enterprise Ireland offices overseas are available and are doing work with some of those multinational clients. A total of 1,000 of the top multinational companies in the world are in Ireland and it is important that local Irish companies get access to them. There is a global sourcing team in Enterprise Ireland that has been working to try to do that.

In 2014 we did our first trade mission to Ireland. We got multinational companies in Ireland into the room with small, local Irish companies as sub-supply. We got a fantastic reaction. We did it in Cork, Galway, Dublin and Limerick. We had a very strong response in the four locations. That is something we will do again. In Enterprise Ireland we have a team of people, headed up by Alan Hobbs, who helps those linkages, in particular with multinationals when they come to this country on an itinerary. We get them in on day one before they have put in place their supply chains for Ireland. That is par for the course now. There are very clear metrics between IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland to make sure that happens. For a number of years it was like two different islands and they did not operate as collaboratively as is the case now. A senior management team composed of staff from IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland work on all of the linkages. Peer to peer leadership is also part of it in terms of opening doors. The technology centres have been a really important element. The programme Enterprise Ireland runs jointly with IDA Ireland involves clients of both agencies working on technology issues which are close to market and collaborating together. Out of such collaboration business will emerge. There is a lot done and it is very much an agenda item every time we sit down with the Department and the Minister, Deputy Bruton, in terms of what is happening and to make sure it continues to grow.

The issue of comparators is one that arose when we were putting together our strategy for 2014 to 2016. The question was who do we compare ourselves with. There is not another agency in the world that has all of the functions we do. We could compare ourselves with different people in different areas. For example, when I was in Australia at the end of last year I talked to the chief executive of New Zealand Trade and Enterprise. It is very strong on the international agenda with its companies. It takes a very selective approach but it is very successful in terms of what it is doing. Tekes in Finland is very strong and very good on the technology side. Scottish Enterprise has a very strong history in terms of much of its involvement that is close to our enterprise development side and also the work the IDA does. We have very close relationships with each of those enterprise agencies and we work with them.

In fact, we recently recruited somebody from New Zealand Trade and Enterprise into one of our overseas offices, which is also a good source of information in terms of trying to learn from them. Some of our best ideas have not been our own. For example, innovation vouchers, which are really important concerning the engagement between local companies and third level, came from Holland. It is a good idea and we are happy to copy it. We are constantly engaging with all of these agencies and we have done some work in that regard. There is not an exact copy but there are bits that we learn from and compare ourselves with on each of them.

The engagement with Northern Ireland is a subject close to my heart. Last week, we had a second trade mission between Invest Northern Ireland, Enterprise Ireland and UKTI. We were at the Medtec conference with a group of companies, and brought together all the clients from each of the three agencies and the companies involved.

All of our leadership programmes are open to companies sent by Invest Northern Ireland and ourselves. Medtec is our biggest event every two years and Invest Northern Ireland companies participate with Irish companies in the convention centre.

Interestingly, Invest Northern Ireland recently tendered for a programme, to be run by themselves, which has been granted to Dublin City University. DCU ran the programme here for both agencies, so it has now got the contract to run a programme for Invest Northern Ireland. We meet with the heads and chairs of agencies, as well as government departments North and South, a number of times a year to ensure that we are all on the one hymn sheet, so there is close collaboration.