Mary White (Fianna Fail)
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The presentations from all of our guests were outstanding. This has been a very enlightening and interesting meeting so far.

There is a dichotomy in Ireland. We talk about entrepreneurship and how much we need it but Government Departments are suspicious of entrepreneurs because of issues like taxation, PRSI and so forth. I really believe that is the situation. They do not trust them and think they are all making a fortune and not telling. There is a distrust there. I am talking here about culture. Within Government Departments there is an innate distrust of entrepreneurs. It is all very fine to talk about ten and 11 year olds having no fear but their parents are culturally bound too. When push comes to shove, they want their children to become doctors, barristers, lawyers, teachers and so on. They want them to do something safe that has status in society rather than being an entrepreneur, at which they could fail. Despite all of the talk about entrepreneurship, we are still culturally bound. That is why we depended so much on multinationals and still do. While some people are developing their own indigenous companies, there is still a real lack of desire to be an entrepreneur.

I also wish to raise with Mr. Fielding the issue of child care from the perspective of small and medium companies. What is his honest opinion on women taking child care leave or the Government increasing the availability of such leave? Increasing such leave for workers in the public sector is fine but I do not know how a female entrepreneur could start a business if she had a baby or small child.

In my experience, it would be very difficult to be an entrepreneur and raise a baby or young child at the same time. However, as Senator Naughton said, we need to get more women to start up businesses. If we got as many women as men starting up businesses, we would create more employment and jobs. The culture is an issue.

I have a question for Ms Buckley. In the context of balanced regional development, every county now has a local enterprise office. We had a presentation last week from Mr. Tom Hayes which I found a cause for optimism, because these offices are on the ball. However, I have had questions in regard to how successful they can be and whether they will really be entrepreneurial. Will IDA Ireland have any input in that regard? Will it provide role models or have any creative or innovative interaction with the local enterprise offices?