Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent)
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I thank our guests for participating and for the information they sent us. We have stepped into an area where on which there is no limit to the discussion that could take place. Members have touched on different areas this morning.

In general, we are talking about a worldwide shift in economic and social patterns and activity. Globalisation is impacting on the market and we have a demographic in which a bulge is moving through our own population in terms of age, which means Ireland, like many European countries that want to grow their economies, will need inward migration.

I have spent a lot of time working in enterprise. When we look at the economy it is interesting to see the public sector is doing fine because it is underpinned by public sector wages and foreign direct investment, FDI, is doing well because of all the technology and the benefits of working in Ireland and using our skill set. The SME community is where I see the greatest challenges and they affect all business sectors. While some sectors are doing better than others, generally speaking, the real economic headwinds I see coming are will affect service businesses and small manufacturers and retailers.

The key issues one finds with companies on the ground are those the expert group identified, including education in the broadest sense, literacy and computer literacy. However, among the elements missing are the ability of small businesses to intersect and network with larger businesses that can teach them so much. Anyone who gets involved with entrepreneurs will find they have fantastic, forward-looking ideas and an ability to move through the system. However, they need to leverage expertise, which is generally found at a high level either in Ireland or overseas.

The expert group has produced an expansive report highlighting the areas of wind power, electric vehicles, green energy, etc. What is it doing to give people who may not want to go to college the idea that apprenticeships can provide them with a good quality of life and opportunities throughout their lives? Does the expert group have any platforms in which it looks at companies, as opposed to education, to try to resource international competency and expose them to international thoughts, particularly for those that are exposed to or want to access export markets?