Mr. Neil McDonnell:

On apprenticeships, we have brought in many different sectoral representatives to say that the supports available for post-2016 apprenticeships are not sufficient to allow a lot of small businesses take on an apprentice. That really needs to be looked at.

In terms of the research and development tax credit, if you look at the figures for that you will find that those businesses availing of the research and development tax credit are highly concentrated among the large enterprise sector and almost exclusively in the FDI sector. Among small businesses availing of the research and development tax credit, it is found to be administratively very heavy and tends to provoke a Revenue audit very soon after the credit is availed of. Therefore, businesses do not want to do it. I would suggest it needs to be looked at.