Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael)
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I thank the witnesses for their contributions. It has been an informal kind of setting, which has been nice. I should declare something. Deputy Stanton named Canadian companies in Ireland and named one my wife works for, Brookfield asset management, a renewable energy company in Cork that was recently sold. She has been with them for five years or more and loves it, and the relationship between the Ireland and Canadian bases has been very successful. I had my honeymoon in Canada as well and really enjoyed it, and we have family in Alberta. When we talk about different regions and areas having different challenges and ways we can work with them, it is important we look at it in the sense it is not just one country but also different regions in many ways.

My first question relates to Brexit. The UK having left the European Union has given us a great opportunity to attract investment to Ireland. One of the obvious opportunities relates to North America, that is, the US and Canada. Canada is bilingual, of course, and has a close relationship with France. How can we compete with France in attracting investment to Ireland? Ours is an English-speaking country and that is an advantage, whereas France is a country on the mainland of Europe. What are our advantages in bringing companies from Canada to Ireland post Brexit?