Dr. Dermot Coates:

I thank the Deputy. The White Paper set out a target for increasing the number of SMEs that will export. This has been cross-referenced by the National Competitiveness and Productivity Council in previous reports, whereby accessing labour trading markets outside Ireland helps to diversify and strengthen a business and make it more sustainable going forward. It also helps to embed a business in supply chains more globally, which can help with transfer of such things as learning and management skills. That is reflected in productivity statistics for businesses as well. It is important to bear in mind that the SME sector is not a singular monolithic bloc. Some firms trade locally, that is their focus. The objective of the Department is to identify those firms that could benefit from accessing international markets. That is the support given by local enterprise offices, LEOs, and Enterprise Ireland. It is important that we recognise that the global trading environment has changed and we now see global value chains. This is where we need to continue to develop our thinking. The White Paper referenced this. The Department has done quite a lot of work on this in conjunction with the European Commission and OECD colleagues in order that we understand the prism through which businesses work in a modern, global trading environment, not simply to focus on our standard conception of what foreign trade might mean.