Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)

Ireland is becoming a service economy, rather than a manufacturing or primary produce economy. What steps are the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and the agencies under that Department taking to alert small and medium sized Irish companies to the potential benefits of utilising the provisions of the draft directive? This directive is now essentially a done deal and I am told it will be completed by the end of this year. Will the Minister indicate when it is proposed to come into effect? Now that we know the shape of the directive, what communication has been given to the Irish services sector to maximise the potential that it will have?

See this speech in context