Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)

The Government has put many of its chips on the export market which, unfortunately, is heavily reliant on foreign direct investment. There are 250,000 small businesses in the State, yet we have only 80 high potential start-ups developed by Enterprise Ireland, an extremely limited number. Most small businesses engage at county enterprise board level, yet there is no county enterprise board export programme operating throughout the State. There is a small number of boards that are progressive enough to offer small businesses the opportunity to do so. There has been an historic view that one needs to master the local economy before one can begin to export, but obviously there is no local economy for many people. What plans does the Government have to create a focused, financed programme to help these small county enterprise board businesses?

See this speech in context