Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

The answer is "Yes". Deputy Adams left out two important words in the litany of characteristics he mentioned: "creativity" and "imagination". These are inherent to Irish success. In this regard, I refer to cloud computing, data content storage, digital gaming and the agri-food sector.

I am sure that the Deputy is well aware of the extent of innovation and research in his constituency. He will be aware that young Irish engineers and entrepreneurs are in a position to, and do, lead the world in the number of cases. The response of the Government will be to open doors where it can.

The Minister of State, Deputy Perry, has responsibility for small businesses, releasing the blockage in the system, removing the red tape and ensuring the creation of an environment in which jobs can be created by business and in which private enterprise can flourish. Small impacts are very important because economies are built with small businesses. Over 90% of the businesses in the European Union are small businesses. As I said to Deputy Martin, there are 23 million small and medium-sized enterprises throughout the Union and 23 million unemployed. If, in theory, one could equate one with the other, one would wipe out the unemployment problem. Just as the bigger firms from abroad that invest here have grown enormously in financial importance, small businesses and micro-businesses in any locality are critical to the economic lifeblood. We need a combination of business types. Small businesses must be able to produce for local needs, small and medium-sized enterprises must be able to service the needs of big plants from a specialist perspective and Irish businesses must be able to export abroad and continue to avail of the potential in the Single Market.

If somebody in County Louth wishes to patent a product that is the result of research and innovation, he faces a blockage in that it costs approximately €32,000 to have it recognised throughout Europe. The Single Market, to which we signed up, should mean recognition in Ireland should apply across the Union. The kinds of costs incurred in the Union are not incurred in respect of patent innovations in the United States and other places. We want to have everybody at a point where he or she can set up a business within three days for a very nominal amount. I want to see the recommendations of the reports by the Minister of State, Deputy Perry, and the Minister, Deputy Bruton, put into effect in every constituency such that businesses can take off and begin to create jobs. That is the focus of our attention.

At the same time, one needs to keep in perspective what will occur in the future, be it associated with robotics, genetics, the Internet, nanotechnology or nanomedicine. We must focus on these important trends because the world is changing before our very eyes and the young people about whom we all speak need to be given platforms from which they can lead the country when their time comes. That means we have to run our public finances properly to provide opportunities for businesses to commence and be creative so they can have that opportunity to do their business in the times ahead. There is a whole spectrum in which we are interested, and that applies in every corner of the land. For example, the connectivity which Deputy Martin is aware is coming across the Atlantic would, from a digital perspective, literally light up Ireland's capacity to potentially become a global leader for data content storage and for cloud computing, which is one of the big waves where jobs will be created in the next decade. It is in there we need to be.

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