Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

To amplify that, it is worth saying that both Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland continue to develop policy interventions to support the manufacturing sector. As I stated, under the Action Plan for Jobs there are a number of measures to improve productivity, extend innovation, introduce lean systems, enhance management skills, develop collaboration in new technologies and enhance access to finance. For example, the development capital fund is a specific new initiative for access to finance targeted at companies that have a weak balance sheet but have the capacity to grow.

This week, I visited the Irish Centre for Manufacturing Research which is promoting collaboration. It works with a significant number of both SMEs and multinationals. There have been four spin-outs, between that centre and the energy efficiency centre, where they are using the research being done in these centres with manufacturing and other companies to develop applications to achieve better energy efficiency, achieve better use of equipment and introduce more efficient systems.

The lean programme has been successfully rolled out for a number of companies. It has allowed them strip out cost effectively and achieve the competitive edge which has enabled the driving of significant growth in exports from manufacturing companies.

There is much worthwhile work going on through Enterprise Ireland in promoting this sector and supporting its transition.

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