Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for that support, as it is important that Members are perceived to have a bipartisan approach in the House on this issue. As the Deputy noted, there is a digital divide but regardless of whether it is acknowledged, almost €4 billion in business was done last year through e-commerce. Moreover, approximately €3.7 billion of that goes outside the State and, in such circumstances, there is no point in complaining about the phenomenon. The small and medium-sized enterprise, SME, sector in Ireland must prepare itself to compete for the business. In this context, the fact that only 23% of SMEs are estimated to be trading online is a matter of concern. Consequently, as Deputy Moynihan has noted, the thinking behind the initiative I have just announced is it is intended to encourage businesses that could profit from trading online to so do. As I indicated, the figures show that small enterprises which have a strong online presence grow twice as fast, export twice as much and employ twice as many. This really ought to speak for itself.

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