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

The decline in entrepreneurship is disappointing but it is concentrated in certain sectors such as construction, which used to be a major entrepreneurial sector. As I mentioned in reply to Deputy Calleary, a bespoke scheme for women entrepreneurs was launched last year. It was very successful and was oversubscribed. We are continuing to build on that.

On the question of whether our most dynamic young people are leaving the country, it is recognised that Ireland has a really good start-up culture and that we have good availability of seed capital and many strong clusters in technology, medical devices and so on. In many areas we have really good environments for business start-ups and we are actively seeking, through the likes of Connect Ireland and other programmes, to get people to recognise Ireland as a good place for start-ups.

In reply to Deputy Hannigan, youth entrepreneurship will be at the heart of this review of entrepreneurship. Start-up support is located in higher education institutes in order to target young people who are undertaking research. There may be merit in having dedicated competitive start funds targeted at young people, as was the case for women entrepreneurs last year.

On the wider issue, the Deputy asked whether this is a failure. The Irish economy can be very successful and has been. There is no doubt but that it took a wrong turn in the 2000s and got wedded to a property bubble that was unsustainable, but basic enterprise, innovation and the capacity to export have been sound. The challenge for us in politics is to rebuild the capacity to build strong enterprises based on innovation and the ability to export. That is really what we are seeking to create.

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