Michelle Mulherin (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

First and foremost, my concern relates to the disparity between the transposition of the directive into Irish law and its transposition in other member states with the result that others areas are put at more of an advantage. I am told the British system is similar to ours but the sheer volume of applications means that it can be more readily self-financing compared to the small number of companies engaged in such activity in this country. Difficulties arise for small companies. Multinationals in this country require the service to develop pharmaceutical products and medical devices but we now face the possibility that such work will be sourced outside this jurisdiction. Certain individuals have told me their company will go out of business. They have gone from being up and coming, thriving businesses dealing with Enterprise Ireland and they expected to grow. However, the new authorisation procedure is crippling them. I referred to a potential cost of €5,000 being added to a job worth €800, for example, or for any other value. That is not feasible. The situation is not tenable. The current one-size-fits-all approach to fees will not work.

I do not argue against the need for animal welfare. I believe we are to the fore in that regard in this country, rightly so. We must continue to take such an approach. The issues I raise relate more to competitiveness than animal welfare. It is untenable to ask the companies involved to carry the entire burden. We will choke them. The Minister is a pragmatic person who is known for his no-nonsense approach.

We must cut through red tape to revive the floundering research and development sector. A great deal of hard work has been done to bring multi-national companies here and spin-off companies could carry out their research and development but they cannot do so at the moment due to cost and excessive red tape. This matter must be addressed or we will fail to adhere to our action plan for jobs. The Taoiseach said the 2014 action plan has a strong focus on the domestic economy, improving competitiveness and supporting entrepreneurs and small businesses. There can be no lessening of our efforts until we have full employment. I hope the Minister supports this.

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