Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State's answer. In fairness, he has indicated a number of actions that are being used to help people who have been unemployed or who have had difficulties obtaining finance. Many sectors have experienced unemployment and difficulty in obtaining finance and, as such, it is not the fact that people's immediate financial experience might place them in the low-paid bracket that I am necessarily trying to get at. The Minister of State probably knows what I am trying to get at. I am trying to find out what can be done in future to ensure that the energy, enthusiasm, skills and ability of people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds can be harnessed for the benefit of enterprise. For example, when women have difficulties gaining access to enterprise, it means we are shutting out 50% of the skills available to the State to grow the economy. What research has been done on the socioeconomic backgrounds of the individuals who are accessing the supports the State is providing? If we could obtain those statistics, we could then start to provide specific supports for people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, just as we do for women.

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