Michael D'Arcy (Wexford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am not going to pretend to be as up to speed on these things as I might be. I am not. However, there is an incredible amount of research and development going into FinTech in particular and, while this was once considered a disruptive technology to the industry, it has now evolved and there are a lot of cutting-edge companies moving into that space, meaning FinTech is not now as disruptive to the industry and will be very beneficial. Some of the brightest minds from all over the country, including rural areas, are working in this field.

I will take the Deputy's comments back to the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, but a concern of mine is that I expect budget 2018 to be quite tight. I do not expect there to be a large amount of headroom. Nevertheless, we need to thrash out the issues raised by the Deputy and I would be happy to do so outside the Chamber.

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