Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. I am aware of and acknowledge that, but much of it is not driven by Government incentive or initiatives. It is driven by the companies themselves who are developing and working. What my party is saying is there needs to be more effort made to help those companies, and particularly the indigenous industries.

Brexit is looming and many of our indigenous industries are fearful. The small companies that are exporting are fearful about finding new markets and finding a way around this Brexit problem and the Government needs to do more about that.

Sinn Féin also has proposed the establishment of co-operative development units aimed at raising awareness of the benefits of co-operatives and increasing the number of such enterprises across the island. What does the Government intend to do in that area? That model has worked well in other European countries, where small private companies work together to build up co-operatives where they can develop, produce more jobs, produce more industry and move forward. We need to be doing that. Those models need to be employed in places such as County Leitrim and in the regions in general.

One of the big problems we have in the regions is the absence of infrastructure. Our roads are poor, access to the area is poor and broadband is a considerable problem. Ireland needs to be more than just a haven for some corporations to hide money. It needs to be a genuine tech haven where we can provide technical jobs. If we have adequate infrastructure and adequate broadband, we can be the centre of the universe no matter where we are. That is what we need to bring to every part of rural Ireland. I would welcome a Government commitment to do that and to work on the area of co-operation between companies.

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