Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Tánaiste for that response. As he said himself, almost 70% of people employed in Ireland are employed in small or medium enterprises. When speaking to those in these businesses, they often say they feel left behind and that successive Governments have preferred to focus on foreign direct investment instead of helping indigenous industry. Foreign direct investment has been a crucial component of Irish industrial strategy and has been really important for my own area, the mid-west. Almost 90% of all the State's exports originate from foreign-owned multinational corporations based in Ireland, and this acts as a boost to our GDP as well as being a significant job creator. SMEs however, are the lifeblood of the Irish economy and cannot be neglected. This is especially true as we face the twin crises of Brexit and Covid. There is an opportunity, however, in the midst of these crises for our SMEs and microbusinesses to capture the market share of any available opportunities which may arise due to Brexit in particular, and that is the reason we have put down this question.

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