Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The programme for Government commits to the formation of an SME growth task force to design a national SME growth plan that will map out an ambitious long-term strategic blueprint beyond Covid-19 and Brexit. The task force will draw up detailed plans to help SMEs to start up, scale up and access foreign markets. This includes any potential improvements to the scope of firms covered by the existing enterprise agencies, and recommendations as to how these can be broadened. It will also look at ways to make SMEs more productive and ready for the transition to a digital and green economy.

We held the first meeting of the SME growth task force on 25 September. I chaired the meeting, which was attended by the Ministers of State, Deputies English and Troy. The task force is composed of over 20 entrepreneurs and business leaders, contributing expertise from a broad range of sectors. It is served by four focused subgroups with the capacity and expertise to develop actions in thematic areas arising from the OECD's recommendations. The subgroups are focused on entrepreneurship; productivity, digitalisation and competitiveness; internationalisation; and clustering and networks. These are the areas in which we hope to develop policies and proposals. The task force will develop an SME growth plan, which will be brought to Government for approval as part of the national economic plan in November. A comprehensive OECD review, SME and Entrepreneurship Policy in Ireland, which was finalised in October 2019, provides a hugely informative, objective and deeply researched evidence base for this work. The task force will continue its work over the coming weeks, and I look forward to its proposals.

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