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

Under the new Enterprise Ireland strategy, the traditional ten employees or fewer rule has been relaxed. Increasingly, we are supporting companies financially with loans and grants that are in that space of having more than ten employees but are not IDA or Enterprise Ireland clients. Therefore, we have moved beyond that. However, EU state aid rules apply. EU state aid rules allow micro-companies to be treated differently and that is not something we can change.

Also, it does not make sense to give state aid to a company that will only take business from another company down the road. That is why we tend to focus on those that are exporters. The issue around import substitution is that it is potentially using state aid to take business from another European company. Many of these measures are limited by EU state aid rules for good reason but, increasingly, we are supporting companies with more than ten employees.

On the opportunities that arise from the national broadband plan, Deputy Naughten is absolutely right. We are starting to see investments in towns that would not have traditionally seen investments, for example, in recent weeks, in Cashel and Mountmellick. It is encouraging to see 40, 50 or 100 jobs being created in relatively small towns. I want to see more of that. The provision of fibre in the national broadband plan will open that up in a way that would not have been the case without it.

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