Shane Moynihan (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Mar atá ráite ag an Taoiseach, tá tábhacht faoi leith ag baint le cumas iomaíochta na tíre. I very much welcome the outline or blueprint that has been given in the Government's response to the competitiveness challenge. I will focus on two chapters of that report where focus is needed over the coming years. The first is with regard to the role of SMEs. I am proud to be a member of the board of Ace Enterprise Park, which focuses on start-ups in the broader Clondalkin, Bawnogue and Neilstown area, but an issue is coming down the track regarding how we help what I call scale-ups, that is, those companies that have gone past their start-up phase and need support from the State, space in the main, to make sure they stay up as companies. I would welcome the Taoiseach's thoughts on that.

The second aspect, relating to chapter 4 of the report, was alluded to by Deputy Malcolm Byrne earlier and I am sure he will focus on the digital side of things in his contribution. There is work we need to do in our focus on sustainability-related and green skills across the workforce. We can speak about conversion and energy and about transitioning in travel, transport and so on, but fundamental to a serious approach to climate action is embedding green skills across the wider workforce, not only in construction and sustainability-focused enterprises but across the entire workforce. We have, I think successfully to a point, embedded a digital-first approach in the skills programmes we have for our workforce. We now need to think about how we will take a green-first approach, and this is something I will raise with the Minister, Deputy Lawless, as well.

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