Malcolm Byrne (Wicklow-Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I agree with my party colleague Deputy Moynihan, particularly about that gap for companies that move from being supported by local enterprise offices to a point where they can be supported by Enterprise Ireland.

He and I are very much in agreement on digitalisation and the AI strategy we talked about. A key part of this is investment in skills. Critical to that is ensuring that the requirements of funding our future, the funding programme for higher education, are met. That is referred to in the competitiveness challenge.

I am also interested in how we can provide support to our innovators and entrepreneurs, particularly those looking at exporting. In these turbulent times, we need to defend the importance of free trade internationally. This is something that is built into the programme for Government and that underpins the competitiveness challenge report. There is a significant section in that report about Ireland's support for the capital markets union at EU level. It is critical we look at unlocking as many sources of funding as possible for Irish enterprise. Will the Taoiseach indicate if, in the context of the EU Presidency, Ireland will pursue that?

There are other issues tied to that concerning international trade on which it would be of help if the Taoiseach gave an indication. One is the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, CETA, with Canada. As the Taoiseach knows, we have increased business between Ireland and Canada significantly in recent years. Signing the CETA is critical to further develop that.

I previously raised with the Taoiseach Ireland's membership of the unified patent system. That is critical for Ireland's intellectual property and its protection. It requires a referendum to proceed. I ask that we proceed with it as soon as possible.

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