Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)

Will the Minister think about this? In Sinn Féin's manifesto and over a number of years, we have envisaged the establishment of a mol gnó, a new Irish enterprise agency focused specifically on scaling existing Irish businesses. This would be a strong agency for non-export focused start-ups and established companies. It would specifically cover the void in support from existing agencies like Enterprise Ireland and the IDA. Enterprise Ireland and the IDA do a really good job but we are not using the space we have at the moment to address over-reliance on foreign direct investment. Although we absolutely need and thrive on foreign direct investment, we have to bridge that gap.

In setting up a new agency – I hate the idea of a new agency – we must ensure it is something with specific targets and aims for that area to increase our indigenous businesses rapidly in the space they have been given.

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