Albert Dolan (Galway East, Fianna Fail)

Part of what will make our business environment better to do business in is something that falls within the Minister of State's brief, namely digitisation. Ultimately, the question the Department needs to be asking is whether every grant application, licence permit, etc., can be processed by it digitally? It is important for every Department to look at this because if somebody cannot easily deal with a Department in person, they will still be able to deal with an official online if they encounter any difficulties. That is the way to think about it.

I have read many times about Estonia's digital-first policy and how innovative it is. The reality is that Ireland is home to the biggest tech companies in the world. The Government need to show both leadership and that we want to be a digital-first nation. Of course, we want to make sure that nobody gets left behind. We need to show leadership, however, because when all of these companies are investing in Ireland, they want to see that we are tech-minded, that we are tech leaders and that we want to see success for their businesses and this country.

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