Mark Dearey (Green Party)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Calleary. It is nice to meet him. I was almost freaked out by the welcoming comments made to me last week, namely, that my background in business qualified me to be an expert in business. I will make it clear. In the overall economy I am a bottom feeder. I take product in, add value and sell it on. It takes me and nine others to do that and we are employed gainfully in doing it, but it is the people I rely on — my customers — many of whom are involved in exports, who are the real wealth creators. That is the great engine of wealth creation in any economy.

While I would be glad to be in receipt of any help as an employer, for instance, with the PRSI holiday when taking on an unemployed person, what I would really like to see emanating from these Houses is an attack on costs that would allow our exporters to work more productively and successfully. It is on export led manufacturing and services that I want to focus my attention initially. I will refer also to finance for job creation, the often complex and frustrating experience small and medium-sized businesses and State agencies enjoy, how we can deal with that and begin to ramp up in terms of scale and speed the potential of SMEs in a number of sectors.

On the question of costs for exporters, there is a tacit acknowledgement that our PRSI rates in this country are high at 10.75%. We must examine that in a clear sighted way and determine whether it is a block towards attracting investment into the country and a factor that makes our potential exporters less competitive. We must do that in a clear sighted way and assess all the costs incurred by exporting businesses through the lens of job creation.

Another example would be utility costs, which probably have further to fall. The burden of local government finance needs to be shared more widely so that local authorities can be more flexible in their dealings with companies in terms of development levies, rates and other charges. I work closely with the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Gormley, on the way local authorities can cut a less burdensome deal with businesses, especially exporting businesses.

We do some things really well in this country, including food, financial services and software development, but I see energy as the next great export. The east-west interconnector has been referred to. Ultimately, there will be a connection to mainland Europe that ought to allow us export what we are abundant in, namely, naturally generated electricity through either tidal or wind power. That is an export area towards which we are only slowly ramping up. It is an area on which we need to focus much more attention and, ultimately, the green jobs — a term I hate although it is probably forgivable to use it in this context — that will emanate from it will be many.

Indigenous companies that are exporting are heroic in many ways. Our peripherality on the edge of Europe means it takes a particular kind of effort and individual to become a manufacturing or a service exporter. I am aware of several in my part of the world who have dedicated years of their lives, and in some cases much of their windfalls or pensions, to developing new ideas for Ireland. They want to work here because they are loyal to the country. I pay tribute to their heroic efforts.

In regard to credit, very often for an SME a "no" from the bank seems to be the end of the idea but that should not necessarily be the case. There is a way in which our enterprise agencies and county enterprise boards can begin to engage in a more creative way with SMEs regarding credit if the bank is saying "no", and they have been saying "no". While there are signs this may change soon, it is not a reason not to look elsewhere for liquidity. For instance, for companies with a market value of €2 million to €3 million there is the possibility of a secondary listing on the stock exchange. A few SMEs may have to merge to create that kind of value but the merging of smaller companies to create an entity that can attract finance is something our enterprise agencies should be examining more creatively. As long as debt was cheap, and it was during the Celtic tiger years, other ways of raising money went out of favour, but they need to come back into favour and one way in which that is possible is through venture capital and equity. I am aware that Enterprise Ireland, for instance, runs a type of venture capital scheme for high potential worth businesses, but that could be extended to enterprise boards to allow them get involved at a more local level with smaller companies that are experiencing great difficulty accessing credit. They should be encouraged to examine that idea, even if it means they have to develop skills in company merging and so on.

The third point I want to raise is the interface between enterprise and the agencies. The previous contribution was heavily laden with reference to agency support for SMEs, but very often it is one frustration after another for those SMEs. I am talking about the view from their side of the fence. There appears to be an inability at times to speak the same language, and that must be tackled. The area is complex but we need to intensify the relationships between dynamic SMEs and, in particular, research teams in our institutes. Research and development needs to be better informed by the market and the emphasis should be on supplying products to the marketplace because we are in a jobs crisis. While research for the sake of it may be worthwhile in the good times, it is not something in which we can indulge at present. We must emphasise the job potential of any research project undertaken in our colleges and institutes of technology, as well as the capacity of small and medium-sized enterprises to deliver.

I am particularly interested in the smart grid idea, that is, the development of registered power zones throughout the country so that devices can talk to one another and respond to the supply and demand of electricity. This is an area in which dozens of small and medium-sized enterprises could be established because a world of new product is needed to create the smart grids. The concept is still in its infancy in Europe and although we are slightly behind the wave, we can catch up. Research teams can get together with dynamic local small and medium-sized enterprises to create products that can deliver the smart grid.