Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)

Some 50% of the recommendations have already been implemented and any Government that follows us will merely need to complete the remaining 50%. Some of the actions will not be easy.

The report has two fantastic core elements and I recommend that Members note them. The first is the idea of creating an innovation fund of €500 million to encourage companies. It is not all about start-ups, in that it is also about scaling companies upwards. Traditionally, Irish companies have found it difficult to survive upon reaching an annual turnover of approximately €100 million. They tend to be taken over or amalgamated, change their direction or switch their headquarters. The key challenge is not only to encourage a culture of start-ups, but also to encourage a tradition of serial reinvestment by successful business people and entrepreneurs so that when they cash out of business, they come back in and start again. This can only be done if we create a popular venture capital culture.

The €500 million fund has been greatly admired abroad and we hope it will be a magnet for attracting American venture capital into the European marketplace. Traditionally, US venture capitalists have been conservative in their approach to European capital markets and reluctant to make the journey across. Ireland is in a good position to attract that venture capital and to see it invested in Irish and European companies. The fund is a successful part of the report and is already up and running on a pilot basis. It is going well and has made its first investment.

When creating the administrative arrangements around exploiting, developing and commercialising patents, new discoveries and copyrighted material, it is important that we get our ducks in a row. Issues exist. For example, I attended the Seanad some weeks ago following a particular High Court decision concerning current copyright arrangements. We will adjust our rules accordingly to ensure that challenge is addressed.

In terms of how we treat intellectual property, it is important to position ourselves as a location of choice for people to commercialise, exploit and register their patents and discoveries. Our universities comprise a fantastic infrastructure in terms of research and development. It has been built up over ten years by tripling the level of spending devoted to research and development. The road construction projects of the past 14 years have seen the completion of vital connections between our large cities, reducing journey times. Alongside that physical infrastructural investment of the past 14 years, there has been a fantastic rolling out of investment in the intellectual or human capacity of our people through the investment in research and development in the universities. There are hopes for the future and we can turn the corner and come out of recession-----