Mary White (Fianna Fail)

I am delighted to welcome the Minister. His heart and soul are in the portfolio he has been given and he will make dramatic changes. The public sector has to be as innovative and entrepreneurial as the people who are out fighting in the market for market share. From my experience, the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation needs to change its bureaucratic state of mind. There are good people in the Department who need to be motivated and not restricted by regulations. They need to be sensitive to what those in the marketplace are experiencing.

I refer to microenterprises. I support what the Minister said in this regard. The concept of supporting people who employ a small number of workers has to be addressed, as one can start a company with one, two or three employees. Many unemployed persons would be well geared to starting a business.

City and county enterprise boards have been in a vacuum for the past year or two. They do not know where they are going and what finance is available to them. This is a pity because we need them to operate at the core of communities. The current system does not have to be kept in place, but something has to be done by the Government to help small companies employing up to ten employees. It is critical that this issue is dealt with because the current system is not working.

The Minister mentioned public procurement. When one examines the figures, it is amazing to find how little Government business Irish companies receive compared with those in other countries in Europe such as France and Germany. We seem to be over-anxious about EU regulations, an approach which is preventing Irish companies from receiving more Government business. This issue has to be addressed. I asked the previous Minister to address it but nothing happened.

The Minister referred to getting products on shelves. Mr. Frank Ryan, chief executive officer of Enterprise Ireland, spoke to our group yesterday about the Diaspora, people who were educated in Ireland who now hold very senior positions and could facilitate Irish companies in other countries. It was a whole new idea of what the Diaspora could do. The father of Sir Terry Leahy who was chief executive officer of Tesco in the United Kingdom came from Sligo, while his mother was from south Armagh. When Tesco established in Ireland having bought Quinnsworth which, as we all know, was an English company owned by Associated British Foods, his personal and emotional connection with Ireland through his father and mother caused him to help indigenous food industries. Senator Fergal Quinn, as managing director of Superquinn, and Sir Terry Leahy made our company. The human element is interesting. Senator Feargal Quinn wanted to promote Irish products, while Sir Terry Leahy gave many Irish producers a chance to export their products. When Tesco took over from Quinnsworth, Lir Chocolates gained access to 700 retail outlets in the United Kingdom overnight. One would not be able to receive business if one could not rise to the occasion. The Irish connections are fascinating.

We must try to address the issue of domestic demand. Mr. Joe Durkan of the ESRI also spoke to us yesterday and said the Government should be devising a plan to tell the people what they could expect it to do in the next two or three years. He said they needed to hear about the cuts to be made rather than hearing about them on budget day because they had no confidence about what was going to happen next. He also said that if they were told what was going to happen next, they could save money for the education of their children. It is common sense for them to know how much money they have to spend.

When Mr. Tony Foley spoke-----