Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

It is an area of weakness. There are different ways in which to support small companies on export. Mentoring by experienced people is a worthwhile exercise. Enterprise Ireland has graduate placement programmes in which it puts people into markets such as China or wherever and there are companies to which they are aligned. There are also trade missions. There are various tools that we can use. However, I seek for Enterprise Ireland to develop that work, because it is not good enough for only 38% of indigenous output to be exported. We need to increase that percentage, which has been static, and penetrate new markets. The growth markets are not in the UK but elsewhere, and we need to see how we can get a foothold there. There is much work to be done in that area.

I like Senator Cullinane's idea of a youth enterprise competition to mirror the young scientist of the year competition. We need that. He also mentioned the lack of entrepreneurship in schools, and it is clear that there is a gap.

The point made about the owners of companies being excluded from welfare is true. The social insurance contribution of a self-employed person is not the same as the combined employer and employee contribution. An employer and employee pay 15% whereas a self-employed person pays 4%. The 4% does not buy the same rights as the 15%. The Minister for Social Protection is considering the issue in the context of the commission she has established on welfare and tax interaction, so-----