Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

The time allotted for this debate seemed to pass very quickly. I thank all the Senators who contributed and thank all sides of the House for the substantial support shown for the scheme. I was interested and amused by what I would put in tabloid terms as the shock and horror that the Department of Justice and Equality has an idea to create jobs. The truth is that there is a great deal of innovative thinking in my Department. It is not all by me and I thank my officials for the substantial work they have done in bringing together this scheme and for the consultative process in which they engaged.

I thank Senator Mooney for his contribution. I will not go back to the 1930s issue which I discussed previously but I thank him for the comments he made on that. We have much to learn from the manner in which we have in the past treated individuals in genuine personal difficulties who were trying to come to this country. I hope the mistakes made in the past will not be repeated in the future.

In the context of the issue before us, we missed out on substantial opportunities. This scheme is not aimed at any particular national or religious grouping but if one looks at the areas of venture capital and innovation across the world and the individuals who have contributed substantially to economic development, there is a disproportionate number of people whose Jewish families emerged out of the ashes of the Second World War or who managed to escape from the European continent before 1939 and founded major businesses in the United States. If one looks at, for example, the Israeli State, there are more patents registered annually in respect of innovations in the State of Israel than in any other country in the world, save the United States, which is extraordinary having regard to the population there.

These schemes are designed to attract people who are innovators, such as young people coming out of college who may have a good idea and can get financial backing but are resident outside the European Union and would like to come here. The €75,000 financial back-up entrepreneur scheme gives people an opportunity to innovate in Ireland and to locate here.

Senator Bacik raised the question of what happens if somebody already here on a student visa which is about to expire has an innovative idea. Such an individual can be accommodated within the scheme provided he or she has the financial backing required. There is no reason that should not be the case.

We substantially lost out prior to the Chinese republic assuming sovereignty over Hong Kong. A significant number of innovative people left Hong Kong and many went to Australia, New Zealand or the United States. I visited Hong Kong one year before the Chinese republic took over. I had views about what we might have done in this country to attract people who were clearly intent on leaving but, unfortunately, not much happened on the issue at that time. It was one of the issues I had in the back of my mind upon becoming Minister.

The evaluation committee, as Senator Mooney rightly noted, essentially involves the public sector but it will have a capacity to call for assistance from identifiable individuals to evaluate a project where the expertise does not exist within the public sector. I expect that will happen. There will be a degree of flexibility and if an unusual projected is presented which the committee is unable to properly evaluate we will have to be flexible in that regard.