Deirdre Clune (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Oireachtas Joint Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation recently had a very interesting presentation from Mr. Sean O'Sullivan, whom the Cathaoirleach probably knows from "Dragons' Den". He presented to us the report of the entrepreneurship forum that the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Bruton, asked him to establish and lead. It is a valuable document that we should debate in this House. There is a lot in it. It would be an opportunity to examine the whole area again with the Minister, Deputy Bruton, or the Minister of State, Deputy Sherlock. It encompasses education as well. One of its primary recommendations is that we have a focus on entrepreneurship across our education system from primary right through to third level. The whole area is not being addressed adequately at third level. We expect business schools in our universities or our IT sector to teach business, whereas it should be taught right across all sectors, including engineering, the sciences and computer science. That way we can encourage people to start their own businesses. I use the word "entrepreneurs" and we all use it a lot, but we should probably use a plainer expression such as "people who start a business". This very important document also focuses on research. So much money is spent on research in our universities and IT sectors, yet we are not realising the value of that by bringing it to commercial fruition. Senator Quinn was also at the committee meeting and I am sure he would agree that we could and should discuss this report with the Minister in this House.