Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I hope that will be the case, although the evidence to date suggests it will not. Yesterday I spoke about the approach of the Central Bank, for example, to fintech and financial services companies. We saw the decision by Revolut to move its operations to Lithuania.Many fintech companies do not believe that the regulatory sandbox that is required to allow these companies to start is being pursued here. There are many problems with cryptocurrencies but we are moving towards the era of digital currencies. There is a clear decision on the part of the European Central Bank, ECB, that we are moving into a digital euro. I worry that we are not availing of all of the opportunities that are presented. How are we going to ensure that our small enterprises are going to be able to compete in the metaverse? Will we be able to seek those 10,000 jobs for Ireland that Meta or Facebook are going to create? I have a general concern that in many areas of technology we spend our time trying to catch up in the area of regulation, rather than trying to look at what is coming down the line and avail of the opportunities while facing up to the challenges.