Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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446. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation her plans to produce and implement a unified SME and entrepreneurship policy document with stated strategic objectives, budgets, activities and measurable targets as recommended by the OECD and NESC report number 19; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5476/20]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I met with the OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria in March 2018 to discuss my key priorities for the OECD Review which I commissioned on SME and Entrepreneurship Policy in Ireland. I wanted an external view of how our SME sector is performing, the strengths and weaknesses of our indigenous businesses, where the relevant programmes are working, and where we may need to consider policy changes.

My Department played a central role throughout the process, organising stakeholder events enabling detailed engagement between DBEI, other Government Departments, agencies, academia, business representatives, and the small business sector. This allowed the OECD to gain valuable insight into our small business ecosystem at the various critical stages of the Review.

This Review, which I published in October 2019, provides pivotal new research examining the policy environment for SMEs and entrepreneurship in Ireland, the scale of which has not been delivered before.

Since then, I have been working with my Department officials on how best to progress implementation of the key recommendations outlined in the OECD Review, with a view to the adoption of a national SME and Entrepreneurship Strategy. Specific recommendations made regarding the development of mechanisms to assist SMEs and entrepreneurs in such areas as lifelong learning, financial management and digital skills have never been more imperative to the future of our entrepreneurial ecosystem than now.

The current crisis reminds us of the importance of these objectives and the challenging circumstances which have been thrust upon our small business sector by the current Covid-19 pandemic.

The significant work undertaken during the Review is assisting my Department’s ability to respond and put in place measures to ensure businesses have sufficient liquidity to see them through this crisis. A major part of my Department’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been to expand access to finance supports to ensure businesses have sufficient liquidity to see them through these current highly challenging circumstances.

I have no doubt that our strong relationships with SME stakeholders, which we relied upon during the OECD Review engagement and more recently in our continuing response to the Covid-19 pandemic, will prove informative and beneficial to the delivery of future policy in the SME and Entrepreneurship sector for Ireland.

The formation and implementation of all policy related initiatives, including that of an SME and Entrepreneurship Strategy, will be addressed in the context of a new Programme for Government by the incoming Government.

I have and will continue to advocate on behalf of our SMEs. I remain committed to using all available tools currently at my disposal to support our small business ecosystem in all regions across the country.