Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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2. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the level of investment that has been made into small to medium sized Irish manufacturers and internationally traded firms by his Department for each of the past five years; and the way this compares to the total investment into FDI in the State over each of the past five years. [12290/14]

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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The Oireachtas Library Service carried out important research which showed that at the end of the third quarter in 2013, 3% - 60,000 people - of the employment figures were actually on activation schemes.

There is not a focus on small and medium-sized enterprises, SMEs, as there should be. Foreign direct investment is still the golden child of the Government while SMEs are left behind.

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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In the past five years, Enterprise Ireland paid out almost €520 million to its client companies: €134.02 million in 2009; €167.28 million in 2010; €80.21 million in 2011; €69.57 million in 2012 and €68.84 million in 2013. It has also invested €115 million through the seed and venture capital schemes, development capital scheme and the innovation fund Ireland between 2009 and 2013. This breaks down as €16 million in 2009; €16 million in 2010; €20 million in 2011; €30 million in 2012 and €33.5 million in 2013. These funds leverage an additional multiple amount from private sources in Irish enterprises. The county and city enterprise boards paid out €154.8 million in the past five years to small and micro Irish businesses. IDA Ireland paid just over €472 million in grant aid to its client companies: €80.87 million in 2009; €120.44 million in 2010; €96.76 million in 2011 €89.27 million in 2012 and €84.95 million in 2013. Grants figures for the agencies in respect of 2009 and 2010 include payments made under the temporary employment subsidy scheme, as well as significant payment by IDA Ireland towards the National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training, NIBRT, project.

In overall terms, the total expenditure supporting Irish-owned business is clearly considerably greater than that spent on foreign-owned companies. Generally, the range of supports available to Irish-owned companies is far wider, spanning start-up, innovation, process improvement, management development, export support graduate placement, etc, many of which are not appropriate to overseas investors. Spending on all companies is subject to state-aid rules and to careful evaluation by the respective agency to ensure value is obtained for taxpayers' investment in jobs, exports and enterprise development.

I am satisfied that moneys invested are spent well and have promoted the recovery in employment in export-oriented sectors with a good balance between Irish and overseas enterprise.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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I am afraid there is not a good balance between the investment in indigenous and overseas business. Almost 70% of the people employed in the State are employed by SMEs. Despite this, the major focus of this Government and the previous Government has been on foreign direct investment. I accept this sector is important as it makes up 90% of our exports. However, there is vulnerability inherent in it. By its very nature, foreign direct investment is mobile while indigenous SMEs are not, making the latter more sustainable in the long term. Strategically, logically and even patriotically, this Government needs to do more for SMEs. They have carried out major sacrifices over the past several years. When a foreign direct investment company closes or sheds jobs, it is in the headlines but it is not the same for SMEs. Those which have survived have not been given the necessary supports yet by the Government.

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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One can see from the figures that overall State agency spending on Irish-owned companies is approximately €770 million versus €470 million for foreign-owned companies. The Government is spending substantially more on indigenous companies. These figures are for my Department and do not take into account State spending on fisheries, etc.

The policy of many Governments over the years has been that grant support is confined to export-oriented companies. We do not provide grant supports to companies trading in the domestic economy. Employment in the two sectors is roughly equal. Despite this, we are clearly spending more on Irish-owned companies, which is how it should be.

I agree with the Deputy that we need to develop a strong indigenous engine of growth. That is why we are looking at new ways in manufacturing and entrepreneurship.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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The ratio of State investment into indigenous versus foreign direct investment is not equivalent to the ratio of employment. In the indigenous sector it is far higher than its proportionate level of investment by the Government. The Minister mentioned the efforts the Government makes towards export-oriented companies. However, export performance is still poor among SMEs. Exports from this sector to Germany, the Benelux, Italy and Spain, an area four times the size of Britain, only come to 40% of the total exported to Britain. Outside of the British market, SMEs are still very weak. The non-exporting sector, which accounts for 60% of the aggregate investment in indigenous companies in this State, is not being leveraged to help these businesses. The majority of investment, trade and business among indigenous businesses is nowhere near exports. This is where the Government needs to focus its efforts.

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Irish-owned companies are doing very well in export markets. The previous Government set a target to increase Irish-owned exports by 33% by 2015. We actually achieved that last year and we need to build on it. One has to distinguish between the fact that we support with grants through Enterprise Ireland companies which are export-oriented but do not do the same for domestic retail operations for the good reason that they are largely in competition with others. It is not a fair comparison that the Deputy seeks to make. One of the new mandates of the local enterprise offices will be to look at that wider domestic economy, to give non-grant supports like mentoring so as to encourage an enterprise culture. I recognise the Deputy’s point that we need to exploit more the potential of the domestic economy.