Yes.

With all due respect, I did not see anything in Sinn Féin's budget submission to support businesses at all in this space.

We are putting €250 million out there with virtually no application process at all because small businesses, in particular very small ones, have said to me that they do not want a long detailed application process and to have to apply to the Revenue Commissioners because they do not want to have to take on an accountant to do it, as that is another cost that they cannot afford. We are taking that on board and we are saying this is a little bit like the household energy credits: businesses would automatically get it…

This is a recognition payment effectively to businesses as we know that many of them are finding the going somewhat difficult in terms of costs and we are giving something back.

Other Deputies are now arriving so I hope we will get to some of the questions that were skipped. I hope we will have the flexibility to return to them if Members want to.

We are not short of time given how fast we are moving through the questions.

In reply to the Deputy, I will refer to Monthly Estimates of Payroll Employees, published by the CSO, which should be read alongside the CSO's labour force survey. The latter has shown that employment in the ICT sector rose by 2.2% on a quarterly basis in the second quarter on 2023 to reach a new record high of over 174,000. We have more people employed in ICT now than we ever had. Of course, there have been some setbacks since the start of this year but there have also been strong gains at the same time. As we all…

I assure the Deputy that I speak to representatives of companies all the time. We have investment announcements all the time. I have been to the US three times this year and I suspect I will be going again early next year. The US is where most of the tech multinationals are coming from, although not all of them. We were in South Korea recently seeking to attract more tech interest and investment. Regarding some of the global giants that have been built in South Korea, we would like to see an increased footprint her…

My final point is that it is not true to say that fewer people are employed in tech now than there were at the start of the year. The CSO would suggest that there are more.

That does not mean that we have not had significant job losses in certain companies. That is important to recognise.

I was and am very concerned about any job losses, which is why, at short notice at the start of the year, I went to the US to meet as many key decision-makers in some of the big tech companies as I could to really understand their mindset about what was happening. The answer we got was that the decisions they were making had very little to do with Ireland. In fact, it was nothing to do with Ireland at all. Instead, it was about reducing global headcount in many of these companies which had expanded extraordinary qu…

It is spending a fortune on building-----

We are seeing-----

All right.

I thank the Deputy for the question. IDA Ireland has made considerable property investments in Kerry under its current strategy, including this year with the acquisition of over 16 ha of land at Kerry Technology Park. IDA Ireland is now working to identify a suitable site within this land bank for the construction of an advance building solution. Securing planning permission on the construction of the building will take some time such that IDA Ireland cannot outline a specific date by which the project will be comp…

I would not move on that quickly from the Astellas announcement. The Deputy said he has got similar answers for some years. That is a really significant delivery for Kerry. It is a €330 million advance manufacturing facility for a big global name. It will employ a significant number of people in Kerry and specifically Tralee. That announcement happened in September, which is only a couple of months ago. I take the point, which is a fair one, that when we talk about the number of IDA-backed companies and the number …

Much of that has changed under this Government.

We have a new technological university and a new road into Kerry.

We are starting to see some of the results now with, for example, Astellas.

This Government and the previous one have tried to focus on the competitiveness proposition for Kerry. You do not just bring multinationals in and place them where you want. They will go where they want to go and they will look at the options they have in Ireland. It is our job to make sure we have regional development in every part of Ireland. We have set a target for IDA Ireland as regards delivery that it ensure that at least half of the companies in which it is investing and growing are outside the Dublin area.…