Niall Collins
Question:74. Deputy Niall Collins asked the Taoiseach the Irish exporting firm to active enterprises ratio in 2014, 2015 and 2016; and the corresponding EU average rate. [11554/17]
View answerTuesday, 7 March 2017
Questions (74, 88, 89, 91)
Niall Collins
Question:88. Deputy Niall Collins asked the Taoiseach if he will provide Ireland’s ratio of exporting firms to active enterprises in the EU. [11025/17]
View answerNiall Collins
Question:89. Deputy Niall Collins asked the Taoiseach the total number of SMEs that account for total exports from Ireland, on a percentage basis, based on latest data at hand. [11024/17]
View answerNiall Collins
Question:91. Deputy Niall Collins asked the Taoiseach the total number of Irish firms that account for total exports from Ireland, on a percentage basis, based on latest data at hand. [11040/17]
View answerWritten answers
I propose to take Questions Nos. 74, 88, 89 and 91 together.
The exact data requested by the Deputy are not available but some estimates can be made for the industrial sector from the CSO’s Structural Business Statistics (SBS). The annual Census of Industrial Production, which is a component of SBS, is based on survey returns from a sample of about 2,000 industrial enterprises, combined with estimates for other enterprises based on Revenue data. The sample returns give an indication of whether the enterprise is involved in exporting goods. In 2014, there were 16,497 active industrial enterprises in Ireland. Of these, 11,183 employed less than three persons. The following information relates to the responses to the survey from industrial enterprises which employed three or more persons. From the sample returns for 2014, it is estimated that 54% of industrial enterprises with three or more persons employed exported some goods and exports accounted for about 65% of turnover. In the case of SMEs, 52% exported some goods and their exports accounted for 46% of turnover.
For large enterprises, employing 250 persons or more, 85% exported some goods and exports accounted for 71% of turnover. These are very broad estimates and a more detailed breakdown is not available from the SBS survey questions.
While corresponding figures for other EU Member States or further breakdowns of these CSO figures are not available, some breakdowns of trade by size of enterprise are available from the Trade by Enterprise Characteristic (TEC) statistics.