asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce the number and location of trading houses now established; if he is satisfied with their performance to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Written Answers. - Location of Trading Houses.
24.
Twelve trading houses have been licensed to date, of which ten are based in Dublin, one in Blarney, County Cork and one in New Ross, County Wexford.
As the scheme is still at an early stage of development, the first licences having been issued in April 1988, the Deputy will appreciate that it is very difficult at this stage to give any firm indication as to how the trading houses are performing. Like all business concerns, they need time to get their operations off the ground. In addition, the business of export marketing, which is the sole purpose of all the trading houses, takes considerable time to initiate and consolidate. From a survey of the operations of licensed trading houses carried out in April-May of this year, it emerged that while some companies had commenced selling operations, some were still finalising market research. Those which had commenced operations expressed confidence in their future development prospects.
I should add that while trading houses have an important role to play in the development of exports from our small and medium sized enterprises, I do not regard them as a panacea to the general problem of marketing weakness which affects the majority of our SMEs. Ideally every Irish firm should aspire towards the development of an in-house marketing capability. However, the reality is that many of our smaller firms lack the resources to undertake such development and for these the trading house represents a useful route for securing opportunities on export markets and I would encourage such firms to consider strongly this possibility.