Sinn Féin plans to invest €35m in a new enterprise agency for small, indigenous businesses who trade domestically.
Visiting a coffee shop in Mervue that will celebrate its first birthday tomorrow, party leader Mary Lou McDonald said the measure would foster and support small businesses here.
Ms McDonald was speaking in Mervue, Co Galway where she is canvassing ahead of taking part in tonight's RTÉ TV debate.
Ms McDonald began the day with a visit to a gym and said she felt "grand" about taking part in the debate and that she needed to convince people that her party was offering change that can bring solutions.
She said while the campaign was going well the party "still have a way to go" and that two weeks is a long time in politics.
In relation to the party's stance on the pension age, the Sinn Féin leader said they had voted to increase the pension age to 66 in Northern Ireland because the issue was "forced through".
Ms McDonald said there was a threat of €70m being taken out of the budget if her party did not support the package of welfare reforms.
She said Sinn Féin sought to minimise the impact of what she described as "cuts", but she said "I won't pretend we could mitigate them all".
She said her party wants to restore the pension age to 65 across the island and that they would make a start by doing that in the Dáil if in government.
She said they look forward to the day they have the power to do the same in the North.
Mary Lou McDonald was speaking in Mervue in Co Galway where she is canvassing ahead of taking part in tonight's RTE debate.
