Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On my first appearance before the joint committee as the relevant Minister, I acknowledge the important contribution it makes to the development of enterprise policy. As we know, Ireland's reputation as a fantastic country in which to do business has been hard earned and owes much to our long-held, national, cross-party consensus that innovation, entrepreneurship and investment are in everyone's interests. We all share a desire to see the economy continue to grow and prosper and I look forward to working with members in the time ahead on the key issues of concern to the people.

One such matter which the committee is keen to discuss is Ireland's competitiveness in attracting and sustaining foreign direct investment. Concerns have been raised that certain infrastructural challenges may be adversely affecting our capacity to win more such investment.

Before I address some of those issues, I want to emphasise that the Government fully appreciates how important FDI remains to our development and economic growth. Overseas companies create opportunities, export tens of billions worth of goods and services annually, contribute to Government revenues and drive research and innovation all over Ireland. Those same businesses also employ more than 200,000 people and support job creation at our indigenous firms. We therefore clearly want these multinational companies to remain here and to attract even more of them to our shores.

These firms come to Ireland, of course, for many different reasons. Chief among them is our talented and flexible workforce, which is globally recognised as one of the best in the world. Our education system, our demographics and track record as a successful home to global business are also all significant attractions. Ireland’s continuing membership of the European Union and eurozone is another key selling point.

The quality of our economic and social infrastructure is undeniably important as well when it comes to FDI. That is because businesses need to know that a jurisdiction has the necessary transport networks, connectivity, telecommunications systems, schools, universities and housing stock that can sustain investment and the jobs that go with it. Ireland, it is fair to say, has made great strides over the past several decades in improving our own national infrastructure, which is partly why overseas firms continue to locate here. At the same time, the Government recognises that our economic and social infrastructure requires further investment. This is important in its own right, but also because it helps to sustain FDI flows into the country.

I know that IDA Ireland, with which I look forward to working in the time ahead, actively engages with its client base about challenges to further investment here. The IDA also co-operates on a virtually daily basis with my own Department in responding to those issues and ensuring they are addressed as best as possible. One such matter which I know was comprehensively addressed by a recent American Chamber of Commerce report is the supply of domestic housing. We in government agree that we must improve the availability of quality and affordable houses and apartments to people living in Ireland. This is a national priority on every level - social, demographic, environmental and indeed economic. I certainly understand that if we want to continue growing FDI at the record levels of recent years, there must be adequate housing in place for the workers who take up positions in multinational firms. The actions that the Minister for Housing and his predecessors have taken to address the problem of housing supply are well documented. I will briefly recap a sample of them. A national plan, Rebuilding Ireland, has been put in place to increase the delivery of homes nationwide. This is already producing results. Since it was launched just over a year ago, planning permissions are up 49% and commencement notices have increased by 47%. In July this year, a new An Bord Pleanála fast-track planning permission process entered into force and in early October some restrictions were lifted to make apartment building more viable and affordable. The budget within the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government for specific housing issues in 2018 was increased by 46%, meaning there will now be almost €2 billion directly aimed at the housing shortage and homelessness crisis. The overall funding earmarked for the Rebuilding Ireland plan was also increased to over €6 billion.

The effort to satisfactorily increase housing supply in Ireland will take more time - there is no disputing that. However, progress is being made. In terms of the particular FDI angle, I know that overseas firms that are responsible for tens of thousands of jobs here have welcomed the steps already taken. IDA Ireland continues to manage the relationships with these companies very carefully and ensures that any infrastructure concerns they may have are brought swiftly to our attention.

In terms of the broader steps the Government is taking to address infrastructural challenges to FDI, I want to underline the importance of the draft national planning framework, NPF. The draft NPF, which has already been published, provides an essential economic development framework for us to follow up to 2040. It will ensure that a long-term co-ordinated approach is in place so that infrastructural bottlenecks and hurdles can be avoided and, by extension, enterprise development supported. The NPF, once it is in final form and fully agreed, will be accompanied by a new ten-year investment plan. The plan will not only detail the State’s investment in significant projects up to 2028 but will also set out a new institutional framework to deliver a major improvement in Ireland’s public capital infrastructure and the public services provided through it. In terms of the more immediate future, there is an additional €4.1 billion allocated for public investment over the current capital plan up to 2021. These resources will continue to be deployed to bolster and improve infrastructure all over Ireland.

I want now to turn to the issue of the planning process in Ireland, given that this and the Apple data centre project in Athenry were specifically referenced in the committee’s invitation to me to speak here today. I can be very clear on this issue. The delays that beset that project in Galway have underlined the need to have a more efficient planning and decision process in place in this country. That is why the Government has already been taking steps to avoid a repeat of that situation. It intends, for example, to designate data centres as strategic infrastructure developments for planning purposes. That would have the effect of changing the planning process for such developments from the current two stage process to a more streamlined single stage mechanism. On the broader subject of data centres, an interdepartmental working group, on which my own Department is represented, has been established by the Department of the Taoiseach to examine our strategic approach to the development of such projects. That group is examining a number of cross-departmental policy issues connected to this subject, including a possible national policy statement on data centres.

The general positives we have witnessed in recent years in terms of economic growth, job generation and increased Government spending capacity are largely driven by the enterprise base on our island. All firms that are located in Ireland, be they foreign or indigenous, multinational or micro, manufacturing or medtech, therefore need a positive operating environment in which to continue to thrive. The Government is focused on providing just that and I will certainly do my part to improve our economic infrastructure. While we are facing some challenges, we should remember that we nevertheless remain very competitive compared to other jurisdictions. Indeed, the IMD’s world competitiveness yearbook ranked us number six globally in 2017. Another recent World Bank report on doing business placed Ireland at 17th out of 190 countries. We obviously have room to improve, not least when it comes to critical issues like the supply of quality and affordable housing. I will be approaching that particular challenge from an enterprise angle to help ensure that workers across Ireland have better access to homes for them and their families. I look forward now to discussing these and other issues with the committee in more detail.