Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentation. I have several questions. The White Paper does not contain any jobs target. It is the possibly the first time that a policy paper coming from the Department does not set a jobs target. Is this a reflection of a new perception of Ireland's capacity? Why is this the case? Is the mood of the moment to have a period of consolidation around stronger enterprises on the same jobs footprint? In this context representatives of the small business sector came before the committee last week, including exporters, chambers of commerce and ISME. They certainly underlined the problem of scaling and the need for much stronger management development programmes. While they were full of admiration for what Enterprise Ireland does, there was some questioning of the capacity of the local enterprise offices to do likewise for the companies that will fall within their remit. There is an issue with how we will build the capacity of the local enterprise offices and whether their structures will change.

We recently passed a circular economy Act that commits the Government to having sectoral circular economy strategies. I do not see any mention of these in the White Paper. It seems a fairly glaring omission against the background that on a production basis our emissions are nearly double those of the rest of Europe. However, if we look at what we consume and whose footprint falls in other countries, our impact is 75% higher than is recorded in our official target figures. We have real problem with our capacity to recycle, reuse, repair, restore, avoid demolition and choose wisely in our construction materials. There are serious problems in these areas. We really need to see the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment step up and develop such strategies.

My next question is on our ambitions for the digital transformation. There is conventional wisdom around the Houses that data centres are at the root of all our problems. I would be interested to hear the perspective of the Department on what is the role of data centres. What are the appropriate restrictions and constraints on their growth in the short term? What is their a role in the longer term as we develop this once-in-a-century renewable asset - or whatever way it was described - that we have? In normal terms it would become a magnet for data centres. People go to the most efficient country to manage their data. Ireland stands to be just such a country in the longer term. This is my view. I would like to hear the perspective of the Department.