Mr. David Hegarty:

I thank Deputy Stanton. We will do our best to address his questions.

I will first deal with our trade with the UK. Notwithstanding the pressures of Brexit, our trade with the UK continues to increase. In fact, our trade in goods with the UK last year reached a value of €51.5 billion, with goods exports increasing by 22% to reach a value of €22.1 billion. Imports from the UK increased by 51% over 2021, reaching a value of €29.4 billion. Notwithstanding the pressures of Brexit, trade with the UK continues to perform strongly, certainly based on the figures for 2022.

The Deputy raised several issues concerning the cost of doing business, including interest rate increases. Many of these issues are not within the control of our Department. The purpose of the section in the White Paper that the Deputy referred to is to highlight the critical factors for business. We need to get these right. The Department works with other Departments on this agenda, including through the work of the National Competitiveness and Productivity Council, whose secretariat is provided by my Department.

The Deputy mentioned lean thinking. He is quite correct that it is not specifically mentioned in the White Paper, but Enterprise Ireland runs several programmes in this area that are important if we are to reach our decarbonisation targets and meet the requirements of the productivity agenda. This is essentially about firms becoming more lean and efficient in their use of resources.

On remote working, there have been some reports of people working outside the jurisdiction. Our Department developed the Government’s strategy Making Remote Work some years ago. Obviously, there are some downsides but overall we believe remote work can be a positive factor, including in areas whose towns may not have much employment. Remote working is another way of tackling such problems. We do not have a policy per seon employment blackspots. Regarding the activation agenda, we would look to other Government strategies, such as Pathways to Work, which is managed by the Department of Social Protection. There is also an employment strategy for people with a disability. We regard the White Paper as complementing the other strategies.

On the question on sites for industry, IDA Ireland has a regional property programme. It is a significant element of IDA Ireland’s budget. I cannot comment on the situation in Cork. Maybe we could come back to the Deputy on that. Over the past ten years, IDA Ireland has spent almost €97 million on its regional property programme. Therefore, it is a significant programme in the Department’s budget.

We will have to look into the Deputy’s question on casual trading licences. We will check with the relevant people and revert to him. I hope I have covered the questions.