Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There were lots of questions there and I will try to answer them before the Deputy has to leave.

Starting with the European Space Agency, we have many fascinating projects under way in this area. I will record some of the companies benefiting from the ESA because I think many people do not realise that Ireland is becoming a much more significant player in the space technology area. Regarding the kinds of applications for this technology, we can look at a company, which I am very familiar with, called Treemetrics in County Cork. It received an ESA contribution of €1.2 million towards the development of its technology. Satellite imaging, data analysis and advanced forest measurement technology will be used to provide more accurate forest carbon credit estimates. Effectively, we are using imagery from space to allow us to calculate the density of a forest and make an accurate calculation as to the carbon credit estimate involved in growing that forestry cover.

That is what we are talking about with regard to space technology. This is a direct application to everyday business, just like how some of the most advanced farms in Ireland are now applying fertilisers and sprays on the back of mapping they have from satellite imagery of their own fields in terms of soil samples and so on. PixQuanta in Cork is getting an ESA contribution of €130,000 to further develop its cutting-edge light sensing technology, which offers major performance and cost-saving benefits with end markets such as augmented reality technology and autonomous driving applications. Again, that is supported by ESA. Réaltra Space Systems Engineering in Dublin is getting an ESA contribution of €1.73 million. It designed, built and delivered the space qualified video telemetry kit to Europe's premier launcher developer. It is really high-end tech development with the support of ESA. Davra in Dublin is getting an ESA contribution of €2 million to provide management tools for the ongoing compliance assessment and monitoring of mine site. It is a really innovative company. ATG Innovation in Galway is getting an ESA contribution of €200,000. There is significant money coming from the European Space Agency. There is also mBryonics in Galway, which is in receipt of a cumulative ESA contribution of €1.17 million and won three technology development activities in highly competitive ESA tenders relating to optical satellite communications technology. The list goes on. I just want to give the committee a sense of the fact that while we are putting money into ESA, our companies are also getting lots of money out through competitive tenders, where they have to prove their worth and beat off other competition from around Europe, and they are succeeding. That is exactly the kind of economic enterprise development we want to see.

I again thank the Red Cross. It has been really easy to work with it in a very difficult set of circumstances, particularly in Midleton but also in other parts of the country. I think around 190 companies have now applied. Last week the figure hit €1 million in terms of money that has gone out. Obviously there is lots more money to go out on the back of assessments and so on but that is for the initial payouts. I might be wrong but the turnaround times this time around have probably been better than we have seen in the past. I just want to thank the Red Cross team because it has not been easy on the ground. It is important that we get cash to businesses quickly so they can get back up on their feet, particularly retailers because the build-up to Christmas is the harvest time of year for them. In a market town like Midleton where there are lots of businesses that have been impacted all wanting to get back up and running quickly, getting money to them is so important. That will continue. I also thank those involved for their flexibility. Of course there have to be some qualification criteria but this is a humanitarian support at the end of the day so we have to try to be as flexible as we can within those rules.

There has been a suggestion that we were somehow giving preferential treatment to Cork companies and to Midleton. That is not the case. The exact same criteria apply to Galway, Meath, Louth and Wexford as apply to Cork. It is important to say that. Clearly there are far more companies and businesses impacted in the Cork area because the floods were more extreme there but the same two schemes were launched for all the different areas, namely, the standard scheme and the enhanced scheme. Of the 190 applications, 167 are from Cork, four are from Galway, 11 are from Louth, five are from Waterford, two are from Wicklow and one is from Wexford. Some 16 applicants have received their full payment and their claims are now complete while 32 applicants have received their initial payments and their files have been sent to an assessor who has set an appointment date with all businesses to carry out an assessment before the second payment is made. A further 17 applicants have received their first initial payment and their files will now be prepared to send to an assessor. Another five applicants received their first initial payments and their assessments are on hold until the landlord submits their claim. The total paid out between 70 applicants of the 190 is just over €1 million. Those statistics are a few days old so I suspect the figures are higher. That is just to give a sense of what the Red Cross is doing here. It is a big job of work to do and it has been really impressive this time. We will constantly try to get better, of course, but it has been great.

On the unified patent court, the Deputy has been consistent in his asking for this and he is dead right. This needs to happen but we need to make sure we have the referendum at the right time so we get it passed because sometimes the answer you get from the electorate is not to the question being asked in a referendum. It is sometimes an expression of frustration or is another statement people are making to the Government. We want to make sure we do this. The recommendation from my Department to the Government is that we hold this referendum at the same time as the European elections because this is a European issue. It is important that we have common standards in terms of patent protections for IP and so on across the European Union. It is really important for Irish companies that that happens. Otherwise we will have to do our own thing, effectively, outside of that broad European standard, which I do not think would be good on any level for our businesses and protecting their IP. We hope to have that next year. That will of course involve an Estimate for next year rather than this year but that is the plan.

We spoke about the Amgen site, as it is called. I am sure Deputy O'Connor will be familiar with that too. I remind the IDA of it all the time but it has lots of sites around the country and it has obligations to do everything it can to try to realise their potential.

On the analysis of areas where there could and perhaps should be more job creation in order that people do not have to travel long distances, the IDA has committed to delivering 19 advanced building solutions across six regions in 15 locations, working with local authorities where appropriate to advance planning permissions for additional building solutions. In other words, the IDA is proactively building advanced manufacturing plants in different parts of the country where it believes it can generate activity. That includes delivering eight buildings across four regions, namely, Monaghan, Sligo, Dundalk, Limerick, Carlow, Waterford and Athlone. Five buildings are on site in Sligo, Galway, Mullingar, Cavan and Athlone. There are two further buildings in Letterkenny and Drogheda that are in the planning system. With respect to ongoing site selection, there are four remaining properties in Tralee, Castlebar, Oranmore and Longford. There is an extensive process under way there. The IDA and the Department have mapped parts of the country where we believe we need to make investment in a footprint to encourage and give a competitive advantage to some of these towns that perhaps might not have it before now in an effort to try to get FDI into those areas. That has proven quite successful. Sometimes you end up with a shell for a time while trying to fill that building and that creates huge frustration locally and a lot of pressure on the IDA to deliver but by and large, it has been a very successful strategy.

I hear what the Deputy is saying about Youghal. I know Youghal well. It is a fantastic town, which we need to think about how we can give more support to. Youghal should not be just a nice place to live where people have to drive back towards Cork for employment.

We should be able to generate employment in the town too, which is something the Deputy has raised many times.

On work permit applications and how quickly they are being processed, across 2022 and 2023 the Department made significant progress in improving the permanent processing applications to address increased demand, reducing application waiting processes from approximately 11,000 in January 2022 to 2,500 currently. Processing times across all permanent types have been reduced from a high of 21 weeks to below 21 business days at present. In my experience it in fact often gets turned around in approximately ten days. Internal processes have been streamlined and initiatives developed to contribute to improving timeframes for the processing of applications. The year 2022 saw a 28% increase in applications compared with 2021, and the Department is projecting a full year increase in 2023 of about 7% above last year. As of the end of October, a total of 31,000 employment permit applications have been received. It was approximately 39,000 last year, and I think it will be a similar number this year. Given some of the language and commentary we have heard about inward migration to Ireland, and the hate-driven commentary we saw last week, I will reinforce the view of Government and my own personal view that inward migration has been extraordinarily positive for Ireland. Some 50% of all nurses in this country were not born in Ireland. Two out of every five doctors were not born in Ireland. Many of our best companies, both Irish and international, are successful because of the contribution of really talented and motivated people from other parts of the world who have come to make Ireland their home. We should make them welcome here, and face down the kind of bigotry, racism and anti-immigrant feeling on the back of which some are trying to build campaigns and intimidation. Ireland is one of the few countries in the world that continues to see inward migration as a positive thing for economic development. We need to keep it that way, despite some of the other challenges.

In October, the HSA carried out an inspection campaign targeting renewable energy installations, including wind farms, solar farms and anaerobic digestion facilities. This was the first inspection campaign of its kind, and was carried out due to rapid growth in the renewable energy industry. There will be continued growth in the renewable energy industry across Ireland in coming years as the climate action plan target of up to 80% renewable electricity by 2030 is being delivered on. It is a sector that can present particular hazards for workers including excavations, lifting operations, working at heights, electrical and gas safety and emergency response plans. In November, the HSA carried out a week-long inspection campaign focusing on the health and well-being of farmers in this space. Research has shown that farmers are at higher risk of certain health and wellness conditions due to the nature of their work. That kind of campaign on farms and elsewhere will continue to be a focus for the HSA, due to the roll-out of new types of energy generation capacity on farm buildings, households and industrial buildings. It needs to be, for all of the reasons outlined.

I am particularly partial to Canada. I have a lot of family connections there. It is an amazing country, and since CETA was agreed the data will show that Ireland's trading relationship with Canada has increased dramatically. I think it is only the start of what is possible. There is a long way to go, so I welcome the committee's visit to Canada next week. I hope that can be facilitated and will not be disrupted by a motion of no confidence. Others will decide that, but if the committee goes it will be time well spent. The Minister of State, Deputy Calleary, was recently in Canada on a trade mission and came back with a positive report on opportunities. We need to look at our footprint there all of the time. However, we need to get CETA ratified formally, even though it is effectively working pending its ratification. It is an important to send Canada a signal that Ireland has the capacity to ratify. I hope I will get the support of this committee in those effects. It of course needs to legally compliant with a court judgment. We are taking advice on that at the moment. Early in the new year we will hopefully be able to act on that advice. I take the point on Calgary. We will certainly put that into discussions when talking about footprint. We opened what was effectively a new embassy in Vancouver in recent years. It is a consulate, but is as busy as an embassy. There are a lot of Irish people in Canada, in particular in Toronto and Vancouver, but other parts of Canada too. It is a footprint we should probably build out more.