Mr. Declan Hughes:

I thank the Cathaoirleach and members of the committee for the opportunity to discuss the statement of strategy for the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment for 2023 to 2025. I am very pleased to meet with the committee for the first time since my appointment as Secretary General on 1 June of this year. The Cathaoirleach has introduced my colleagues. I am joined by Mr. David Hegarty, who is head of our enterprise strategy, competitiveness and evaluation division; Mr. Dermot Mulligan, who heads our workplace regulation and economic migration division; Mr. John Maher, from the corporate services division; Mr. Thomas Murray, from the indigenous enterprise division; Mr. John Newham, who heads our investment and innovation division; and Ms Jean Carberry, who heads our EU and digital affairs division.

As the committee will be aware, my Department leads in advising on and implementing the Government's policies of stimulating the productive capacity of the economy and developing an environment which facilitates employment creation and sustainability. We are also charged with promoting fair competition in the marketplace, protecting consumers and safeguarding workers' rights.

Since 2020 the Department has been working to achieve the commitments and priorities set out in Programme for Government: Our Shared Future. We implemented our 2021-23 statement of strategy and progressed our strategic goals during a period when, as the Cathaoirleach said in his introduction, the Covid-19 pandemic, the UK's withdrawal from the EU and the war in Ukraine created unprecedented challenges for the business community in Ireland.

A wideranging and comprehensive response from the Department and a range of supports for firms more broadly from Government have helped to underpin the resilience of the economy and the labour market, with more than 2.6 million people employed, unemployment at its lowest rate ever at 3.8% last month and, critically, all regions within 1% of the national employment rate, which is a key target for us.

The performance of our enterprise development agencies is key to our strategic objective of creating and maintaining high-quality employment across all parts of our country. Enterprise Ireland, EI, results for 2022 are very strong. EI client company exports increased by 19% to a record €32 billion in 2022, which was a new record, with 64% of new jobs created outside Dublin.

The local enterprise offices, LEOs, continue to nurture and support entrepreneurs and help companies throughout the country respond to the energy and cost-of-living crises. In 2022, more than €21 million in direct financial assistance was approved for 1,112 business projects.

Despite significant challenges in the global economy, half-year results from IDA Ireland published last week show our strong performance has continued into 2023. In the past six months, 139 investments were won with the potential to create 12,000 jobs. Of these, 52 were first-time investments, with 67, or 48%, of the 139 being outside Dublin.

However, despite these positive results, we are again in a strategic planning cycle for the coming years defined by uncertainty and challenge with the continuing war in Europe and its consequences for energy security, trade and the cost of living. As Secretary General, I am cognisant that economic pressures arising from the war in Ukraine and addressing the twin transitions of digital and climate present significant challenges for workers, businesses and the Department. Responding to these will be our key objective in the coming years, alongside maintaining our robust economic and employment performance.

A significant influence on the development of our updated strategy is the Government’s White Paper on Enterprise 2022-2030, which was published in December. The White Paper sets out the medium and long-term ambitions for a vibrant, resilient, regionally balanced and sustainable economy made up of a diversified mix of leading global companies, internationally competitive Irish enterprises and thriving local businesses. The White Paper puts decarbonisation at the centre of enterprise policy, and its publication in December 2022 provided a fresh impetus to the ambition for the success of our business sector. That vision is reflected in this strategy. In May, the Government published the first of the six-monthly reports on the White Paper and the 40 actions we are focused on progressing.

We are acutely aware our work is critical to driving the efficient economic engine that is our country. As part of our strategy for the coming period, we have set out a vision "to make Ireland the best place to succeed in business, across all parts of the country, with vibrant enterprises, more high-quality employment, growing trade, fair workplaces and higher productivity". Our strategic approach for 2023 to 2025 is to protect and build on the progress we have made while advancing the digital and green transitions; championing enterprise; ensuring a competitive business base to incentivise work, sustainable enterprise, innovation and investment; strengthening global connections and trade; promoting fair, competitive markets and responsible business practice; and ensuring safe, flexible and decent workplaces through the regulatory and enforcement work of the Department, its offices and its agencies.

Over the next three years, we will work towards achieving our high-level goals of sustaining full employment in all parts of the country and ensuring strong regional economic development by focusing on creating a competitive business environment with a resilient, innovative and sustainable enterprise base through the work of our agencies, our regional enterprise plans, smart specialisation strategies and new regional funds; advancing the green and digital transitions to ensure the competitiveness and sustainability of Irish-based enterprise and achieving the climate action plan targets of a 35% reduction in industrial emissions by 2030 and net zero by 2050 and the ambition of a strong and vibrant offshore wind sector; promoting safety, better pay and conditions, good quality jobs, gender equality and inclusivity in the workplace and ensuring employment rights and labour market standards are kept under review to reflect national and international developments; enhancing our business regulatory environment and Ireland’s attractiveness as a place to do business, and ensuring high standards of consumer protection so that consumers can make well-informed decisions; leadership on corporate governance and working collaboratively across government on delivery of priority areas for enterprise, including skills and training, the cost of doing business, including insurance, and tax and infrastructure; deepening and extending Ireland’s global business and trade in a responsible, fair and sustainable manner that is supportive of high living standards, growing further the all-island economy and our base of exporters, and exploiting fully the potential of the Single Market and free trade agreements; and building an innovative and agile Department at the forefront of evidence-based policy of public sector innovation and transformation with a strong public service ethos driving effective and responsible policy implementation.

We will continue to prioritise our engagement with the broad base of business, employer and employee representative groups and stakeholders through initiatives such as the enterprise forum, the retail forum, the Company Law Review Group, our new employment law review group and the enterprise digital advisory forum. We also place huge value on Government and cross-departmental groups such as the labour employer economic forum, LEEF, for which we provide a secretariat, and other groups set up for specific purposes. Separately, bottom-up initiatives facilitated through the regional enterprise plan governance structures provide important leadership for the regional enterprise ecosystem.

We look forward to continuing to work with this committee and the Houses of the Oireachtas to progress new legislation and policies across our remit in the areas of company law, competition and consumer protection law, health and safety, trade and digital, as well as employment rights and industrial relations. We will continue to work with the broad base of enterprise and worker stakeholders to support entrepreneurship and prepare businesses for the challenges and opportunities in the future economy, including increased digitalisation and green transition and taking full advantage of the opportunities for increased productivity growth, innovation and internationalisation so our businesses are best placed to provide sustainable, rewarding, and well-paid jobs into the future.