Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I congratulate Mr. Hughes on his appointment as Secretary General. I know he will bring great skill to that post.

I was in the Department for some time and congratulate it on the progress since 2012. The IDA has added an extra 148,000 jobs and EI has added 48,000 jobs. Approximately 200,000 extra jobs have been created in the space of a decade by the enterprise support agencies. As we know, close to 600,000 extra jobs have been added elsewhere in the economy. Our enterprise sector is in rude good health. I cannot remember who said that wisdom is not the reflection on the past but the responsibility for the future. With that in mind, I will turn my questioning to some future issues.

At the moment, the enterprise agencies support approximately 20% of the workforce. At a time exports were our overriding priority to try to build our economy, that was understandable. However, as the focus now is on productivity and adaptation to change as digital and green considerations have given rise to raising wages and different working conditions, does the focus of the enterprise energies need to shift? Do the 80% of people employed in enterprises that are not supported by the agencies need to see a more coherent strategy? It will not be the same. I know the mandate of LEOs has changed somewhat but it has not moved away from exports or export-oriented activities.

On sustainability, there is a target of a 35% reduction in emissions in the industrial sector but that is a very narrow measure because it is probably dominated by a tiny number of sectors, particularly, for example, the cement industry and high users. To examine the sustainability of our sectors, the circular economy, the materials and processes used by companies, and how they approach maintaining materials in use for a long period, manage waste and recover the percentage of reused material that goes into their primary processes need to be considered. Has the Department recognised that is a very different thing from focusing on the emissions issue, which is a narrow, albeit important, focus? It is just as damaging to the global climate if an industry buys a lot of equipment that has an immense carbon footprint as if those emissions were coming from the island of Ireland. What are the indicators the Department is using to evaluate how far on we are in that regard? Is it using reuse indicators? Are there waste minimisation and selection of material indicators? Much of this will be required of companies up to a certain stage. It seems we need a new strategy.

I am interested to know how the average pay in IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland companies has moved over the decade. What is it like now? How does it compare to the rest of the enterprise sector? It is one thing to have good pay in our premium export-orientated sectors but we also need wages to be lifted elsewhere. How does the Department address that issue? As an economy, we face a productivity issue to bring all enterprises up to a certain level.

I would be interested to hear the Department's views on the future of LEOs. They have been very useful. There is one for every county and I can see the sense in that. On the other hand, it is hard to see each of those LEOs being able to offer the range of services that an enterprise might want or need. There is a need for centres of excellence to be built somewhere in the system to allow for quick referral. I am interested to know what progress has been made in that regard.

I would also like to hear the views of the officials on the regulation of AI and how that is going to impact the companies in their portfolio and the public interest. It seems to be the massive regulatory challenge in the enterprise sector. Our witnesses are on the one hand well placed to comment because so many of the big players are operating in Ireland. On the other, we need to have a vision of what is sustainable regulation for a sector such as that.