Mr. Declan Hughes:

I thank the Deputy for his good wishes. My colleagues might come in to respond to some of his questions if there is time. He mentioned the 20% of the workforce with whom the IDA and EI work. A similar percentage are working with those companies through indirect employment as sub-suppliers, etc., of goods and services. In accessing those supply chains, they must meet certain standards and certification, etc., and be at the frontier of technology. It is important to manage technology transfer and management transfer spillover to the domestic economy.

While we work with about 300,000 in IDA client companies, Revenue would see foreign multinationals and foreign ownership across all sectors of the economy, in transport, hospitality, etc. That is bringing knowledge and information and increasing productivity to all parts of the country. We would estimate that nearly 1.3 million people are in jobs which are relevant, or directly or indirectly impacted by trade and investment and open markets. That is a force for good. It is a force for competition. It is a force for driving productivity and innovation across the economy. It is challenging for all companies, but particularly for those companies at the frontier and which are competing on international markets. In recent years with the range of supports we have provided, those companies have adapted to increased costs, changes to supply chains and the geopolitical environment. Our new enterprise White Paper was published in January. That White Paper not only recognises the importance of the international trading sector but also now places a central focus on locally traded businesses and that broad base of enterprises in the economy. That is a central pillar.

We have not just the agencies, IDA and Enterprise Ireland, but we work with a range of other agencies in specific sectors. Fáilte Ireland works directly with the tourism and hospitality sector, involving nearly 300,000 people. Bord Bia works at farm level with the horticultural sector and on marketing. Screen Ireland works with the animation and audiovisual sector. There are also a range of horizontal supports. I mentioned SOLAS and Skillnet Ireland which work across all sectors. We try to be the central point for all enterprises in the economy. I mentioned some of those we work with in the retail sector. We also work with the hospitality group and others. Mr. Hegarty might come in to speak about what we are doing as part of the enterprise White Paper.

On sustainability, we place a high priority on carbon emissions, the 20% reduction by 2025 and 35% by 2030. Those are really challenging and stretched targets which require very significant adjustment across all sectors and all businesses, moving from brown to green. That will require significant investment in a range of technologies. Last week we introduced a new scheme for solar photovoltaic panels on top of buildings. We have moved to heat pumps. We need to fully electrify the enterprise base. That gets us about 50% of our target. The other 50% or 45% is the cement industry where a significant amount can be done.

Linked to that, yesterday we launched a report on modern methods of construction. That is fundamentally about changing how we build residential houses, not just to ensure how we can deliver them quicker - the speed is up to 30% or 40% quicker - but also has circularity built into the design of houses from the start, meaning we reduce waste on site. Waste is designed out and we only bring to site what is actually needed for construction. We had a range of indicators yesterday specifically on public housing, an initiative for 1,500 houses, but we would like to get to 10,000 social housing units built every year to get to where the market is at, in terms of 50% or 60%. That will take a number of years. It requires a bit of an adjustment in terms of design and circularity, but we think it can be achieved.

The IDA published figures on wages last week. I do not have them in front of me but I think it is in excess of €60,000. There is still a gap between foreign multinationals and indigenous Enterprise Ireland clients. We have seen some catch-up based on the productivity and growth in the sectors Enterprise Ireland is working with. This comes from higher productivity and high-value areas. The food sector itself is changing, as are ICT, pharma and medtech, but there is still a gap with the rest of in terms of median wages. There is a significant impact where enterprise and investment or foreign direct investment into a region is helping that convergence and catch-up. We recently had figures for the north west where there has been a significant catching up and closing of the gap in income disparity. That is really important and I would be happy to come back to that.

Others may want to come in on the productivity side. Our focus is on digitalisation and adoption of artificial intelligence, AI. We have a really strong target for digitalisation by 2030. Nearly all businesses should have got on that digital journey. For example, more than 700 companies now have online retail scheme support. The retail sector has gone through that transformation. We are working with the construction sector on modern methods of construction, and similar initiatives are needed in other sectors.

On the future of the local enterprise offices, LEOs, we have a centre of excellence which manages the 31 LEOs and is rolling out a new programme of ensuring all the LEOs can provide a consistent first-stop shop, but also a consistent level of supports and services for any business with up to 50 employees which is going on that journey and has that ambition. That is very important. I come back to the leadership and managerial expertise point Deputy O'Reilly mentioned. In terms of centres of excellence, we are looking at that model. There is expertise out there. In the area of AI, for example, CeADAR has been nominated as the European digital innovation hub. There are centres of excellence, whether they are in the LEOs themselves or accessible to companies. We need to identify those and ensure they can be provided.

In the interests of time, I might go straight to the regulation of AI on which we are working at EU and national level. I will ask Ms Carberry to come in on that.