Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome budget 2023 as one designed across the Government to help individuals, workers and their families, as well as the business community in Ireland, with the rising cost of living and of doing business, mainly because of Ukraine's war with Russia.

This budget also future-proofs our country by investing in our young people, education, science and innovation. We are investing in innovation through all our business development agencies, such as IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland, Science Foundation Ireland and our local enterprise offices, which are working with our businesses to drive that ambition and the opportunity for Ireland. We are continually investing in all that. The continuous investment that took place through the various Departments has made that happen.

We are also protecting our older generation who worked hard for this country for many years to help us be in a strong position. We are giving them reassurances that we will get through the next five or six months, which might be difficult because of the price of energy. We can deal with the anxiety and worry they have had for a long number of months as we look towards the winter. I am glad we are able to deal with the budget early this year in order to be able to give that reassurance and confidence, not just to business owners who we will stand with through giving them business opportunities in the months ahead, but to those who are trying to manage their budgets at home. In my view, because of much of the commentary, such people have unnecessary fears. The Government through all its Departments will help people through this difficult time. Yesterday's budget confirms that and gives us the resources to do that.

I compliment all involved on the fact that we are in a strong position that allowed us come to the House yesterday to announce a budget of more than €90 billion. For a country the size of Ireland, that is an achievement. Having come through the Covid pandemic and Brexit, and on the back of a financial crisis years ago, to be in the strong position of announcing that budget of €90 billion yesterday, with an additional package of more than €11 billion, is something we should be proud of. While we will argue over different parts and pieces of it in the House, as a country we should recognise that is a positive place to be in and is something we can build on for the future.

I listen to an awful lot of negativity about the future for our young people. In many cases, they are coming home to live in this country, to contribute, and to take up some of the many jobs that are offer. There are 2.5 million people at work. There is a lot of opportunity here. We are the first to admit on this side of the House that there are still challenges, mainly in housing and health, but we are working through them. There are plans in place to deal with them. This budget proves to me that this country is full of hope. There are immense opportunities and possibilities for people of all ages to play a part in that.

Through this budget, we are backing small and medium businesses by helping companies that employ more than 1 million people throughout the country with their energy bills this winter. The Tánaiste went through some of the schemes that are key to making that happen. The most important of those is the temporary business energy support scheme. That is a scheme that will really get behind businesses to guide them through a difficult period ahead and, again, deal with those concerns and worries. We know and recognise that businesses have high energy bills. This scheme puts them in a place to be able to deal with approximately 40% of those additional costs. Other schemes that are in place to help them reduce their energy bills put them on a strong footing to get through difficult times ahead. It will not be easy but through everybody playing their part, we can deal with that as well. Budget 2023 is about helping them to deal with the big challenges they face - I touched on this yesterday - that they have asked the Government and this Department to help them work with. I have touched on energy and energy costs, which undoubtedly are the number one issues.

Business costs are increasing due to supply chain issues coming out of the Covid pandemic and the war in Ukraine. Labour shortages are a major issue. All of the supports we talked about yesterday are efforts to make this a job-friendly budget and to encourage as many as possible to take up a job and realise that work does pay. We will make changes to the various tax measures across the board and to the various supports for people returning to work from unemployment. Work does and will pay and we will continue to prove that case.

As the Minister of State, Deputy Calleary, touched on, we are also assisting a number of businesses on their digital journey and, more importantly, on their green journey. All of our agencies have been working with businesses over recent years to plan out that green journey and to complete their audits and assessments. That is now backed up with new supports and new schemes allowing businesses to invest in the infrastructure they need to continue on that green journey. Again, this puts businesses on a sustainable footing. That does two things. It reduces businesses' costs and allows them to play their part in tackling climate change and reducing emissions. We are also doing this because customers now expect our companies to go green. The markets we feed into all over Europe and beyond expect us to show that we have a greener product. We recognise that and, as a Department, we have been working with companies of all shapes and sizes over recent years to do that. We will continue to do that work. The digital journey is also really important. In many cases, they go hand in hand. The technology, science, engineering and skills that are now available help us on both these journeys. We want to continue to build on that.

It is important to recognise the crossover between enterprise and education. Since 2014, we have been driving an agenda of reform in our education system that is very much enterprise-based and responsive to the needs of enterprise and to all other aspects of education. We are now seeing the results of that in that we have people available to take up these 2.5 million jobs. Businesses are asking us to continue that investment and to work with them to develop talent for the future and to upskill their existing workforces. I touched on this yesterday. The money is set aside across three key Departments for the further education and training concept, higher education, colleges, development following second level education, enterprise and social protection. Three or four Departments are working together to work with businesses to put supports in place through the education and training boards, Skillnet and the technological universities to train up people already in jobs and to develop the skills we need for the future. That is key. I will repeat that this will only work if we all play our part. Government and businesses must work together to develop talent for the future.

We are also investing an additional €4 million in our local enterprise offices. I have been around the country over the last 18 months meeting the teams in these local enterprise offices directly. They helped and assisted an awful lot of businesses through difficult times during the Covid pandemic. We recognise their value, the number of microcompanies and small companies they are working with and the importance of investing in that sector. This budget does that. It gives extra money to local enterprise offices to continue that great work. There is also finance in the budget to develop, with local enterprise offices and Enterprise Ireland, a new framework for dealing with companies who have just over ten employees or whose staff numbers can move up and down between seven or eight and ten or 15. We now have funding to develop a framework and ensure we get the right impact from our business employment agencies like Enterprise Ireland and the local enterprise offices. There is extra funding to support the green transition fund that Enterprise Ireland operates.

I chair the retail forum and know that this budget sets aside the resources we need. The big ask of those in the retail sector is that they be allowed to compete and be given the ability to deal with their cost bases. The energy supports in this budget will enable our retail sector to continue to thrive and compete. Naturally, through the retail forum, we will also promote the climate toolkit for business, the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland's energy audit for SMEs, the accelerated capital allowances and the Green for Micro programme. A key part of this budget is help for our retail sector to reach new markets. We are doing that through online trading. The trading online vouchers were a great success during the Covid pandemic. We will continue that work. The online retail scheme operated through Enterprise Ireland over recent years has been extremely successful. It is being reviewed by the various Departments at the moment. I am confident the review will show it has been successful and that we will be in a position to provide for more rounds next year. Again, what are we trying to achieve here? We recognise that the retail sector employs more than 300,000 people in positions in every county and region. There is a lot of potential there because 70% of online business still goes to overseas companies. We want to win that back and we will support our retailers to do that. We also recognise that, with close to 1 million extra people set to be living in this country in 15 or 16 years, there is potential for more customers.

We want to continue to invest in our town centres, our retail spaces and the experience we can offer throughout our villages, towns and cities throughout the country. Town centre teams have been set up through the Department Rural and Community Development. In conjunction with the Departments of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and Housing, Local Government and Heritage, we will make that happen. We value that as well.

I also want to highlight Ireland's investment in the European Space Agency. We are often asked in here why we are making this investment. With the extra €1.5 million allocated yesterday, we will invest close to €24 million in the European Space Agency on behalf of Irish companies that then win contracts, creating jobs and driving innovation in technologies that are not just of use in space, but in many sectors. Since 2017, we have seen an increase of 50% in the number of companies winning contracts with the agency. More than 100 companies are now winning for Ireland in that space.

The regional enterprise funds were touched on. I hope that, in the coming months and through Enterprise Ireland, the Tánaiste will be able to launch the next round of regional enterprise funding. We hope a regional enterprise development fund of €30 million will be opened. The commitment is to spend more than €140 million through that fund over the coming years. It is important to get it open this year so that we can back initiatives in our regions to drive community enterprise facilities and our enterprise agenda. I touched on the importance of enterprise in education. One story of success with the regional enterprise development fund relates to an advance manufacturing facility in Dundalk. This benefited from various funds administered through our Department and more money was put into these yesterday. That is driving the future of manufacturing in this country. Young people are being brought into that facility every day to let them see what the manufacturing of the future is about. Again, it is about growing talent and future-proofing the country. That is what we want to invest in.

I will address two other areas under my Department. I am confident that the money has been secured to fund the Health and Safety Authority and all the work it does for the year ahead. It is really important that we try to protect everybody at work. That is what the authority is about. It protects people at work through working hand in hand with business to develop that culture and, more importantly, working with the agricultural community in respect of farm safety.

The Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, plays a vital role in Irish society in delivering fair and compliant workplaces and the non-discriminatory delivery of services. Our Department is committed to ensuring that adequate resourcing is provided to the WRC. This budget does that. I am proud of the work the WRC does to protect the workers in our country.

The last thing I will touch on is the importance of working with the business community on the issue of labour shortages. I have touched on this but resources are provided in this budget across a number of Departments to make sure we are in a position to work with businesses to make sure they have the skills and labour they need well into the future. Doing that is also key.

See this speech in context