Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North-West, Fianna Fail)
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10. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the steps his Department is taking to promote the participation of Irish SMEs in EU important projects of common European interest; whether a new outreach strategy is planned; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21736/25]

Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North-West, Fianna Fail)
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What steps does the Department intend to take regarding participation of SMEs in EU important projects of common European interest, IPCEI? Ireland has some fantastic, world-leading companies, but we also have a vibrant SME sector that often does not have the participation it should have, both in the context of domestic public tendering process and also, in this instance, in projects of common interest. I would appreciate if the Minister would update the House on the matter.

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy McAuliffe for this important question. It is a matter that will pave the way for a significant future in Ireland for semiconductors and other areas. Important projects of common European interest are becoming increasingly important as a means to enhance the competitiveness of the EU and its member states. The new programme for Government contains a commitment to "Boost participation in Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEI) to increase competitiveness and productivity for Irish companies and create more jobs". Ireland needs to significantly step up its involvement in the important projects of common European interest, subject to available funding, and I see SMEs and start-ups as being central to this. We have a great opportunity for our SMEs through the funding of breakthrough research and development, and first industrial deployment projects, to enable scaling up. In other words, we have an opportunity to help to make our most important technologies ready for mass production and we want SMEs rightly involved at the heart of it.

I fully support the integration of SMEs into future investments in important projects of common European interest. Officials in my Department are working with their counterparts in enterprise agencies to identify Ireland's priorities for the future. This ensures that the priorities from across industry, including our SMEs, are identified and proposed for consideration at the EU level in the selection of these new important projects of common European interest technologies. My Department is also fully engaged with the joint European forum for important projects of common European interest, JEF-IPCEI, and is a member of working groups on national best practices and facilitation of SME participation.

My Department will implement recommendations from these groups and will aim to make more important projects of common European interest accessible for SMEs and support SMEs through the process. In addition to these working groups, my Department is also participating in the JEF working groups, which are tasked with designing new important projects of common European interest in the strategic sectors of advanced semiconductor technologies and Al. Ireland's representation on these groups includes both Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland to help promote the interests of Irish industry as part of the scope of this development.

Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North-West, Fianna Fail)
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Some of what the Minister outlined is really important. I want to underscore the more micro-level interventions that need to be made. The Minister mentioned Enterprise Ireland. It is a fantastic organisation that is particularly focused on SMEs and Irish businesses which export abroad. These projects of common European interest are known. They are ready-made targets for our industries.

I hope, and would have every expectation, that Enterprise Ireland will be taking the information that is publicly available, identifying companies in Ireland likely to participate and providing both training and support for those organisations in order for them to be successful in bidding for contracts.

Ireland has fantastic companies but we have seen in the past that with additional support from organisations like Enterprise Ireland, they are able to access new markets. Given the scale of some of these projects - and they are vast - this is one area Enterprise Ireland in particular, really needs to focus on. The Minister might bring this back to the organisation concerned.

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy McAuliffe and I absolutely agree with him. We are doing that through our new semiconductor strategy, which clearly calls out the role Enterprise Ireland will have in advice and financing access to these projects.

One thing I will say is one of the big projects we have had is from Analog Devices which has approximately a €630 million investment through the projects of common European interest. I was looking at one of these semiconductor companies quite recently, which had 814 SMEs on its books that it was working on. This was a large-scale company with services from Banagher to Longford. It was incredible to see so many SMEs linked in. That is why, as part of the review of the national development plan, it will be critical to get more support into our enterprise development agencies to enable companies to access these incredible projects. We know renewables and semiconductors are areas the European Union is focusing on and since the competitive compass that has come on foot of the Draghi report, we will see many areas of opportunity on behalf of the Irish Government. We are fighting very hard for additional funding in this area through the NDP envelope which will be negotiated in the coming weeks.

Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North-West, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister predicted where I was going with my reply. The sub-supply chain within Ireland is increasingly important. We saw when organisations like IBM, for example, opened first in west Dublin and the huge number of Irish small SMEs which then became sub-suppliers, not because of a lower quality of their product but because of the quality of the product, their proximity to the location and their ability to provide top-class services.

As well as SMEs participating at the level of common European projects as direct suppliers, there is also a whole chain of small SMEs that could supply those companies in return. There is a huge ecosystem here in Ireland, particularly on the engineering side, which I have some experience of with regard to materials, metals, plastics and so on. I really believe there is much potential there. There is a drive here to bring manufacturing back to the European Union which will benefit Irish companies if we equip them correctly.

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy who is quite right; it is an area of huge opportunity. As a country, in the past we have not done enough in this area and having only one project speaks volumes. That is why we are reframing the narrative in connection with this and working with Enterprise Ireland and the IDA to try to ensure companies have the capacity to access these very significant projects. We know renewables and semiconductors are going to be important for the future of Ireland. As I said in my earlier contribution, when you see chips turning up in fridges, phones, electric vehicles, Ireland has one of the best landscapes for this. More than 80 semiconductor companies are linked in with SMEs in our landscape, with more than 20,000 people, and KPMG has been clear we have the capacity to go to 40,000 in the next decade and beyond. When we see we are dwindling in Europe - we have only 8% of the chip market while Asia is manufacturing 80% - we have the building blocks here and products like this to drill down, as the Deputy quite rightly pointed out, other components in our SME supply chain. I would push this as part of the NDP review because this is how you sustain really good employment and enhance our SME sector right across the economy.