Results 321-340 of 1,022,796 for in 'Dáil debates' OR (speaker:Cathal Crowe OR speaker:Anne Rabbitte) in 'Committee meetings'

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Export Controls (23 May 2024)

Dara Calleary: I assure the Deputy I am not asking him to do my job, nor will I do so. We have a rigorous process. The Deputy is insinuating that said process is allowing things to slip through. If he has backup to that insinuation, he should provide it to us and I will be able to give him relevant and accurate information. We have a rigorous process that involves our Department and the Department of...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Export Controls (23 May 2024)

Matt Carthy: Not a single licence has ever been refused.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Export Controls (23 May 2024)

Dara Calleary: I am confident in standing over that process. As Ministers in the Department, Deputies Burke and Higgins and I regularly challenge our officials to make sure it is rigorous, particularly in respect of Israel.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Industrial Development (23 May 2024)

Industrial Development

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Industrial Development (23 May 2024)

David Stanton: 57. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment to report on his Department's Powering Prosperity: Ireland's Offshore Wind Industrial Strategy, which was published in March; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23263/24]

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Industrial Development (23 May 2024)

David Stanton: I ask the Minister if he agrees with the implication in Powering Prosperity: Ireland's Offshore Wind Industrial Strategy, published by his Department, that there are thousands of potential jobs, maybe hundreds of thousands of potential jobs, in this whole area from the point of view of assembling and maintaining the turbine infrastructure, having the upstream and downstream maintenance,...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Industrial Development (23 May 2024)

Dara Calleary: I thank the Deputy for his question. I absolutely agree with its premise and his ambition. It is the core ambition of Powering Prosperity: Ireland's Offshore Wind Industrial Strategy, published by our Department last March. The strategy ensures that Ireland maximises the economic benefits associated with our climate and offshore renewable energy, ORE, targets. I commend Deputy Coveney,...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Business Supports (23 May 2024)

Peter Burke: Deputy Smith is right to point out the pressure that small manufacturing and engineering businesses, particularly start-ups, are under with regard to access to finance. It is very important that they get finance at competitive rates. With regard to helping existing SMEs with their working capital, the new Microfinance Ireland thresholds are increasing from €25,000 to...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Industrial Development (23 May 2024)

Industrial Development

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Industrial Development (23 May 2024)

Bernard Durkan: 55. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the extent to which his Department continues to ensure the competitiveness of this country’s trade and industry sectors in an increasingly competitive world market; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23229/24]

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Industrial Development (23 May 2024)

Bernard Durkan: This question is on the same theme of competitiveness, the health of the trade and industry sectors and the degree to which they can remain competitive in an increasingly competitive and challenging marketplace.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Industrial Development (23 May 2024)

Peter Burke: I thank Deputy Durkan for his very important question. Ireland is recognised as one of the most competitive economies in the world and performs well in international rankings of competitiveness. In June 2023, Ireland was ranked as the second most competitive country in the world in the IMD world competitiveness rankings. The 2024 iteration of these rankings is due to be published in the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Industrial Development (23 May 2024)

Bernard Durkan: I thank the Minister for his comprehensive reply. In passing, I congratulate him and his colleagues on their elevation or their retention of their very important positions. The points the Minister has raised in regard to the contributory factors that might challenge the competitiveness of trade and industry are the issues I would like to concentrate on. All sectors of industry know the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Industrial Development (23 May 2024)

Peter Burke: I concur with the Deputy that we can never take our eye off the ball when we have an open and strong economy like Ireland's. We have to continue to work. It is very important that we have a pipeline of €165 billion for the next decade for capital infrastructure because infrastructure improvements will attract new businesses and keep our economy competitive. We have seen in the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Industrial Development (23 May 2024)

Bernard Durkan: With regard to the climate issues that the Minister raised, it is important that we retain our competitiveness in that area and do not become a world leader and, as a result, have to pay higher costs than many of our competitors. This is a very competitive market. We must try to maintain capacity. Any diminution at all will very quickly accelerate, with obvious consequences for employers...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Industrial Development (23 May 2024)

Peter Burke: They are valid points. The Deputy raised the issue of climate. It is critical that we remain competitive. When we see a company like Diageo, the home of the black stuff, spending €100 million to decarbonise its processes over the next five or six years, when we have world leaders like that based here in Ireland and leading by example, it shows the change that is under way. We have...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Business Supports (23 May 2024)

Brendan Smith: I thank the Minister for his detailed reply. I again acknowledge the efforts he and his ministerial colleagues have made in getting the message out that this money is available and there is a simple and speedy application process. Quite rightly, the areas of retail and hospitality were identified for particular assistance. I have recently been engaging considerably with small-scale...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Business Supports (23 May 2024)

Peter Burke: I again thank the Deputy for outlining his concerns on the sectors. As it happens, the Minister of State, Deputy Calleary, the Minister of State, Deputy Higgins, and I were discussing the issue of manufacturing yesterday at one of our meetings. The Deputy is quite right. There is a varied number of issues that we are trying to respond to in that area. I have travelled around the country a...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Business Supports (23 May 2024)

Brendan Smith: I thank the Minister. I repeat my request that he make a particular appeal to the finance houses to support small and medium sized enterprises, because they are not doing so adequately at the moment. I am very glad that the Minister mentioned workspaces and enterprise centres. For years, I have been tabling parliamentary questions to the Minister’s predecessors in regard to the need...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Business Supports (23 May 2024)

Peter Burke: I would robustly point out that the Government is listening to the SME sector. That is demonstrated by our warehousing of debt at 0% for those who experienced difficulties over the Covid period. Some €20 billion has been put in towards Covid and Brexit, with €12 billion put in through the past two budgets. We have halved inflation, which is a key metric of business. Energy...