Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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101. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the extent to which incentives continue to be made available to encourage the manufacturing and services sectors given the impact of both Brexit and Covid-19; if new measures are planned or currently in hand; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52832/21]

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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Budget 2022 recognises that many businesses are in need of assistance as we continue to reopen the economy and society in general.

My Department, working through our agency Enterprise Ireland and with the Local Enterprise Offices, is working with manufacturing and internationally traded services companies to help them stabilise, reset and recover. To date, for example, €238 million has been approved under Enterprise Ireland’s Covid-19 supports. The Covid-19 pandemic has also seen the agency work beyond its client base. In 2020, Enterprise Ireland onboarded over 1,200 new companies onto its client management system, a near 70% increase on 2019.

Overall, my Departments core budget has increased by €103 million or 13.2% on Budget 2021. This is a record core allocation for the Department and will significantly bolster the ability of the Department, working with its Offices and Agencies, to help businesses to rebuild and grow after the pandemic and the impacts of Brexit.

Government are extending the EWSS until April 2022 at a cost of up to €1.4 billion and a targeted rates waiver to help businesses get back on their feet and have ensured that low-cost Government backed loans will remain available.

A number of other significant measures have been introduced in Budget 2022 in order to future-proof our SMEs on their growth journey such as the expansion of the Employment and Investment Incentive Scheme (EIIS), the extension of the Small Start-Up Companies Relief, the new Digital Games Tax Credit, a new €90 million Innovation Equity Fund as well as increased resources for the Local Enterprise Offices, IDA and Enterprise Ireland. We are also providing €20 million to help Irish enterprise decarbonise and go digital and there will be a new call for applications for the Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund.

In order to increase the capacity of our enterprises to deal with cross-border issues, an additional €1.2 million has been provided for Intertrade Ireland to respond to the increased complexity of cross-border trade post Brexit, which is a 15% increase in its core capital allocation. Funding will also be provided for a new service which will ameliorate supply chain issues for businesses operating on both sides of the border.

These measures are all designed to kick start new areas of economic growth, providing long-term, future-proofed jobs and increasing capacity in all sectors of our economy.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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102. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if particular incentives are being considered to encourage the entrepreneurial skills of younger persons throughout the country particularly in the aftermath of Covid-19 and Brexit; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52833/21]

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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Encouraging and promoting an enterprise culture is an important area of activity for Local Enterprise Offices. In seeking to develop a thriving enterprise culture, it is critical that young people from all backgrounds see enterprise as a viable career choice. The Local Enterprise Offices continue to reinforce entrepreneurship in the education system as a critical element in the future development of small business in Ireland through the Student Enterprise Programme. This Programme is Ireland’s largest and most successful student enterprise programme with close to 30,000 second level students taking part each year.

Students from 1st year to 6th year get to set up and run their own business and find out what it’s really like to be an entrepreneur by taking part in this 8-month long enterprise education learning programme. There are three categories: Junior (1st year students), Intermediate (2nd/3rd year students) and Senior (4th, 5th,6th year, LCA, LCVP and Youth Reach).

Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur is a programme run by the Local Enterprise Offices with the support of my Department and Enterprise Ireland. The competition is open to people between the ages of 18 and 35 with an innovative business idea, new start-up or established business and has an investment fund of up to 2 million Euro. In addition, the Junior Entrepreneur Programme has provided over 80,000 primary school pupils the opportunity to experience practical, real-life business learning as part of their formative education.

The Local Enterprise Offices also offer a wide range of management training and development courses to help entrepreneurs on their journey. All of the above are open to entrepreneurs regardless of their age and I am satisfied that this broad suite of programmes and interventions will continue to provide a healthy pipeline of entrepreneurs of all ages in the years ahead.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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103. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the extent to which a demand still exists for the location of international call centres in Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52834/21]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The international call centre industry is an important sector in Ireland. In recent years it has evolved from traditional call centres to language and technology-based customer interaction and customer experience centres. Customer experience operations have been a significant employer in Ireland since the 1980s, and in 2019 it was estimated that approximately 56,000 people were employed in this sector.

Ireland has continued to be a leading location for customer experience related activities due to its highly skilled and motivated multilingual talent base and favourable economic environment. Ireland’s customer experience companies serve key markets in Ireland, the UK, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, and the US and Canada. Increasingly, newer markets in Asia Pacific, Africa, and Latin America are being served.

Competition for FDI is intense and global with virtually every country in the world actively seeking new FDI investments. Investors in this sector seek skilled employees, international connectivity, energy infrastructure, telecommunications and services infrastructure. In 2019, IDA Ireland, along with Enterprise Ireland and the Customer Contact Management Association, published a transformation strategy for the customer experience sector. That strategy cited technology adoption, people change and services transformation as key areas of focus for the sector to remain competitive against international competition.

IDA Ireland will work with its existing client base to assist and support their growth and expansion in Ireland and will continue to highlight Ireland’s strong value proposition to prospective overseas investors to attract mobile foreign investment.