Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael)
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43. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the steps his Department is taking to ensure that SMEs can continue to grow and create jobs in Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43844/23]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Small and Medium Enterprises are vital to the local economies in our regions, towns and villages.

Recognising this and to ensure that our priorities of digitalisation and decarbonisation can continue to be addressed, the Local Enterprise Offices have been allocated an additional €9m in capital funding under Budget 2024. This represents a significant increase on the funding and reflects the ambition this government has for the Local Enterprise Offices to help businesses across the country.

This investment coincides with the 10-year anniversary of the establishment of the Local Enterprise Offices and will allow each of the 31 Local Enterprise Offices to continue assisting new and existing small businesses to Start and Grow, providing new employment opportunities to communities throughout Ireland.

The expansion of the LEOs remit this year, allowing for the provision of grant assistance to businesses employing up to 50 employees with a clear export plan, is crucial to bridging the perceived gap in supports for businesses to grow and reach their potential and the LEOs will receive similar investment for this in 2024.

In line with commitments made through the White Paper on Enterprise, the expanded LEOs remit has seen an increase in engagement with the locally trading sectors, providing mentoring, training and development supports to locally trading businesses, while encouraging these businesses to consider developing their export potential.

Enterprise Ireland provides SMEs with access to financial resources through grants, equity investments, and other financial instruments, enabling them to invest in job creation, scale their output, and focus on innovation, research, and development. These funds enhance competitiveness and product development, ultimately driving growth.

Supporting Irish-owned companies to achieve greater scale, digitalise, decarbonise and expand their global footprint is a priority for Government and the additional €8m allocated to Enterprise Ireland green and digital schemes in Budget 2024, shows our commitment to supporting Irish companies on their journey to become global leaders in their field, ensuring they continue creating and sustaining jobs, providing a platform for strong economic growth into the future.

To further improve our assistance for businesses, as part of Budget 2024, the Government announced a new National Enterprise Hub which will include a dedicated website and phone line with a Hub Advisor to help businesses access State supports. Any business, including SMEs, can call it for direct help in navigating the comprehensive suite of supports that are being offered to business throughout Ireland.

Enterprise Ireland has, in its 2022 – 2024 strategy, committed to working with the LEOs, to deliver an integrated advisory and funding system to drive success for new exporters, and provide a clear pathway for progression from the LEOs to Enterprise Ireland for small companies with the potential to export.

Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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44. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment what action he is taking assist SMEs with the cost of doing business; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44198/23]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 44 and 58 together.

This has been a challenging year for firms as they grapple with the effects of global inflationary pressures and supply chain disruption. As a small, open trading economy Ireland is exposed to global inflationary pressures, including fluctuations on international markets for energy, commodities and food. Ireland is effectively a price taker on most international markets, and many of the drivers of Irish inflation are outside our control. Our remote geographic location can also add to transport costs for goods, which along with our small market size, can add to costs for businesses.

As a result of these inflationary pressures, input costs have gone up for many businesses. However, wholesale price inflation has levelled off across a number of areas in recent months. Irish wholesale electricity prices were 72.5% lower in August 2023 than in August 2022, and while wholesale prices for construction products rose by 2.1% in the year, overall, manufacturing producer prices were 0.3% lower in August 2023 than August 2022.

Although the Government cannot fully insulate individuals and businesses from developments in international markets that are outside of our control, we have been proactive in putting in place measures to remedy the fallout from higher rates of inflation. The Government is committed to supporting enterprise and Budget 2024 continues this approach. Among the measures included, are:

• The 9% VAT reduction for gas and electricity is being extended for an additional 12 months, until 31^stOctober 2024;
• The temporary excise rate reductions applying to auto diesel, petrol and marked gas oil which were due to expire on 31^stOctober 2023 are being extended until 31^stMarch 2024;
• An increase in the limit on the amount that an investor can claim relief on under the Employment and Investment Incentive Scheme, to €500,000;
• An increase in VAT registration thresholds for SMEs to €40,000 for services and €80,000 for goods;
• Reduced Capital Gains Tax rate of 16% for Angel Investors in innovative SMEs, on gains of up to €3 million;
• An increase in the R&D tax credit from 25% to 30%, as well as increasing the first-year upfront payment from €25,000 to €50,000, which will be of particular benefit to SMEs;
• The commencement of a range of amendments to the Key Employee Engagement Programme for the attraction and retention of staff;
• Introduction of the Increased Cost of Business Scheme, which will provide a once-off grant to benefit up to 130,000 small and medium businesses at a cost of €250 million.