Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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My Department and I continue to monitor developments in the business environment, and issues arising. I recognise that firms have faced a number of significant challenges over the last number of years, including Brexit, the COVID -19 pandemic, the Russian war in Ukraine and the associated supply chain shock, the energy cost crisis and rising inflation along with wage demands, and rising interest rates.

The Government has advanced a range of measures to improve working conditions in Ireland over recent years. These improvements will bring wider societal benefits and will serve to bring Ireland in line with other advanced economies, albeit that these will inevitably give rise to additional costs for some firms.

My Department, in collaboration with the Department of Social Protection, assessed the cumulative impact of these changes to working conditions, including Auto-Enrolment Retirement Savings Scheme, Parent’s Leave and Benefit, Statutory Sick Pay, the additional Public Holiday, the Living Wage, and the Right to Request Remote Working. This report was published on the 5th March and in response to the findings a range of measures are being brought forward to assist businesses in adjusting to these increased costs as well as more generally to improve cost competitiveness of firms.

These measures include making available up to €15 million to Local Enterprise Offices to enable a top up payment of up to €3,000 in the Energy Efficiency Grant for businesses in the hospitality and retail sectors bringing the grant up to €8,000. In addition, an options paper on the application of the lower 8.8% rate of Employer PRSI contribution is currently being prepared and we will also take steps to reduce red tape and the administrative burden on business, including: an enhanced SME Test; accelerating the roll out of a fully functioning National Enterprise Hub with staff available to provide immediate advice and support to vulnerable firms.

This is in addition to a €257 million package for the Increased Cost of Business grant. Local authorities, funded through the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (DETE), are managing the rollout of the grant to qualifying businesses, and have written out to rate paying businesses with details of how to register for the scheme and it is up to businesses to verify their details through an online portal. This scheme is designed to help SME’s.

This Government has adopted an active approach in supporting Irish businesses across multiple crises over the last number of years. My Department is fully committed to supporting businesses across various trades and industries, and the measures included in Budget 2024, and more recently in the measures announced following the publication of the ‘Assessment of the Cumulative Impact of Proposed Measures to Improve Working Conditions in Ireland’ reflect this.

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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Enterprise Ireland supports both the start-up sector and established companies to increase sales and exports in global markets, which in turn results in increased employment. Through implementation of Enterprise Ireland’s strategy Leading in a Changing World 2022 – 2024, the agency has an objective to create an additional 45,000 new jobs by 2024, the highest ever level of Government supported indigenous jobs. The total number of jobs created in client companies of Enterprise Ireland was 15,530 in 2023. Even when job losses were taken into account, there was a positive net jobs result of 5,011 in a very challenging year for businesses.

Business is being transformed by drivers such as climate change, the accelerated adoption of technology, and changing trends in globalisation in ways that present both challenges and opportunities. Enterprise Ireland continues to support employment creation sectors through direct advice and funding assistance to internationally-focused enterprises in manufacturing and international services sectors and through working with the network of 31 Local Enterprise Offices.

IDA Ireland has over 1,800 client companies within its portfolio employing 300,583 in 2023, holding above 300,000 jobs for the second consecutive year. Despite a slowdown in Information and Communications Services (down 2.9%) during 2023, job growth was recorded across all other sectors with Modern Manufacturing (up 1.8%), Traditional Manufacturing (up 0.2%) and in Business, Financial and Other Services (up 0.8%). This underscores the importance of diversification across knowledge intensive and growth sectors to enable continued enterprise and economic impact.

IDA Ireland regards transformation as critical to delivering and sustaining future economic impact and continues to prioritise areas of research and development, innovation, sustainability, digitalisation, and talent development, as client companies look to build a sustainable future. In 2023, IDA Ireland approved 25 sustainability projects focused on carbon abatement and building Ireland’s Green Economy, with over €1.4bn committed by IDA clients on research and innovation projects during the year as well as a further client spend of over €77m on investment in talent development. This focus on transformation holds firm as IDA Ireland looks to the future and to continue delivering Irish economic impact, supporting our enterprise base in competitiveness, growth, and further contribution to the Irish economy.

My department published the White Paper on Enterprise in December 2022, which set out Government`s enterprise policy for the period through to 2030. The White Paper on Enterprise details how we will deliver on our ambition of a vibrant, resilient, regionally balanced and sustainable economy made up of a diversified mix of leading global companies, internationally competitive Irish enterprises and thriving local businesses. In particular, it seeks to ensure the continued creation of rewarding jobs and livelihoods across Ireland.

In order to achieve this ambition, Government has set out seven enterprise policy objectives in the White Paper; integrating decarbonisation and net zero commitments, placing digital transformation at the heart of enterprise policy, advancing Ireland’s FDI and trade value proposition, strengthening the Irish-owned exporting sector, enabling locally trading sectors to thrive, stepping up enterprise innovation, and building on Ireland`s existing strengths and opportunities, through a clustering approach.

The commitments set out in the White Paper on Enterprise are being implemented through a series of consecutive two-year Implementation Plans, the first of which was published in May 2023, and covers the period through to the end of 2024. The first update report, covering H1 2023, shows that significant action is already being taken to advance the enterprise policy vision set out in the White Paper across all priority policy areas, and presents a strong basis for optimism both today and for the future. The report outlines positive progress towards the achievement of the majority of the 15 target metrics as set out in the White Paper. In 2022, Irish owned enterprise productivity grew 4.5%, against a target average annual growth of 2.5% by 2024. Between 2021 and 2022, the number of High-Potential Startups increased by 10% (91 compared to 82), against a target of a 20% total increase by 2024. IDA Ireland client expenditure in Ireland grew by 8.4% between 2020 and 2021, against a total target of 20% growth by 2024. From 2021-2022, 52% of all FDI investments went to locations outside of Dublin, in keeping with the target of >50% of FDI investments located outside of Dublin during 2021-2024.

The full update report, including updates on all other key metrics (subject to data availability) is available publicly online: enterprise.gov.ie/en/publications/white-paper-on-enterprise-update-report-h1-2023.html

The second update report, which was developed by my Department in Q1 2024, is currently being finalised and will be published shortly.