Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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273. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the key measures and initiatives taken in relation to the digital transformation of businesses since July 2020; his assessment of the impact of these measures; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29312/24]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Under the Enterprise Dimension of National Digital Strategy, Harnessing Digital – The Digital Ireland Framework, Government has set out our goals in relation to the digital transformation of enterprise, in particular among SMEs.

The strategy sets out clear targets for the digitalisation of enterprise, including achieving 75% enterprise take-up of cloud, big data and AI by 2030; 90% of our SMEs to have reached at least a basic level of digital intensity by 2030; and that at least 35% of State funding for start-up and early-stage businesses is invested in innovative digital businesses from 2022 onwards.

The strategy sets a target of at least 800 businesses supported under the Digital Transition Fund (DTF) by 2026. The DTF is one element of Ireland’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan and will run until 2026. A total of 320 businesses have been approved for funding to date.

Under the DTF, Enterprise Ireland have a suite of supports available to eligible businesses to help them to embrace digital transformation. These include:

- The Digital Discovery grant which can be used to help a business assess their current digital ability, identify opportunities for improvement of existing digital systems, and develop a plan to introduce new digital solutions such as Customer Relationship Management software, Enterprise Planning Software, Cloud Computing, Data Analytics or Artificial Intelligence.

- The Digital Marketing Capability grant which can be used to improve a business’ online presence and enable them to engage a digital marketing agency. This can help businesses to understand and utilise digital marketing tools.

- The Digital Process Innovation grant which can be used to introduce new digital technology systems or customer experiences, increase company capability and operational effectiveness, or implementation of new sustainable production methods.

This work is complemented by a network of four European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIHs): FactoryxChange in Mullingar, CeADAR in Dublin, ENTIRE in Cork, and Data2Sustain in Sligo. These hubs serve as one-stop-shops for business, providing access to technical expertise, innovation services and skills development to help businesses become more competitive by using digital technologies including Cybersecurity, Artificial Intelligence, and High-Performance Computing.

The network of 31 Local Enterprise Offices also offer digitalisation supports to eligible businesses, including through the Trading Online Voucher scheme, which is in place to help businesses develop their online trading capability, and Digital for Business, which is designed to help businesses prepare and implement a plan for the adoption of digital tools and techniques across the business. Under the recently announced SME Package, both schemes will be broadened to allow a greater cohort of businesses to avail of support that will assist them to embrace digital transformation.

The second annual Report on the State of the Digital Decade, which includes the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) was published on 2 July 2024. The DESI shows that Ireland’s performance on Digitalisation of Enterprise is good overall. Ireland has maintained our position in first place in the e-Commerce turnover category, which measures SMEs total turnover from e-commerce; we have improved our position under the Electronic Information Sharing, Cloud and Artificial Intelligence KPIs; and in the newly introduced category of Unicorns we are in 5th place, as home to 12 out of the EU’s 263 unicorns.

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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274. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment further to Parliamentary Question No. 190 of 28 May 2024, the reason for the discrepancy between the total projects awarded; the average amount awarded; the amount drawn down as part of the Environmental Aid Programme 2020-2023; if businesses are failing to draw down awards; if so, the reasons for this; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29408/24]

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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275. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment further to Parliamentary Question No. 190 of 28 May 2024, the reason for the discrepancy between the total projects awarded; the average amount awarded and the amount drawn down as part of the green for business scheme from 2021 to date; if businesses are failing to draw down awards, if so, the reason; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29409/24]

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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276. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment further to Parliamentary Question No. 190 of 28 May 2024, the reason for the discrepancy between the total projects awarded; the average amount awarded; the amount drawn down as part of sustainable recovery scheme 2022-2023; if businesses are failing to draw down awards; if so, the reasons; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29410/24]

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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277. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment further to Parliamentary Question No. 190 of 28 May 2024, the reason for the discrepancy between the total projects awarded; the average amount awarded; the amount drawn down as part of green transition fund 2022-2026; if businesses are failing to draw down awards; if so, the reasons for this; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29411/24]

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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278. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment further to Parliamentary Question No. 190 of 28 May 2024, the reason for the discrepancy between the total projects awarded; the average amount awarded; the amount drawn down as part of the energy efficiency grant 2023 to date; if businesses are failing to draw down awards; if so, the reasons for this; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29412/24]

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 274 to 278, inclusive, together.

My Department, along with the enterprise agencies, Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland, and the Local Enterprise Offices, promote and support the funding of decarbonisation technologies and energy efficiency initiatives across the enterprise base.

Under State Aid rules, the Government can only provide financial assistance to a company if it will encourage it to undertake activity that it would not have done in the absence of Government support. When a company is approved grant aid from an enterprise agency, they are issued with a letter of offer which is a contract between the enterprise agency and the approved grant recipient. The contract outlines an agreed time horizon between the two parties, milestones, targets and a final claim date.

As approved companies are at the very beginning of their journey, there will always be a time lag between the date of grant approval and the date of payment. Exchequer funds cannot be disbursed to companies until the awarding body can verify that the expenses being claimed are for activities that have been agreed in the original letter of offer, or the contract itself.

Inspections are carried out to identify links between expenditure incurred and the eligible expenditure listed in the letter of offer. As a result of this process, the amount disbursed will often differ to the original amount awarded. There is also a natural drop-off rate for grant approved projects due to, for example, changing priorities within the company. The average amounts awarded in my previous correspondence with the Deputy were calculated based upon the number of grants awarded and the total outlay of approved applications per scheme.

The Energy Efficiency Grant (EEG) was launched by the Local Enterprise Offices a year ago. I recently announced that the maximum amount available under the Grant was increasing from €5,000 to €10,000, and that the business contribution rate was reducing from 50% to 25%.

Prior to approval however, businesses are required to complete an energy audit (Green for Business, Greenstart or an SEAI energy audit). An increased number of businesses have now completed an audit, and the Grant is being actively promoted by the Local Enterprise Offices. My Department therefore expects to see an increase in demand for the Grant.

Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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279. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment to provide details of the value of grants made by the IDA to a business (details supplied) in 2021, 2022, 2023 and to date in 2024; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29444/24]

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, Becton Dickinson advised last week that following an analysis of its network and forecast market demand, BD UK & Ireland had made the difficult decision to discontinue production at its site in Drogheda over the next two and a half years. This decision will result in the closure of the BD Drogheda site by the end of Q4 of 2026, which will regrettably impact the 170 people currently employed at this plant. In this regard, Government's primary concern is for those staff and their families impacted by this decision and our Agencies will work to support the workers affected in the period ahead as they pursue alternative employment, and the IDA will work to market the site to potential new employers in cooperation with BD.

IDA Ireland supports opportunities for sustainable growth amongst its client base through a focus on transformative investments in RD&I, digitalisation, training, and actions on sustainability to increase the competitiveness and productivity of Irish operations and their workforce.

IDA Ireland is deeply engaged with Becton Dickinson & Co Limited (BD) across the company's four sites in Ireland and at HQ in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey. Over the past 4 years (2021-2024) IDA Ireland's Medical Technologies team and the IDA New York office have been actively working with BD and its Drogheda site with support from IDA's Regional Development, Strategic Property , Green Economy and Talent, Transformation and Innovation teams on the company's growth, transformation, talent & skills, research, and innovation agenda.

In terms of financial grant support, Becton Dickinson & Co Limited located in Drogheda received Training Grants of €807,801 in 2023 but no supports in either 2021 or 2022 and data on grant payments for 2024 is not yet available.

Importantly, IDA Ireland continues to engage with BD Corporate, BD UK & Ireland and BD in Drogheda on available supports to the company and will work with the company on the wind-down of its operations in Drogheda over the next 2.5 years, in particular, with a view to collaborating on securing a successor enterprise to locate on the site.