Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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567.To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will provide an assessment of his Department’s views on the state of the pharma, technology and med-tech sectors; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32378/24]

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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Ireland has a proven track record as a Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) destination, with half of the multinationals located in Ireland being here for 10 years or more, while one-third has been in Ireland for 20 years or more. The global technology sector, along with life sciences, international financial services, and engineering have been important growth engines of the Irish economy.

The technology base in Ireland has been building for over 40 years, and will continue to grow in the future, despite recent modest contraction. Digital is already a central feature of employment with technology now pervasive in all business sectors and demand for tech skills across the entire industrial base remaining strong. In this regard, Ireland's technology sector is made up of a vibrant start-up ecosystem, high quality tech talent, an innovative research ecosystem and a strong FDI base. Sub-sectors that have helped to drive growth in the tech sector include microelectronics, cloud computing, cyber security and software-as-a-service (SAAS).

The technology sector continues to be a highly strategic one for Ireland, as evidenced by several key investment announcements over the past year, including from Carelon Global Solutions, Verizon, Intel, Analog Devices and Qualcomm.

Moreover, Ireland is home to 13 of the top 20 global tech companies, and 8 of the top 10 US software companies have operations in Ireland, with over 63,000 directly employed in IDA client companies, and export figures from the CSO show computer services exports at €218.7 billion in 2023.

Ireland also has a longstanding thriving semiconductor cluster, with the microelectronics sector directly employing 20,000 people with an estimated revenue of €15.5bn in 2023. 15 of the top 30 semiconductor companies are located in Ireland and are supported by Tyndall National Institute, a dedicated national research institute for semiconductors, microelectronics and photonics.

Similarly, our country’s reputation as a global centre of excellence for life-sciences is well documented, and there is widespread recognition of the importance of the Irish life sciences industry to the global health dynamic. Overall, the life-sciences industry employs over 100,000 people in Ireland in activities ranging from manufacturing, R&D, supply chain and a variety of EMEA and global services. The sector now accounts for over €110 billion in exports from Ireland and is primarily driven by US corporations with significant investments in Ireland.

Ireland has developed a cohesive and integrated life-sciences cluster and is home to many of the top pharmaceutical and medtech companies. While the life-sciences sector in Ireland is dominated by foreign-owned MNEs with manufacturing facilities, growth in domestic companies has been consistent of the years, particularly in the medical devices sector. In this regard, IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland, provide a range of supports to companies operating in the biopharmaceutical and medical technology sectors, funded by Government.

In 2022, the National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training (known as NIBRT), an independent research and training organisation funded by the Irish Government through IDA Ireland, launched a new advanced therapeutics facility in Dublin which will enhance Ireland’s global position in biopharma manufacturing and help to attract new high value jobs in the area of advanced therapeutics.

In April this year, I launched a report from the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs which forecasts that 21,000 additional jobs will be created by the biopharmaceutical sector by 2027. An Implementation Group has been set up to drive the recommendations in the report and to ensure the education and training system is responsive to the needs of the sector needs as well as by ongoing training and upskilling within the sector itself.

In May of this year, I launched the seventh call of the Disruptive Innovation Technologies Fund or "DTIF". The Call is focused on driving collaborations between enterprise and research sectors on disruptive innovation projects which will support the development of ground-breaking technologies and further position Ireland as a leading global digital hub.

Government remains fully committed to supporting industry-academia collaboration to ensure continued growth and innovation in the enterprise sectors, having already allocated €371 million to 104 successful projects approved under the six previous DTIF calls. These projects cover areas such as life-sciences, medical devices, ICT, artificial intelligence, manufacturing and environmental and will position Ireland as a leader in research and innovation, ensuring resilience in our economy across industries into the future.