George Lawlor (Wexford, Labour)
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68. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment to outline his plans for the creation of a National Start Up Hub for entrepreneurs. [6713/25]

Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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While Ireland has several notable indigenous MNCs, there is potential to create more enterprises that are internationally impactful. The White Paper on Enterprise notes the central role of incubation and acceleration programmes in promoting the scaling of start-ups. International evidence identifies the presence of a supportive landscape for start-ups including a coherent and navigable accelerator and incubator ecosystem as an important feature of the most successful nations in this regard. A feature common to many successful start-up ecosystems worldwide is often a central hub and/or governing body which can act as a centre of excellence, co-ordinate and monitor programmes and provide a focal point for start-ups and investors, both domestic and international.

The recent OECD report 'Supporting start-up globalisation in Ireland through incubation and acceleration' recommended that Ireland promotes a flagship national entrepreneurship campus. This recommendation is reflected in the Programme for Government commitment to 'consider the development of a national start-up hub for entrepreneurs to engage with all Government Departments and agencies, fast-track the start-up process, and collaborate with fellow entrepreneurs '.

In response to the OECD report my Department is developing a statement of policy on incubation and acceleration programmes which will further build on and strengthen the eco-system in Ireland. Part of that process will be to consider the development of a national start-up hub for entrepreneurs as set out in the Programme for Government.