Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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84. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment his plans to provide additional funding and to introduce changes to policy in order to support the new Enterprise Ireland Strategy 2025-2029; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36610/25]

Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Enterprise Ireland's Strategy 2025–2029, titled "Delivering for Ireland, Leading Globally", outlines a comprehensive plan to support Irish enterprises through increased funding, policy changes, and strategic initiatives.

From a position of strength and resilience, Irish enterprise is facing challenges due to trade volatility, digital transformation altering business models and processes, and climate change. The new Strategy seeks to support Irish business to navigate these challenges via delivery of support to accelerate sustainable Irish business to start, compete, scale and connect.

The strategy focuses on supporting early-stage and scaling companies through Seed and Series A/+ funding and targeting High Potential Startups (HPSUs) and scale-ups to help them compete globally.

Enterprise Ireland’s 2025–2029 strategy integrates sustainability deeply into its mission through support for green innovation in sectors including Sustainable food systems, Clean energy, Circular economy, Funding and advisory support for companies transitioning to low-carbon operations, and Integration of ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) criteria into funding decisions and performance metrics.

Significant additional funding has already been put in place to support the objectives of EI's new strategy. Access to finance through EI's Seed and Venture Capital (SVC) Scheme has played an important role in developing the talented pipeline of innovative, high-growth Irish-owned companies that we have seen in recent years. In 2024, Minister Burke announced a new cycle of the SVC Scheme which will operate for the period 2025 to 2029 and which will have a record allocation of €250 million. The scheme will provide vital funding for Irish companies in their early stages of development and will be an important step in developing and growing Irish equity funding.

Minister Burke also announced that €300 million will be available to drive the decarbonisation of Ireland’s industrial emitters over the coming years. The fund will be used by Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland to support client companies to reduce their industrial emissions between now and 2030 through the Environmental Aid Scheme. The scheme offers capital grants to businesses adopting low-carbon, efficient, and sustainable production practices. It supports transformative projects in emissions reduction, energy and resource efficiency, and climate action integration.