James Geoghegan (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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179. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will provide an update on the publication of the National Clustering Programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54502/25]

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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The Programme for Government 2025 includes a commitment to establish five new national level cluster organisations. This echoes the commitment in respect of clustering in the White Paper on Enterprise, which recognised clustering as an enterprise policy tool to improve national competitiveness by building clusters of national scale with international visibility.

Last month my Department published the Action Plan on Competitiveness, a whole-of-government approach guided by the Ireland’s Competitiveness Challenge 2025 report and stakeholder consultations to secure Irish competitiveness and resilience to economic shocks. The Action Plan contains 85 actions, one of which is to establish up to 3 pilot national clusters in H2 2025 to deliver proof of concept in order to secure funding for 2026 and beyond. It recognises that strengthening clustering dynamics will be critical to driving innovation and deepening enterprise capability. In line with international best practice, clusters will be funded for a period of 6 years subject to meeting Key Performance Indicators, measured through annual and mid-term reviews.

The national clustering programme foreseen by the Programme for Government will encourage the formation and strengthening of national cluster organisations with a view to maximising the scale, impact and international visibility of Irish clusters. To this end, it is proposed to pilot up to three mature clusters in the Irish clustering ecosystem, all of which support national strategic priorities, in a new International Impact Clustering Programme. This will assist in the development of a robust evidence base for further funding for International Impact clusters.