Vol. 1060 No. 5
57. Deputy Cathal Crowe asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he has met with persons (details supplied) who are soon to be made redundant by their company; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43329/24]
I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Calleary, for taking this question. What actions have he and his Department taken with regard to the loss of jobs at Aer Lingus Cargo at Shannon Airport? I refer to the devastating announcement made to employees there on 7 August.
We fully appreciate how difficult the announced closure of Aer Lingus Cargo is for the employees, their families and the wider community. Our thoughts are with them.
This is a commercial decision being made by Aer Lingus as a private company. We have no role in Aer Lingus’s commercial decisions and it would not be appropriate for any Minister to seek to intervene. However, Ireland has a robust and strong suite of employment rights legislation to protect and support employees in redundancy situations, including the obligation on the employer to pay a statutory lump sum payment to all eligible employees in situations of redundancy. To be eligible for a statutory redundancy payment, an employee must have at least two years’ continuous service with an employer and be in employment that is insurable under the social welfare Acts. An eligible employee is entitled to two weeks’ pay for every year of service, plus an additional week’s pay. Weekly pay for this purpose is subject to a ceiling of €600 per week.
The Government also provides a range of supports to anyone who is being made redundant. This includes assisting with income supports and appropriate training and development opportunities, and assistance through the Intreo service of the Department of Social Protection. Through our industrial relations mechanism, the Workplace Relations Commission and the Labour Court, we support parties where needed in efforts to resolve differences that arise in these circumstances.
The devastating news was announced to the Aer Lingus employees on 7 August last. Eighteen of them work in the cargo facility in Shannon. Despite what the Aer Lingus hierarchy will say, namely that cargo volumes in Shannon have been on a downward trajectory for some time, the reality is quite the opposite. There was growth of 23% between 2018 and 2023 and the facility handled 16,752 tonnes of cargo last year. It is a very important facility. It is strategically important as it is not just a matter of the 18 jobs. The announcement is devastating for the workers and their families but the matter goes beyond that in that there is a whole supply chain based around Shannon, the largest FDI region outside Dublin. Some 40% of all the factories and companies in the region are US based. The include Boston Scientific, which is just up the road in Galway. That company ships out many tonnes of high-value pallets from the cargo facility each day. I do not know whether enough has been done to help the workers. Aer Lingus has cast them aside. I fully understand it is no longer a State airline. Senator Martin Conway said on Clare FM on 12 August that the Minister, Deputy Peter Burke, would be meeting the workers. Has he met them? What interventions has the Department made?
As a Government, we have responded to many of the Deputy's campaigns and calls on Shannon Airport. The Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Deputy Lawless, announced just last week €4.2 million for Shannon and Cork airports, and €47 million is being invested in Shannon Airport alone. We are very much committed to it and it is a very important part of the enterprise network along the entire west coast. Cargo volume should be increasing but we cannot account for a private company. Aer Lingus has made a call on this, but I hope the skills of the workers and their commitment to excellence will be made available to other employers in the region. We can certainly bring to the attention of the regional task force that their skill set is available. We have a very successful enterprise task force in the mid-west region and it is working very hard to identify further opportunities to grow investment there, particularly using Shannon Airport as a key growth centre.
I am somewhat worried that many people may underestimate the scale of this. It is not just about the 18 jobs but also about the domino effect around Shannon. There is genuine fear that the closure will have a contagion effect. I would like to hear what supports the Government can put in place to stymie it. Eighteen jobs are directly affected but there is much more at stake. It is a question of the volume of cargo and the supply chain industry in the mid-west and western region, which we are very concerned about.
The two problems identified were a downward trajectory concerning the cargo being hauled in and out of the facility and the facility being outdated. The cargo trend is certainly not on a downward trajectory. I have already dealt with this. There has been growth of 23% over the past five years and all buildings can be remediated and improved. However, there have to be eyes on the situation. Did the Minister, Deputy Burke, meet employees following the intervention on 12 August? The Minister of State might confirm that.
If there is a case to be made for investment in physical facilities, the Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Deputy Lawless, will be more than open to it. We want to see Shannon strengthened. We have identified a very exciting future in terms of Shannon Estuary being an Atlantic green digital corridor. This has enormous potential for Shannon Airport and the supply chain, which will need very good cargo operations.
The Minister, Deputy Burke, has had discussions with Senator Conway on the issue. With regard to the physical structure of the airport, to which the Deputy referred, we are more than willing to engage. We have shown this already through a €47 million commitment to Shannon since 2020. The Government has put its money where its mouth is in relation to Shannon. The Deputy has worked incredibly hard in this regard during his few years here. We will continue to invest and if there is a proposal for new cargo facilities, it will be examined very carefully.
61. Deputy Cathal Crowe asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will introduce a new wave of supports, beyond power-up grants, for businesses that are struggling to meet additional operational costs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43330/24]
Will the Minister be introducing a new wave of supports beyond the power-up grant announced on budget day to support businesses that are struggling at this time?
I thank the Deputy for his question. We have taken a number of steps to address the concerns of small businesses and the challenge they are facing around rising costs. The increased cost of business scheme has paid out over €244 million in this year to almost 75,000 SMEs, which includes 38,000 SMEs in retail and hospitality.
Recognising that businesses operating in retail and hospitality sectors face higher costs, we have announced a €170 million power-up grant in budget 2025. Under this grant, these retail and hospitality businesses that received a second grant under the increased cost of business scheme are in line to receive a grant of €4,000. Officials in our Department are currently working on finalising details, and the Minister, Deputy Burke, will be announcing those details later today.
The local enterprise office, LEO, policy statement outlines the centrality of all LEOs in promoting a pro-business and pro-enterprise environment in every county. They are championing local business development priorities. I acknowledge in particular that this year is their tenth year of operation. The LEOs do fantastic work nationwide. The LEOs’ lean, green and digital supports are designed to help small businesses to address some of their most challenging issues, namely, saving time, money and energy.
In May of this year, the Government agreed a substantial range of measures to reduce costs and enhance supports for small business. As part of the SME support package, the maximum amount available under the energy-efficiency grant was increased to a maximum of €10,000 and the grant now covers 75% of project costs. This is available for any business with up to 50 employees.
We have extended the eligibility criteria for the digital for business consultancy scheme and have renamed the trading online voucher as the "grow digital voucher", providing up to €5,000 in funding towards a wide variety of digital interventions that will support businesses and help them to reduce costs. Both of these programmes are open to businesses with up to 50 employees, regardless of sector.
The Deputy will be aware that the new national enterprise hub is providing a centralised signposting service for over 230 Government supports, and we continue to be open to proposals and suggestions in this space.
I thank the Minister of State. On budget day, I think the power-up grants were certainly a positive announcement. I know from talking to people in Clare County Council and constituents who have businesses that there is some cause for hope. They also feel that the last few years have loaded an awful lot on employers and people who own businesses. One the things they will say, and we have all met them in our constituency clinics, is that everything has come at them, from auto-enrolment to the minimum wage and the cost of insurance. It is all coming at them at the same time, pretty much.
The VAT 9 campaign was very much en vogue coming up to the budget, and there were many debates. It dominated much of the discourse as we approached budget day. What many people in business will also tell you, particularly in hospitality, is that it was not a silver bullet as such. It would have given them an extra margin that would have helped some people in the survival stakes but it would not have addressed the real issues. What they scream when we meet them is that they just want to know if we are now at the end of all the new measures that have come in. It just seems to be initiative after initiative, which is pretty good if you are a young employee but not much good if you are trying to hold up a business and pay all the money each week, be it the wage bill, the insurance or all of the other additional overhead costs.
There is an acknowledgment that we have introduced a lot of initiatives in recent years and that the sequencing of them was not properly thought out with respect to costs. It was not done. We have strengthened the SME test. The Cabinet signed off on that this week. It will ensure that far more vision is given to initiatives, and that they are sequenced and streamlined.
As the Deputy knows, auto-enrolment has been postponed for a number of months to give businesses a chance to get more ready for it. We are constantly looking to see how we can assist with regard to costs. We are very frustrated that insurance costs, for instance, have not reduced in line with the work that is being done in our Department to reimagine the insurance landscape in Ireland and across Government. The action plan on insurance has delivered 95% of actions. That is not reflected in insurance costs, and we continue to highlight that.
The power-up grant will be paid before the end of this calendar year. It is a flat grant of €4,000. We absolutely recognise that it does not cover the increase in costs but it does go some way.
The legislative framework is there. We have had the budget. The budget was now a few weeks ago. I often hear from people in HR that the sick leave, in particular, is causing quite a lot of problems. One employer in County Clare provided me with a spreadsheet showing the sick leave his company has at the moment and how much it is costing. It is very worrying that you can phone some of these online doctors for appointments. One business was able to tell me that their employees can phone up, tell the doctor via a Zoom or phone call that they are unwell and cannot go in, and they will get a cert emailed to them by PDF. Once that has gone in and it is acceptable, they have to be paid sick leave for the day. I think that is wrong. Of course you get people who have flus and are feeling miserable, and who cannot work for a day, but employers are increasingly telling me that a lot of young people - as we all did in the day - go out on Friday night and are in a sad mess on Saturday morning and are unable to work. When the Minister of State and I were in that phase, in our youth, if we did not go to work, that was it. You did not get paid for it. Now that person at home is paid for the day and the business owner and his family probably have to come back in and backfill those shifts vacated by someone who is too sick to work. It is being abused, I think. There are always many good, valid cases but I think something needs to be done by regulation to tighten this up. It is absurd that someone would phone up a doctor and say they are not feeling great, be given a PDF and told to take the day off as they will get paid for it.
We have two supplementaries before the Minister of State comes back in. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh is first.
I raise the concerns I have around the closing down of retail businesses, particularly in Mayo. The Minister of State will be very familiar with it. When I walk down American Street in Belmullet or some of the streets in Ballina, Castlebar and other areas, I see that many businesses are shut down. That speaks to me of the disconnect. We are not connecting up. The bureaucracy and red tape around various schemes often means that people cannot access them. Obviously, there is the impact of the cost of living as well. People just do not have enough money in their pockets to be able to spend, so the footfall is reduced. I do not think it is good enough just to highlight the issue of insurance. The Government has to bring in policies that are going to impact directly on insurance costs by reducing them, but it must also examine rates, which are absolutely crippling a lot of small businesses and retail businesses across Mayo.
I wish to add my voice regarding support for the SMEs. The power-up grant is somewhat welcome but I think the blanket approach is not supportive enough for the businesses that are most in need. Maybe there was an overconcentration on the 9% rate because that was never going to be achieved, given the position of the three coalition parties' leaders on it.
Has the Minister of State had any engagement with the energy regulator with regard to the price gouging that is going on, and the high cost of energy for SMEs? Has he engaged with the Department of Finance and with Revenue on how inflexible Revenue is being with some businesses at the moment?
The Minister of State has acknowledged that it was wrong for previous Ministers to bring in all these measures at the one time. On sick pay, particularly where there are ratios required in childcare, businesses pay not only for the person who is out sick but also for the replacement person. Are there any supports that can be brought in for a scenario such as that? They must maintain ratios in nursing homes and childcare facilities, so it is a double whammy for those businesses. We need to concentrate on getting additional supports into the businesses that need it the most.
There is lots there. The Minister, Deputy Burke, is conducting a consultation exercise on how the new sick pay changes are working. He is engaging with employers directly in that space to get their feedback. That will feed into future decisions with regard to sick pay.
On retail, I absolutely agree with the Deputy. Retailers are the backbone of our economy. They sustain not just employment but also town-centre living and local clubs. We are trying to work with retailers with regard to supports to take on the digital challenge they face. We all know that is one of the biggest challenges facing retail. We need to give retailers a chance to take that on. I have some really good examples. I encourage the Deputy to go to GrowDigital.gov.ie to see the examples of retailers that are using that digital space. We are very much interested in looking at how we can use that vacant space and put supports in to encourage retailers into that vacant space. The Deputy is right on rates. It is a really hard issue.
With regard to Revenue, the Minister, Deputy Chambers and I met with the Ballina Chamber of Commerce just two weeks ago, where this was raised. There is a very difficult attitude, and he is engaging with Revenue on working with small business and understanding where small businesses are at at the moment.
I cannot comment on the ratio but I will look into it and come back to the Deputy.
56. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment his plans to address the challenges facing SMEs. [43436/24]
I thank the Acting Chair for the flexibility. I did not realise we would come back to this question but I welcome the opportunity to hear the Minister’s plans with regard to the additional measures that can be introduced to support our SME sector, which everyone across the Chamber will agree is of critical importance to our economy.
I thank the Deputy for his very important question. We know small family businesses are the backbone of the economy. They employ two thirds of all employees in our country and drive so much vital economic activity across many of our communities. In the first few weeks of my appointment as Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment I introduced an SME package which brought a second round of the increased cost of business grant, really focusing on retail and hospitality, the sectors which are very vulnerable according to our cross-departmental report. We also reduced PRSI for lower-paid workers. Approximately three quarters of national minimum wage workers are in retail and hospitality. We increased the threshold for Microfinance Ireland and it has now kicked in. We signed a statutory instrument to bring it up to €50,000. Take-up in that regard has been very strong. I met with the chairperson and chief executive this week to underwrite that.
Our energy efficiency grant is up to €10,000. Some of the money businesses will get from the power up grant and the previous increased costs of business grant can be used because the portion of 25% is only required now of that €10,000 in capital costs. I have seen real-life examples of this. We are talking about lowering the cost base of business. If a business upgrades its LED lighting, refrigeration or dishwashers for energy-efficient equipment, it can reduce its energy bill by €1,500 a month for a small deli, for example. That is very significant and it lowers the cost base.
We hope to get final approval today from the Department of public expenditure and reform for the power up grant. That will be another €4,000 payment directly into the bank accounts of small businesses right before Christmas. On average, small businesses will have received between €8,000 and €10,000 in the past six months. Considering the margin on which some of these businesses operate, many of them would have to amass more than €80,000 in sales to make a margin equivalent to that direct cash intervention. We have a lot more to do. The SME test will stop much of the regulatory burden which has hit small businesses in recent years. Since coming into the Department, I have led from the front on family businesses. I have prioritised them and tried my very best to lower their cost base. We need to work together to give them the tools and make them aware of all the supports that are available.
The power up grant and the money that has been made available this year is similar to the amount the IDA is getting to support multinationals in job creation despite the fact that, as the Minister said, two thirds of employment is in the SME sector. If two thirds of employment is in one sector, why is it getting a similar amount of money to multinationals, which are a very important part of our economy but are doing extremely well? We need to rebalance the supports going into the SME sector.
I raised the issue of sick pay already today. I welcome that the Minister of State, Deputy Calleary, said the Department is exploring how it could be improved and how we can stop the abuse of sick pay. It is an important component of supports to staff but it is putting huge pressure on smaller businesses in particular. This is especially so for businesses which have to meet ratios, such as nursing homes and childcare providers. If one person is out sick, that person is being paid but the business also has to bring in a replacement person to backfill the job. I would appreciate a reply to those two questions.
I have really changed the direction of the Department to focus on small businesses. The Deputy can see that from the SME package I brought in and the SME test now having received Cabinet approval such that every statutory instrument, regulation or primary legislation change must have an SME impact assessment. We have put money behind it, with the enormous amount of grant support that is now available to the sector.
I want to be clear that our value proposition to IDA clients is critical to this country. Of every €7 spent in the context of budget 2025, €1 comes from the FDI sector. They are very high-value jobs. The Deputy will be very much aware how important companies like Abbott are in Athlone, Mullingar and Longford. They are very significant employers, with big companies like Ericsson, as well as other companies in Mullingar. They are working so hard to deliver high-value jobs. We must be very careful that our value proposition is competitive to attract more investment in and that they get down to the regions. For every ten IDA jobs created, eight more are created in the wider economy. I met representatives of a small printing company in Ballinasloe that makes the leaflets that are put into the medication for a life science company. That is its main contract. It shows what I am trying to do in closing the eco-cycle. If there is a big FDI company, smaller companies and small family businesses, such as that printing company in Ballinasloe, also benefit.
Perhaps the Minister will answer about the sick pay in the next round. As a person who led trade missions, I concur fully with what he said about the importance of FDI. However, we are spending a similar amount on FDI as on supporting SMEs despite there being a greater number of people employed in our SMEs. We need to increase the expenditure there.
Will the Minister speak about what his Department is doing with the Department of energy and natural resources to ensure we bring down the cost of energy into companies? It is all very well giving supports and grants but we should really be tackling the high cost of energy in order that businesses can get a break on the current high energy costs.
It is very difficult to get through everything in a minute. I will make a decision on sick pay before the end of the year. As the Deputy will be aware, having been in the Department when many of the regulations came in, we are trying to take a pace, reduce the burden and put our SMEs first.
On energy, we had a competitiveness summit in recent months. We are directing massive investment in our grid, including through the sale of AIB shares. We will try to put approximately €1.1 billion per annum out to 2050 into our grid to ensure we can get that energy across the country. Four new offshore renewable energy contracts were signed for the east coast and that will be a big help.
We want small family businesses to change the dial. What have we done? There is the energy efficiency grant, with €10,000 on the table together with a toolkit of assessments before that to assist businesses to see how they can lower their cost base. As I said, a deli could save €1,500 on its monthly energy bill. That lowers the cost base. Installing LED lights and upgrading fridges, dishwashers and other kitchen equipment can save a business a lot of money every month. The best way to give businesses money is to not take it off them in the first place. That is what we are trying to do now.
59. Deputy Violet-Anne Wynne asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment how his Department plans to address the difficulties facing small businesses as costs rise but profits do not; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43571/24]
How does the Department plan to address the difficulties facing small businesses as costs rise but profits do not? I ask him to make a statement on the matter.
This is a similar question to the previous one. It is important. We are trying to work with family businesses across the country. We brought in the SME package in the first weeks after I was appointed by the new Taoiseach. We are focusing on trying to lower the cost base for so many family businesses. We have brought in initiatives, such as ensuring they have support through energy-efficiency grants and digital grants, reflecting the ambition in the White Paper on enterprise. We are assisting on sustainability and going digital and trying to get to 90% digital intensity by 2030. This is to build new revenue streams for small family businesses.
We have looked at PRSI for lower-paid workers. The study done between our Department and the Department of Social Protection pointed to vulnerability in hospitality and retail. Obviously, 75% of minimum-wage workers are in those sectors. Those companies, the family businesses, need support in employing so many workers in that sector. That is why we have had our second round of the increased cost of business fund. I hope we will get approval today from the Department of public expenditure for the power up grant and will then be able to progress with that €4,000 payment to all businesses in both those sectors before Christmas. That would be very important to them.
There is also the national enterprise hub, which will point people to the approximately 280 supports across 23 Departments and agencies.
There will also be someone on the other end of the phone because I know that for small family businesses time is the most precious resource and we want to assist them in any way we can. I as Minister, along with my colleagues, do not want to see any business suffer or go into liquidation without being able to pick up the phone to get supports from the Department. They are available. Whether a business is a client of an LEO or Enterprise Ireland, we are here to help to ensure it can trade successfully into the future. It is a challenge. I appreciate that, from meeting so many businesses and their sectoral representatives, but working together, we can achieve a lot with the supports that are in place and the new supports that will come together in the context of budget 2025.
The approval the Minister mentioned would be positive.
A motion was brought forward at Clare County Council recently to request a review of supports for small businesses and highlighting the hospitality sector. I echo that request.
I note that the Restaurants Association of Ireland praised the increased cost of business scheme and the PRSI threshold change, as the Minister mentioned. However, it also said it is insufficient to deal with the increase in the VAT rate. The Government has been adamant that is not something it can achieve, but I wanted to mention it again because it is what I am hearing on the ground. Some 612 restaurants, cafés, gastropubs and other food-related hospitality businesses have permanently closed their doors since the VAT rate for the sector increased from 9% to 13.5% on 1 September 2023.
I thank the Deputy again for pointing out the challenges and some of the solutions. I absolutely agree with her that we need to do more. We are clear about that. We are at the end of the lifetime of this Government and it will be up to political parties to bring forward their ideas, reflected in their manifestos, in the weeks ahead and ask the people to adjudicate on what we have done in the past few years.
Front and central is that we have to try to support the backbone of the economy, which is small family businesses. The Deputy is right to point out that hospitality has been vulnerable and we have seen a significant number of closures, but we have also seen new hospitality businesses opening. One of the key things I would love to get across to sectoral representatives is that we need to work with developing businesses. It is easy to point out the number of businesses that have closed without reflecting on those that have opened. Critically, how do we make existing businesses that are going through pressure aware that there are supports, they can change the dial and absolutely change the cost base they are operating in by trying to bring in new energy efficiency measures which can, in the first instance, reduce utility bills. As I said in my earlier contribution, the best way of giving businesses money is not to take if from them in the first place. We have a lot of schemes for doing that and I have done a lot of work in the past three weeks to try to lower the conditions attached to each of them to make it easier for applicants to apply. For SMEs, time is the most valuable resource and we want to support them to get the support they need to trade successfully in the months and weeks ahead.
The Minister correctly pointed out that businesses, especially those in the hospitality sector, will be looking at all party manifestos in the coming days. As we know, an election is imminent. The Minister also pointed out that small businesses are the backbone of our communities, in particular rural communities. They are very dependent on small businesses. Some 62% of private sector employees in County Clare are employed by small businesses, which is the ninth highest rate in the country. Small businesses are the beating heart and ensure communities can prosper and people can gain employment in their own communities.
KPMG said that budget 2025 is good, but not great, "a feelgood budget, but in the end it has wrought few significant changes".
I contest what KPMG said as I have heard many people in the business sector advocate the supports in place, which have been enhanced in budget 2025, especially in respect of innovation and the start-up space. Funding for companies trying to scale has been significant. We have worked to close the bridge with the UK because there is a big divide with regard to capital gains tax and incentives for investors coming into the marketplace. We have done a lot in the innovation space and that is one of the key parts of the SME package. We have strengthened the ambition for tertiary partnerships for companies to innovate and breath life into the White Paper on enterprise, where we have the decarbonisation supports we are trying to work on, for which we have lowered the conditions. We have put the national enterprise hub together, with 280 supports across 23 Departments and agencies, ready to support businesses at the other end of the phone. Also, in the digital space we are trying to breathe life into our ambition to get to 90% digital intensity by 2030.
All those supports are in place and we have to help our SMEs to access them. That is something I call for again. We need sectoral representatives, the Government and chambers of commerce to work together to support businesses to trade successfully and to lower their cost base. It is not a zero-sum game, as I always say. What is good for the worker does not necessarily have to be bad for the employer. We have to work together to unlock many of these challenges. It will be up to political parties, Independent candidates and everyone else to set out their ambition to grow our SMEs into the future, how we do that and the mechanics behind it in the days and weeks ahead.
64. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the extent to which he continues to encourage investment in jobs in both manufacturing and services throughout the regions, given the necessity to ensure a balanced growth in the jobs sector throughout the country; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43514/24]
This question seeks to ascertain and encourage investment in jobs in the services and manufacturing sectors throughout the regions in order to continue to achieve balanced growth throughout the country.
I thank the Deputy for his question.
Regional development is a key element of the Government's enterprise policy and is a key focus of the work of my Department and our enterprise development agencies. On job creation, the agencies of my Department are deeply committed to fostering investment in jobs across the manufacturing and services sectors throughout the country. This commitment is driven by the necessity to ensure balanced growth in the jobs sector across the entire country. Enterprise Ireland’s 2022-24 strategy, Leading in a Changing World, aims to create 45,000 new jobs over the next three years and increase exports by client companies to €30 billion. This strategy underscores Enterprise Ireland’s commitment to balanced economic growth and job creation across all regions, supporting more than 4,000 Irish companies, which collectively employed 225,495 people in 2023. Notably, 68% of those jobs were created outside Dublin, demonstrating Enterprise Ireland’s focus on regional development.
Enterprise Ireland clients' exports reached a record €34.5 billion in 2023. Technology and services exports were €8.49 billion; industrial and life sciences exports accounted for €10.384 billion, while food and sustainability exports accounted for €15.691 billion. Enterprise Ireland offers a wide range of supports that are designed to enhance competitiveness, innovation and sustainability, thereby driving job creation in the manufacturing and services sectors. Specific supports are available for sectors such as manufacturing and internationally traded services. This includes funding for research and innovation, digital transformation and sustainability initiatives, all of which contribute to job creation and regional economic development.
Regional development is also a priority for IDA Ireland, which is targeting at least half of all investments - that is, 400 of 800 - from 2021 to 2024 at regional locations. IDA Ireland has more than 1,800 client companies within its portfolio, employing 300,583 people as at the end of 2023. Some 163,471 or 54%, of client employment is outside Dublin. The first six months of this year saw IDA Ireland support 131 investments, 74 of which are planned for regional locations. The results of the LEOs survey 2023 were extremely positive, with LEO client companies creating 6,640 new jobs, which represents a tenth consecutive year of jobs growth since the LEOs were established in 2014 and indicates a net job increase in each of the 31 local authority areas.
I thank the Minister for his exceptionally comprehensive reply and confirming the Government policy and his continued support for the thrust of what he said.
To what degree is cognisance taken of the threats to jobs in the various regions, including the region in which we stand at the moment? To what degree is his Department cognisant of changes in the marketplace and how they might affect different areas? What action is being taken - I know the Minister is active in this regard - to identify those areas, with a view to replenishing when necessary?
I again thank Deputy Durkan for his very important question. He rightly points out that it is important to look at the threats on the horizon. Globalisation is a significant threat to our foreign direct investment. We live in a very fragmented international geopolitical landscape. We can see that there are many trade tensions emanating across the globe. In a European context, we are trying to ensure we do not suffer as a result of those tensions. We have a lot of work to do in that regard in an international context, when our Pillar 1 and Pillar 2 moves start to crystallise. A number of countries, such as the United States, have not moved in that regard. Our skills base is our trump card. From travelling around Ireland I know we have a dynamic workforce. We have the highest number of STEM graduates per capita in the EU. We also have the highest output of ICT graduates in the EU, at 8%. That is a very strong selling point. Companies that are considering coming here will get talent and skills. It is important to support that with tertiary partnerships in the future.
Critically, we must give family businesses and SMEs the tools they need to grow and flourish, because two thirds of all employment in our communities is in SMEs. They drive so much economic activity. It is important for the Department to really go big in supporting them in the days and months ahead.
I thank the Minister for his further reply. To what extent does his Department continue to monitor protectionism and the impact it might have on jobs and investment in this country? I refer to protectionism not just throughout Europe but globally. To what extent can the Minister influence Europe towards rediscovery of the principles of Europe, which seem to have become faded in recent times?
That is another exceptionally good question. We had a competitiveness summit a couple of months ago, and one of the key areas we are looking at is the changes in the Single Market and the exemptions that have been provided through the state-aid context. Ireland must be very careful in that regard because we are trying to ensure uniformity in the Single Market in order that it is a level playing field.
We have sectors that are present in Ireland - the Deputy will be aware of them as they are right in the heart of his constituency - that are involved in semiconductor activity. It is going to be very important that we get big support in this regard. There are very significant projects under important project of common European interest, IPCEI, rules in Europe. We are now trying to get a rolling fund together in order that we are able to make applications when calls are made. As a country, we have only once applied under that fund, for a company in Limerick. We know semiconductor activity is very important globally. Europe has about 8% of the market but that will go to 4% very quickly if action is not taken. We must work to ensure the areas we can go big in for this country - semiconductors and renewables - are developed, as they will be critically important and make us a shining light in those regards. They will also give some large energy users certainty in Ireland as well, which will be very important in ensuring competitiveness.
It is important also that there is investment in our grid and in other areas where we have a lot of work to do. We need to take a more formal approach with the National Competitiveness and Productivity Council because it is so important. That is our big challenge in the future. When we look across the 62 or 63 countries that are measured in the competitiveness index, we are No. 4 globally and we are No. 1 in the eurozone, which is very strong, but our infrastructure offering is coming under pressure. We have approximately €160 billion to deploy over next decade. We must be smart about that. We need to get an additional fund for our grid upgrade as well.
I thank the Minister.
65. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will amend eligibility criteria to enable social enterprises to access local enterprise office and Enterprise Ireland supports. [43582/24]
I want to talk to the Minister about social enterprises, in particular if he will amend the eligibility criteria to enable them to access the local enterprise office and Enterprise Ireland supports. They are locked out of some of them. The Minister knows the real value of social enterprises. There are hundreds of them right across my own county of Mayo. They generate real and sustainable regional employment, while also strengthening the social cohesion in communities. The effectiveness of social enterprise in fostering both job growth and social cohesion is proportionate to the extent to which an enabling environment for social enterprise is created.
As the Deputy said, social enterprises are an important and growing part of Ireland's entrepreneurship ecosystem. They create jobs and stimulate local economic activity and they are recognised as an integral part of Ireland's broad enterprise policy landscape.
My colleague, the Minister for Rural and Community Development, Deputy Humphreys, launched Trading for Impact 2024-2027 - Ireland's National Social Enterprise Policy, last July, to build on the achievements of Ireland's first social enterprise policy. This policy was developed following widespread consultation with stakeholders, including officials in my Department.
Social enterprises are eligible for local enterprise office, LEO, assistance, provided they operate on a commercial basis and meet the eligibility criteria any other company needs to meet for the scheme. As the Deputy is aware, the LEOs offer a range of lean, green and digital supports that are designed to help businesses save time, money and energy and to remain competitive into the future. Many social enterprises may be eligible for supports such as the free digital for business consultancy, the grow digital voucher, the free green for business consultancy, the energy efficiency grant, and the LEO suite of training and mentoring programmes.
There has been positive engagement between officials in my Department, the Social Enterprise Republic of Ireland, SERI, and officials in the Department of Rural and Community Development who have responsibility for social enterprise policy. This engagement led to the arrangement of a webinar last month for training purposes for LEO staff on the topic of social enterprises.
The Deputy will probably also be aware of the new National Enterprise Hub, which provides a centralised signposting support service to the 230 Government or agency supports in areas such as decarbonisation, digitalisation and skills development.
The Deputy also asked about Enterprise Ireland. There is a collaborative relationship between it and SERI. Provided that social entrepreneurs meet the usual EI conditions, that is, that they are manufacturing or internationally trading and can create more than ten full-time jobs, they are eligible for Enterprise Ireland support. There are ways for them to access support from both Enterprise Ireland and the LEOs. I hope that is helpful.
I thank the Minister of State for her response. There needs to be flexibility. Many social enterprises are commercial and others are not, but they add something to communities. There must be a recognition beyond their economic value of their social value as well. They deserve equal treatment, including the same level of support and incentives as businesses and non-profits, recognising their dual contribution to the economy and also social cohesion.
I commend the Westport-based company, Education DESTY, with which the Minister of State, Deputy Calleary, will be familiar, on its recent win of the award for social enterprise of the year 2024. Education DESTY has meticulously developed a range of resources aimed at supporting educators, parents and children alike. Its programmes are specifically designed to meet the diverse needs of young learners, particularly those grappling with emotional and social challenges. The programmes were created by an educational psychologist, Stephanie O'Malley. I commend Education DESTY on its achievement.
I thank the Deputy very much. I add my congratulations to the winners. I met with SERI in July. I received a briefing from it on the survey it commissioned, in which 66 of the social enterprises across Ireland participated. SERI made it very clear that it has had very positive engagement with the Department, Enterprise Ireland and local enterprise office staff. This led to the roll-out of the workshop just last week. The workshop is aimed at educating LEO staff about the profile of social enterprises. Deputy Conway-Walsh alluded to their profile and how important it is to make sure we educate the staff who are making the decisions on the award of grants. I appreciate that there must be consistency across the 31 local enterprise offices in that regard. The reason the workshop is so important is because it is about educating staff in all local enterprise offices on the value of social enterprises. The training will improve the consistency across the decision-making channels.
To be clear, and to put on the record of the Dáil, once a social enterprise has a commercial operation, it is entitled to access the same support as any other company, both from the perspective of LEOs and Enterprise Ireland, but it must meet the same terms and conditions as any other applicant.
There needs to be an awareness of what is available and what supports can be accessed by social enterprises. The supports are often beyond the reach of social enterprises. They are so busy with what they are trying to do within their communities that we must make it as easy as possible.
I, too, recently met with Social Enterprise Republic of Ireland, SERI, the representative body for social enterprises in the State. We talked about some of the excellent social enterprises, such as the NOW group in Belfast and the Together Academy in Dún Laoghaire. I want to see more collaboration across the island. There is a fantastic social enterprise in Belfast City Hall for young autistic people and I would like to see that replicated in Mayo. There is huge potential across the board if we support such initiatives in the right way and are flexible and agile enough to respond to their needs, encourage and enable the good work that is being done, encourage more of it, and encourage the collaboration and exchange of learning between the enterprise models. That is what I would like to see, as well as SERI being resourced to be able to be the representative body in the best way it can.
The Minister of State, in her contribution, referred to social enterprises as being part of the broader enterprise community. I believe they are but often the perception is that they are somehow outside of this. I echo what my colleague Deputy Conway-Walsh said regarding an awareness campaign. That would be incredibly important. We also need to look at how supports can be given to the non-commercial social enterprises, specifically in the area of decarbonisation. This is an area we have discussed at the enterprise, trade and employment committee and here on the floor of the Dáil. One of the great things about social enterprises is that they are local and can make a huge contribution towards the decarbonisation of the broader enterprise sector. It is great that everyone here is so positive towards SERI because we all know the good work it does. There is a little more to be done to signpost where the supports are to then bring them into the broader enterprise community.
I add my voice to Deputy O'Reilly's point. In my experience, there are many trip points for social enterprises in getting access, such as the definition of whether an enterprise is commercial. If an organisation has a charitable status, it can be excluded from Office of Public Procurement contracts because of this status. Much like Deputy O'Reilly, I believe there will be a lot of opportunity in the circular economy for semi-commercial activities. They will not be fully commercial in the early term but we need them. They are also in renewable energy and we should promote group schemes within communities. We need to clear the pathways in order that these opportunities can be exploited. There are currently too many trips along the way.
I thank everybody for their contributions and for all the support they give to social enterprises, both within their communities and throughout the country. I acknowledge the huge role SERI plays in doing exactly that and driving this important element of our community.
The suggestion of awareness campaigns is really positive and is something we can look at. That said, I point to what already exists in terms of the national enterprise hub which is our new online portal that is backed up by a fully staffed call centre. It is there at the end of a phone line or website search to provide that exact information to all companies as well as social enterprises on what they may be eligible for.
Regarding charitable status and commercially non-viable or commercially non-traded organisations, when I got the report from SERI, there were five respondents to its survey who were refused access because their businesses were not considered commercially viable. Obviously, that is five social enterprises we would like to be in a position to support, but it is a small number. We will definitely look at this in respect of the recommendations SERI has provided on improving communication and outreach, which the Deputies have mentioned, and reviewing that support eligibility. It is important, however, to ensure State money is invested in the right way, which is companies that are viable. We have to strike that balance.
66. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the plans to address the issue of dynamic pricing in both the hotel and live performance ticketing industries; and to provide a list of dates and times for meetings he has held with other Ministers or with stakeholders in the sector to address these issues since he assumed office. [37063/24]
This question relates to the furore surrounding dynamic pricing. What plans has the Minister to address this issue in the hotel and live performance ticketing industries, and will he provide the dates and times of meetings with other Ministers and stakeholders in the sector to move towards addressing this rip-off culture that is appearing?
Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta as ucht an cheist thábhachtach seo a ardú. The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, CCPC, is the independent statutory body that enforces competition and consumer protection law under the remit of our Department. It continues to promote and monitor compliance with competition and consumer protection laws across all sectors of the market, including ticket sales, and to investigate potential breaches, prohibited practices and offences.
With regard to concerns of concert ticket sales recently, the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Burke, has asked the CCPC to report on its review of pricing strategies employed on this occasion. In response, the CCPC has advised there are legitimate concerns about consumer experiences of buying concert tickets on 31 August and it has opened an investigation into the matter. The CCPC will take appropriate action if consumer protection law has been broken. We will respect the independent nature of this investigation and await its outcome. The outcome of the investigation will inform the consideration of any possible policy amendments.
We also engage regularly with the hotel industry. The Hospitality and Tourism Forum, which the Minister, Deputy Burke, co-chairs with the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, provides a platform for structured engagement with the tourism and hospitality sectors. The forum recently met on 12 June.
Regarding hotel pricing, Fáilte Ireland published research earlier this year that it commissioned on hotel pricing in Dublin. It confirmed that by comparison to similar destinations, including Edinburgh and Amsterdam, Dublin hotels were broadly in line with average daily rates and levels of operating margin.
I agree with the independence of the CCPC review and I wish it well in the investigation. The question, however, is what the Minister is going to do, first, to ensure dynamic pricing is defined in law, which it is not, and second, what he is going to do, not about the specific events at the end of August but about the general trend where the more demand there is, the more people are ripped off and more money is squeezed out of consumers? It is clearly unfair and misleading, it is unfair practice, and it is false advertising. There is a whole range of criteria which what happened before and during August falls under. What is the Minister going to do to ensure all prices are clear to the consumer in order that they know exactly the price of their purchase and we are not feeding the image of unfair pricing or bad practice?
I absolutely agree with the Deputy's concerns regarding unfair pricing. This Government has already introduced legislation in this space, such as the Sale of Tickets (Cultural, Entertainment, Recreational and Sporting Events) Act 2021, which prohibits the sale and advertising of tickets or ticket packages for prices exceeding the original sale price of those tickets for events taking place in designated venues or designated events.
Consumer law is very strong. It requires traders to provide certain information to consumers prior to purchase, including the total price and taxes, which allows consumers to make an informed choice whether to purchase. Individual companies decide on the selling price of products and are permitted to adjust their prices in response to demand once an accurate price is displayed to the consumer in advance of the sale. That is very important.
We will await the feedback from the CCPC investigation. As the Deputy has said, it is independent. I also point out that, at EU level, dynamic pricing is currently not prohibited by EU consumer law. The EU Commission, however, has just published a report on the digital fitness check. It has looked at an evaluation of the effect of three EU directives: the unfair commercial practices directive, the consumer rights directive and the unfair contract terms directive. The result of the fitness check reported that most concerns raised at EU level in this space were in respect of the reselling of tickets. We are actively waiting, however, to see what comes from the CCPC. It is looking at more than 100 complaints that came in regarding this event.
I assure the Deputy that we will learn from its recommendations and act quickly on them.
I hope most examples will not be just in Ireland and the reaction to those types of fast practices. If advertising standards are to be complied with, the minimum or maximum price have to be advertised clearly. Very simply, we need to put in law what is the maximum price so that somebody purchasing a bedroom for a weekend or a concert ticket knows exactly what the price can go to. That is clear and simple and it is one way of addressing this issue. I am not saying that those who are selling a product or service should not sell it for whatever price. That is not the issue. The issue is that when people are online, dynamic pricing goes out of kilter. That adds to the reputation, wrongly, I believe, of rip-off Ireland. There are many good businesses, including hoteliers and those involved in concerts, that do not engage in fast practices and are decent and honourable people. In fact, they usually go the other way and reduce prices if they can rather than increase them. We need to address this to protect ourselves and consumers.
I raised the issue of dynamic pricing with the Minister in February. At that stage, he said he did not have a concern on the basis that the CCPC had reported that the incidents were few. Even a few incidents would be a few too many. I am glad there is a realisation that there is in fact an issue. It is a pity that came off the back of complaints from people. As the Minister said, over a hundred complaints were received.
It is entirely possible for large and famous touring groups to limit their prices, and some of them do. As I read, The Cure is one of them. People are, in effect, being held to ransom by two brothers from Manchester. People wait in a queue for hours and hours and at the end find their friend bought a ticket for €180 and could stand beside them in the same venue having paid €450 for the same ticket. That is not right. I fully respect that legislation was passed to stop people getting ripped off by ticket touts. We now need strong legislation and a strong response to stop people getting people ripped off in this way.
I want to go back to the remarks of Deputy Ó Snodaigh. Dynamic pricing is used in many sectors and we have to make sure that in dealing with the consequences of one model we do not damage the other sectors that use it responsibly and in the best interests of the consumer. That is why the CCPC process will be of use to us. There is also work underway at European Commission level, which means we will be able to act collectively in this space. We do not want that kind of differential. What happened during this particular event should not have happened. It is the subject of investigation. I do not want to say anything that would prejudice that investigation. Whoever will be in this position when that investigation is completed should act on that quickly.
68. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if there are plans to develop the structure under which local enterprise offices operate so that centres of excellence could be developed for specialist sectoral support to be available on a regional basis, and inter-enterprise structures developed to evolve responses to collective problems that enterprises face; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43507/24]
The Minister has extended the remit of the remit of local enterprise offices, LEOs. I come across a lot of enterprises which do not feel they have access to the specialist advice in each of the 31 LEOs. There needs to be regional centres of excellence. There is scope, in particular in areas like adaptation to green demands, for collaborative approaches in sectors.
I thank the Deputy. I acknowledge and recognise the role he played in setting up so many LEOs for success up and down the country.
As he will be aware, there are 31 LEOs and they play an important role at local level as part of a supportive ecosystem that provides services directly to small businesses and promotes entrepreneurship in towns and communities across the country. They are the first-stop-shop for all businesses, regardless of sector. Over 370,000 small businesses are eligible for some type of support from their LEO.
It is this unique position that makes the LEOs so effective. They support a diverse range of new and innovative businesses to start and grow in every county and region across the country. The existing national enterprise model has allowed the LEO network to deliver effective national programmes consistent with enterprise policy, designed and overseen by Enterprise Ireland’s LEO centre of excellence, at a local level. The beauty of the system is that support is provided at a local level, in a local county town, to local businesses.
The LEO policy statement, which was launched in May this year, outlines how LEOs will align their work with the priorities of the White Paper on enterprise and sets out the road map and future direction of LEOs. The strength of the current model means that there is a consistency of approach available across the country. All 31 LEOs can draw on the expertise of Enterprise Ireland's centre of excellence, as well as national panels of mentors, to provide clients with bespoke and expert advice.
Small businesses, through LEOs, have access to 16 technology gateways, each of which has sectoral expertise and are located around the country offering innovation support and assistance as well as access to Ireland's four European digital innovation hubs which are regionally based. The immediate challenges facing small businesses, as well as long-term issues like decarbonisation, which the Deputy spoke about, are best addressed through national expertise and initiatives, rather than through regional centres.
Furthermore, since the expansion of the LEO mandate to allow them to support businesses with up to 50 employees, means there is now a greater level of co-operation between LEOs and the Enterprise Ireland regional offices, which is welcome. The capacity of the LEO network will also be strengthened through the development of a new digital client engagement system which Enterprise Ireland is leading on.
Further to this, the National Enterprise Hub, which launched in July last, provides a centralised signposting service for over 230 Government supports in areas like decarbonisation, digitalisation, skills development and innovation. This will allow LEO business advisors to engage even more with entrepreneurs on a personal level to gain a better understanding of their needs. That is the benefit of our LEOs, namely the personal and localised level of the service they provide.
I thank the Minister of State for her comprehensive reply. One of the concerns I have is that there has been an extraordinarily low level of take-up of initiatives to promote a move to sustainable processes through the supply chain, in particular among LEO and Enterprise Ireland clients. Group initiatives are the way to go. I am sceptical that drawing in a contractor essentially to move from one enterprise to the next is the best model. It would be better if the sector gateways to which the Minister of State referred built their provision and created situations whereby beacon companies were leaders to show others the route to take. That model has been used in other countries and can create a greater sense of urgency around the need to adapt.
To reiterate, it is our intention to make sure that decarbonisation grants and initiatives are easy to access and draw down. We have a €300 million decarbonisation fund, through Enterprise Ireland. Over the first two years, there has been a good and strong take-up of that. At a more local level, over the past three weeks we have made a big effort to reduce the complexity around accessing the LEO energy efficiency grants. We have also increased grant aid from 50% to 75%.
In the next couple of weeks, we will embark on an awareness campaign to show the benefits and showcase some of the companies that have gone down the decarbonisation route, supported by Government initiatives, LEOs and Enterprise Ireland. That will show not just the difference that has made to their business and environment, but also the difference it has made to their bottom line. To reiterate, that is something to which we are absolutely committed.
I agree simplification is a help, but we need people to act in concert. We have seen the success of group schemes in all sorts of different walks of life, such as group water schemes, sustainable energy communities and so on. We need to have a similar momentum within the enterprise sector. That is not happening at the moment.
There are huge opportunities in the food sector for eliminating waste and improving packaging. There are huge areas in the construction sector for managing materials better and thinking differently about design. We need to embed that across the sector rather than hope they will come and pick up grants.
To echo the sentiment expressed by Deputy Bruton in regard to consistency, we all engage with the LEOs in our own areas but it would be fair to say that some areas are stronger than others. While I might not agree directly with Deputy Bruton’s proposal in terms of centres of excellence, there is definitely a space whereby efforts can be made to ensure consistency across the board. Where something is being done well in one area, particularly where a colleague who engages with their own LEO says it does things in a certain way, you do sometimes scratch your head and wonder why not in my area. There seems to be that little bit of consistency missing. Where something is working well in one area, there should be a mechanism for it to be shared and replicated. If that is not happening organically, it needs a push and some structure.
We aim for consistency across our 31 local enterprise offices. One of the reasons we have models through our local enterprise offices in every local authority is because decarbonisation is as important in Donegal as it is in Dublin, Cork or Clare. I fully agree with what Deputy Bruton said about the success of group schemes. We need to learn from that. We as a Department are very much committed to making sure key learnings are shared in order that we are not asking companies to reinvent the wheel all the time and we are putting the information and the roadmap in front of them. For example, Diageo, which was one of the beneficiaries of the €300 million decarbonisation fund Enterprise Ireland offers, now has to share all of what it has learned and share its way forward with other companies because it is about making sure other companies can tap into that knowledge and lived experience to bring the benefits to their own companies, whether large or small. It is important everybody makes the effort to decarbonise. That is why the Government is providing so much money for companies to draw down to help them in their efforts to do so.
71. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if, in view of the importance of developing enterprise centres and workspaces, a new scheme of grant aid will be introduced to assist local authorities and community groups with such developments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43430/24]
76. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if additional financial support will be made available to local authorities and community groups to develop enterprise centres or workspaces, taking into account the importance of such facilities in assisting job creation, especially in smaller towns and villages; if he is aware of the substantial costs on local authorities and community groups in developing such centres at present, which impacts severely on councils with a low rates base; if his Department and the statutory agencies under the remit of his Department will give this request further urgent consideration; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43429/24]
The Minister of State will have heard me speak previously about the value of enterprise centres and the development of workspaces. Grant schemes are available to help develop such centres but they are not adequate, particularly for local authorities that have a low rates base. I appeal to the Minister of State to ensure there is an additional scheme of assistance to help those local authorities and community groups in areas such as Cavan and Monaghan and elsewhere, where historically there has been less economic development and where we have the potential to develop new businesses and grow employment.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 71 and 76 together.
Balanced regional enterprise development remains a key focus for me and for the Government, as affirmed in the White Paper on enterprise. I very much appreciate the contribution made by enterprise and remote working hubs throughout the country. These facilities allow people to live and work in their local communities and provide vital services to support entrepreneurs, start-ups and SMEs. We have invested significantly in the development of these facilities. We are committed to further support for the sector. The Department of Rural and Community Development has invested more than €150 million in the development of remote working facilities through programmes such as connected hubs, the town and village renewal scheme and the rural regeneration and development fund. Successful projects are developed in collaboration with local authorities and communities, with many vacant and derelict buildings being converted into remote working hubs.
My Department and the Department of Rural and Community Development are working together to develop the first strategy for a national hub network, following consultation with key stakeholders. I expect the draft strategy to be brought to Government in the coming months. Since 2017, my Department has allocated more than €150 million to support enterprise centres and hubs across the country through Enterprise Ireland’s schemes, such as the regional enterprise development fund and the Border enterprise development fund, which I am sure is of use to the Deputy and his communities.
Enterprise hubs are essential infrastructure for entrepreneurs and SMEs and they are an integral part of the enterprise ecosystem in the country. That is why my Department has secured up to €145 million for the smart regions enterprise innovation scheme which is co-funded under the European Regional Development Fund. That scheme includes four streams ranging from delivery of major local enterprise infrastructure such as building enterprise hubs to funding for services delivered to SMEs to drive innovation and enhance their competitiveness. The smart region scheme is open for business. Enterprise Ireland is ready to work with potential applicants. That is an important message to get across in Deputy Smith’s constituency. While they are independent, the Government will work collaboratively with the local authorities to deliver innovative projects. The local authorities have supported many of the enterprise hubs delivered to date, as project partners or through direct funding contributions.
Smart regions scheme projects are delivered on the triple helix partnership model. That means they are developed in collaboration with industry, academia and the public sector. Any co-financing rates are based on a multitude of factors, but primarily they are constrained by state aid restrictions and the partnership model required for the development of these projects nationally. I anticipate an announcement of initial projects funded under the smart regions scheme in the coming weeks. I hope there will be good news for many organisations throughout the country. There are no plans to introduce another regional enterprise development scheme while the smart regions scheme is in place. I expect, however, that funding of enterprise hubs will be kept under review as we consider future approaches to regional enterprise development.
I thank the Minister of State for her reply. The point I have been trying to get across to successive Ministers in the Department is, in the case of Cavan and Monaghan where we have a great culture of developing enterprise centres, typically the local authority or community group buys the site and develops the services at major cost because of the drumlin topography and soil in the area. They can then get grant aid towards the provision of the actual workspace or enterprise centre. There is no national assistance available towards the cost of buying the site and providing services on the site. In local authorities such as in Cavan and Monaghan, where we have a low rates base, continued development of such centres is a huge demand on the local authorities. The Minister of State, Deputy Calleary, was with me when he met delegations from Cavan and Monaghan county councils and they outlined clearly the particular assistance they need to buy sites and provide services and then avail of the grant aid towards provision of the actual workspace. I would appreciate it if the Minister of State could give that further consideration.
Absolutely we will. I appreciate what he is saying, that up until now it has been the Cavan or Monaghan local authority that has been buying sites and developing those services. To reiterate, now that we have the smart regions scheme, it is there to support that dynamic of industry, academia and enterprise. Stream 1 of that is designed to support the major local investment and capital investment projects. It is something worth looking at, especially if there may be IDA land in the area where a partnership could potentially be done through Enterprise Ireland. The enterprise hubs are very much an Enterprise Ireland initiative whereas the workspaces - I know there have been many remote working hubs set up in the Deputy’s constituency - are something for which my colleague, the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, has provided funding from the perspective of the Department of Rural and Community Development.
I welcome the development of hubs, but I am specifically talking in this case about centres and workspace for manufacturing and processing. We have a great tradition of engineering in Cavan and Monaghan. I have worked along with companies that started with two or three employees in an enterprise space and now are huge employers, having developed their own space. We need the space to enable processors and manufacturers to start their businesses. Those opportunities are there to create jobs in our towns and villages. At the same time there are people who developed a business, literally in their back garden or garage, who want to go to a proper workspace. There is a lacuna in regard to the type of development I would like to see advanced.
I hear what the Deputy is saying, and absolutely we need to do more in this area. Part of the smart regions enterprise innovation scheme also looks at clustering. Perhaps that is something that might be relevant to the Deputy's constituency of Cavan-Monaghan, if, for example, there are manufacturing companies he feels could benefit from that. I hear what he is saying, that we need availability of land, grants and financial supports for local authorities or whoever else to develop them and turn them into active spaces for growing enterprises. I thank the Deputy for that feedback. We will look at it.
