Written Answers Nos 151-160
153. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation the steps she is taking to protect jobs in Russian-owned companies based here that may be threatened by increased tariffs and trade sanctions. [21965/18]
View answerThe Government is very much aware of the potential impact of these sanctions and the situation, in particular, faced by Aughinish Alumina. My Department, together with the IDA and the Departments of Taoiseach and Foreign Affairs and Trade, continue to keep the situation under careful review. I have spoken directly with the CEO of Aughinish, as have the Taoiseach and Tánaiste, and we have made it clear that the Government will do everything possible to assist the company. Similarly, the IDA has been liaising closely with the firm’s senior management since details of the sanctions first emerged. The matter has also been raised through diplomatic channels with our international partners.
We understand – as has been widely reported – that efforts may be underway by the parent companies of Aughinish to restructure their respective ownerships. If this restructuring proves successful, and the US authorities expressly agree, it could result in the sanctions against the companies in question being lifted, meaning that Aughinish itself may then no longer be impacted. However, there is no guarantee that this will happen and that is why the Government will continue to engage very closely with Aughinish and provide it with all the support it can.
154. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation the contingences and plans in place to protect enterprises and related jobs vulnerable to a hard Brexit as laid out in a media article (details supplied). [21966/18]
View answerFurther to my reply last month, my Department is continuing to work hard to help Irish businesses to both withstand the challenges and avail of the opportunities posed by Brexit. The long-term response to Brexit is for companies to become more competitive, more innovative and to diversify their export footprint into more markets.
I am confident that the agencies under my remit have the supports available to enable companies to consolidate market share within the UK, and also to become more resilient by broadening their sales to other international markets. Enterprise Ireland (EI) and the Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) are actively supporting their clients to achieve this. My Department provided for additional monies in 2017 to enable EI and the LEOs to ramp up supports in light of Brexit to drive improvements in:
- productivity,
- innovation,
- management capability and leadership skills.
Enterprise Ireland has launched several initiatives in response to Brexit, including:
- Brexit Scorecard: This interactive online platform can be used by all Irish companies to self-assess their exposure to Brexit under six business pillars. Based on answers supplied by the user, the Scorecard generates an immediate report which contains suggested actions and resources, and information on events for companies to attend, to prepare for Brexit
- Be Prepared Grant: This grant offers SMEs a grant of up to €5,000 to assist them in preparing an action plan for economic shocks such as Brexit. The grant can be used to help cover consultancy, travel and travel expenses associated with researching the direction of their action plan.
- Brexit Advisory Clinics: Enterprise Ireland held four Brexit Advisory Clinics over the past few months in Portlaoise, Mayo, Cavan and Cork. The next Clinic will be held in Dublin on 21 June in the Aviva Stadium. The purpose of these Clinics is to support companies affected by Brexit to take immediate action to address their exposure.
- Brexit 'Act On' Programme: A consultant spends time with EI client companies to discuss specific challenges and draw up a report with tailored recommendations that will help them address weaknesses and become more resilient.
In addition, EI is implementing extensive trade mission and event schedules focussed on global and sectoral opportunities, further developing in-market expertise and networks, placing greater focus on identifying new sectoral opportunities and stimulating demand for Irish products and services through international marketing campaigns. In 2017, EI launched a new Eurozone Strategy to increase exports to Eurozone countries by 50% by 2020.
The LEOs are supporting their clients by providing information, training and mentoring on Brexit related issues as well as advice on other sources of support. The suite of LEO Brexit supports available to micro and small businesses through the 31 LEOs nationwide include.
InterTrade Ireland (ITI), has also been very active in assisting businesses address the challenges that Brexit may present for future cross-border commerce. A series of information and awareness raising events have been underway in towns across both North and South over recent months. ITI is also rolling out a ‘Start to Plan’ readiness voucher scheme, which enables companies to purchase specialist advice in areas such as customs, tax, tariff and non-tariff barriers, legal and labour mobility issues.
Other initiatives that my Department are advancing include the €300 million Brexit Loan Scheme, under which accessible finance is made available to businesses at favourable terms. I recently launched the launch of the second call of the Regional Enterprise Development Fund, which is aimed at supporting the development and implementation of collaborative and innovative projects that can sustain and add to employment at a national, regional and county level. Twenty-one successful applicants representing all regions of the country have secured up to €30.5m for their projects in the first competitive call.
The work of my Department is focused on supporting businesses throughout the country to withstand current challenges and succeed into the future, therefore I feel that all our efforts will put Ireland in a strong position in the event of a hard Brexit scenario.
155. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation the occasions since 2015 and dates on which a company (details supplied) raised the matter of the planning process for a data centre project in Athenry, County Galway with her, her predecessors and the IDA. [21967/18]
View answer156. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation the status of IDA plans to find land suitable for new data centres; the number of sites in each county that are being considered for same in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21968/18]
View answer157. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation the date on which her attention was drawn to planning issues regarding a data centre in Athenry; the steps she took on receipt of the information with senior departmental officials to ensure the project progressed and the investor did not pull out of the project in view of confirmation from the IDA (details supplied) that there were concerns in relation to a project due to the time it was taking to obtain planning approval. [21969/18]
View answer158. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation the steps being taken to reverse the reputational damage done to Ireland’s image as a location for future foreign direct investment for data centre projects and delays in the planning system; and her plans and the contingencies that will be put place by her Department and the IDA to ensure Ireland is open for business for such investments (details supplied). [21970/18]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 155 to 158, inclusive, together.
I very much regret that Apple will not be proceeding with its plans to construct a data centre in Athenry, especially as the project would have been a source of significant investment and job creation for Galway and the West of Ireland.
As with all of its clients, the IDA works with Apple to support job creation and investment in Ireland. Given the size of the investment involved, and the subsequent issues encountered by the company throughout the planning process, IDA Ireland was in regular contact with its management throughout this time. The Agency, however, had no role in the independent planning process and court challenges in respect of it.
I want to emphasise that the Government, together with IDA Ireland, did everything it could to support this investment. This included high-level engagement with the company, both at home and abroad. The Taoiseach, for example, met with the firm’s senior management in the USA in November 2017, where he made it clear that the project had the support of our Government and the local community in Athenry.
Ultimately, in spite of these efforts, Apple has taken a commercial decision not to proceed, making it clear that the delays that beset this project caused them to reconsider their plans. As I have made clear, these delays have underlined our need to make the State’s planning and legal processes more efficient. The Government has therefore already been working, over the last number of months, to make improvements to those processes. This will ensure that we are better placed to take advantage of future investment opportunities, whether from data centre providers or other sectors.
The Government has, for example, published legislative proposals to designate data centres as "strategic infrastructure" for planning purposes. This will ensure that future data centre-related planning applications can move more swiftly through the planning process. I am hopeful that these legislative changes can be enacted by the end of the current Dáil session.
The Government also agreed, in October 2017, to the implementation of a strengthened policy framework to support the continued development of data centres. This framework includes a number of actions which, once fully implemented, will help Ireland attract and sustain such investments in the future.
Part of this work is the development of a National Policy Statement on the role of data centres in Ireland’s overall enterprise strategy. This will set out their potential to Ireland’s economic development, especially in regional locations, whilst taking account of wider challenges in energy and renewable energy policy. The importance of data centres to Ireland is recognised as well in Project Ireland 2040, which makes clear that the promotion of Ireland as a sustainable international destination for information and communications technology infrastructure is a key national objective.
The IDA, meanwhile, is already working hard to win new data centre investments for Ireland. Last year the Agency appointed Jacobs Engineering, supported by AOS Planning, to identify potential strategic land banks in Ireland that would be particularly suitable for the development of data centres. Evaluation of sites that are compatible with the complex requirements of data centre investments is well advanced. As this study is for internal IDA Ireland purposes it is not intended for publication.
It is the case as well, despite the disappointing decision made by Apple, that Ireland is still a highly attractive destination for data centre projects. There are nearly 30 major data centres located in Ireland that are operated by some of the world’s leading technology companies and I am confident that this number will increase in the future. Ireland’s strengths for this type of investment, including our climate, energy supply and business environment, remain well-known to other potential investors.
159. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation the original duration envisaged for the cycle of the PRTLI Cycle 5 when announced in 2010. [21975/18]
View answerThe current Cycle of PRTLI (Cycle 5) was announced in 2010 and has involved exchequer expenditure of approximately €277m with a further €59m of private investment. Cycle 5 projects have now been completed and my Department is addressing the remaining payments associated with these awards. The 2018 allocation to PRTLI is €14.3m with a portion of this being used to part pay outstanding bills for PRTLI Cycle 5 projects.
The original duration envisaged for Cycle 5 when announced in 2010 was a minimum of 5 years and a maximum of 7 years. This is set out in the grant approval letters issued by the Higher Education Authority on behalf of my Department on 21 December 2010. An extract from these letters is copied below.
"Capital funding, from the Exchequer, will be forthcoming over the lifetime of PRTLI Cycle 5 (minimum timeframe 5 years, maximum 7 years) in line with the availability of funding as determined through the multi-annual Estimates and Budget process. Furthermore, the availability of Exchequer funding year on year will be subject to the provisions of the Department of Finance Capital Letter of Sanction 2011-2014 to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Innovation."
160. Deputy Jan O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Health his plans to raise the threshold for medical cards for persons over 70 years of age in the forthcoming budget in the context of restoring cuts implemented during the economic downturn; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21734/18]
View answerPolicy measures to be incorporated into the forthcoming Budget will be considered by Government as part of the 2019 Estimates process and, in that context, it is too early to comment on any proposed measure at this time.
