Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 29 June 2023
10. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the degree to which he remains satisfied foreign direct and indigenous investment continue to play a meaningful role in the development of the manufacturing and services sectors, with particular reference to the need to ensure durability and long-term confidence at home and internationally; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31613/23]
View answerThis question seeks reassurance in respect of indigenous investment and job creation, and also foreign direct investment in both the services and manufacturing sectors, with a view to ensuring we have continuity in the future.
I thank the Deputy for his question. This is a big good news story in Ireland. The Irish economy and the manufacturing and export sectors are stronger than they have ever been. Of course, there will be international disruptions at different times, but the strength, employment and tax revenue that has been created by this sector is in a very good place right now.
The Irish manufacturing and services sectors, both FDI and Irish-owned, have performed strongly and have successfully weathered a number of shocks in recent years, including Brexit, Covid and the disruption caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Irish exporting companies continue to perform well in global markets. Enterprise Ireland clients reported a record €32 billion in exports in 2022 with goods exports increasing by 19% in value in the first three quarters of 2022 compared to the same period in 2021, while services exports increased by 10%. Enterprise Ireland’s 2022 results detailed the creation of over 19,000 new jobs by their client companies while the total directly employed in the multinational sector in Ireland, supported by the IDA, reached over 300,000 for the first time by the end of 2022.
These record results demonstrate not only the resilience of our enterprise sector but also the strength of Ireland’s value proposition and attractive business environment which enables global companies to invest and expand successfully in Ireland. Last week's IMD ranking of Ireland as No. 2 in the developed economies of the world was also particularly encouraging.
I can assure the Deputy, however, that the Government is by no means complacent or taking our positive economic performance for granted. The White Paper on enterprise which we published last December, and which is supported by biennial implementation plans, details how we will deliver on our ambition for a vibrant, resilient, regionally balanced and sustainable economy made up of a diversified mix of leading global companies, internationally competitive Irish enterprises and thriving local businesses.
The Deputy will know that Ireland currently has full employment. The unemployment figure is the lowest it has ever been at 3.8%. Having said that, however, one will have heard reports perhaps this morning in the media of a slight weakening of the value of pharma exports out of Ireland. That is very much impacted by global trends and expenditure. I want to reassure people in the context of that data that the investment appetite within the pharma sector is very strong in Ireland at the moment. We have seen big projects this year, predominantly outside of Dublin, from companies like Eli Lilly and others which are investing hundreds of millions of euro in the Irish economy for the future. That is a very encouraging sign of where this sector is moving in the medium term.
I thank the Minister for his detailed reply. It is precisely in that respect that I am prompted to put this question because reassurance is always important whenever something appears in the media which might perhaps be a warning.
In that regard I am anxious, as I know the Minister is, that ongoing steps be taken to predict what is likely to happen in the event of the kind of warnings we heard this morning which may probably be not serious. In particular, we may need to replace the areas which may be under pressure, if they are under pressure, with alternative investment, be it from home or abroad.
We are constantly talking to multinational companies both at home and abroad. That is why I have been to the US twice this year. We went early in the year to try to get a handle on what is happening in the technology sector globally where we had seen quite a number of large tech-based multinationals in Ireland make decisions globally to reduce headcount, and that, of course, has had an impact on Ireland.
More recently I have been to the east coast of America, to New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts, which had a big focus on healthcare, med-tech and pharma. In the autumn, we will continue this and go to Chicago and other parts of the US.
Two weeks ago, I was in Germany and France meeting companies like Merck KGaA, for example, which have big investments and employ very large numbers of people in Ireland. We will continue to focus on ensuring that the Irish proposition remains competitive, robust and in tune with global trends because we are the most globalised economy in the European Union by some margin. Trends which happen outside of Ireland have an impact on the economy here, which is why we need to be so flexible in how we change to maintain competitiveness into the future.
Currently the formula is working and that is why we are seeing such a strong corporate tax take in Ireland and such strong employment numbers at the moment.
I thank the Minister again for his detailed reply. It is important, as well, to emphasise at this stage that this applies to both manufacturing and the service sectors. Every opportunity needs to be availed of to ensure that opportunities which can arise, and which could be helped to arise, in both of those sectors need to be encouraged at the same time and well in advance of any other trends we have been warned about from time to time. This is in order to provide the necessary confidence in the economy to continue to roll with the waves, as it were, and to withstand any pressure from any quarter. This is also to recognise that we have sufficiently strong export industries here which can continue to supply. We should ensure that we do not damage them in any way or impede them in their progress to do what they can do well.
It is important that we emphasise the point that the Irish economic growth story is not based just on attracting large multinational companies and helping them to grow global businesses out of Ireland. This is a very important part of the Irish economy but the mainstay of employment in Ireland is Irish SMEs and family companies across the country. We must ensure that we support them and that there is a strong enterprise-based policy coming out of Government which allows them to grow and thrive. That is the core of the Irish economy and it is strong at the moment but it needs to focus constantly on evolving, modernising and changing.
There is a big focus at the moment on both decarbonisation and digitalisation of many of those businesses. There is much grant aid, mentoring and low-cost finance available to help companies to do that.
There are also centres of excellence which the Government has invested in, like the National Institute of Bioprocessing Research and Training, NIBRT, and Advanced Manufacturing Ireland, which are there to work with multinationals and Irish companies in shared facilities which the State has invested in to ensure that we are developing through innovation some of the most advanced manufacturing practices in the world. Again, there is much interest in that, both from dynamic Irish companies and from multinationals working together.
There is a lot happening in this space but one of the advantages of being a small economy like Ireland is that one can actually change and adapt to new realities quickly, and we have been very good at that in responding to some of the global pressures and trends we have seen in recent years.
I ask the Minister to keep to the time, please, because other people must have their questions answered also.
That is a fair point.
