Vol. 1034 No. 2
70. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he has read a report (details supplied); if he has plans to amend the Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2018 to ensure where extra hours are available that longer term workers seeking additional hours are prioritised; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9181/23]
I welcome the new Minister and Ministers of State. It seems perhaps that I am the only consistent Member in the enterprise portfolio.
Deputy Calleary has been around here before.
I welcome any Member who is here for the first time. My question is straightforward and it relates to the Mandate Trade Union report, Smoke and Mirrors: The Facts About Retail Workers' Incomes in Ireland. Has the Minister any plans to amend the Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2018 to ensure where extra hours are available longer-term workers seeking additional hours are prioritised?
I thank the Deputy for her kind welcome. Consistency is not a bad thing in life.
From the outset, I can confirm that I have read Mandate's report, Smoke and Mirrors: The Facts About Retail Workers' Incomes in Ireland. Indeed, Mandate raised it with me directly when I met them a week prior to its publication. We had a discussion then and we have had subsequent discussions via email and telephone before and after the launch. I look forward to continuing to work closely with them on this report and other issues relating to the retail sector and its employees in the coming weeks.
I know this is an area of particular interest to the Deputy. She has much professional experience in this, as well as legislative experience, and we are more than willing to take this experience on board. At the end of the day, we all want to see the retail sector thrive and the workers happy with their hours, pay and conditions.
The Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2018 came into force on 4 March 2019, with the purpose of strengthening employee rights and addressing the problems caused by an increased casualisation of work. Among other measures, zero-hour contracts were banned and a banded hours system was introduced, where workers can request to be placed on a contract that better reflects their working hours. It is important to note in light of the Mandate report the current legislation does not prohibit increases in the number of hours an employee can work. If they are working increased hours, employees may request to be placed on a higher band.
In addition to the 2018 Act, the Deputy will be aware Ireland also has in place a code of practice on access to part-time work. The code was drawn up by the then Labour Relations Commission pursuant to the 2001 Act. Among other provisions, the code of practice sets out that, as far as possible, employers should give consideration to a request by workers to transfer from part-time to full-time work or to increase their working time should the opportunity arise.
I also assure Deputy O'Reilly that my Department closely monitors national and international developments and relevant case law from the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, the Labour Court and the High Court. On that basis, I have written to the WRC requesting that it reviews both the code of practice on part-time work and the Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2018 to assess the overall effectiveness of the suite of protections for part-time workers. It is timely that a comprehensive review of both the code and the Act of 2018 is carried out now.
It is clear that while the code of practice was very well intentioned and is a decent piece of work, it is not working. Mandate is telling us nearly two thirds of retail workers are earning less than €451 per week. That is not even getting within a million miles of anything that would be a living wage. I attended the launch of the report where some of the workers from the shop floor spoke. They say that sometimes hours are used as a mechanism almost to control workers. For example, if you happen to be the shop steward, the person who is handing out the union membership forms, or the person who is seeking a meeting with management because you are not happy with how things go, all of a sudden you will find yourself at the lower end of the bands.
When the banded hours legislation came in, it did not have everything in it that Mandate looked for or that we looked for. However, everybody accepted it was a very good place to start. I welcome the Minister of State's words. Now is the time for a review, but I ask for that to be done quickly. We are in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis and these are among the lowest-paid workers in any sector in any industry. The message that is coming very clearly from the report, Smoke and Mirrors: The Facts About Retail Workers' Incomes in Ireland, is that they are struggling.
The review will be quick, but most importantly it will be thorough. We are dealing with legislation that was described as groundbreaking by Mandate when it was introduced. We owe it the duty of care to make sure there is a thorough review that addresses real, statistical issues. The report is very welcome and there is a lot of interesting data in it, but it must also be looked at in the round. It states that 60% of workers do not actually want extra hours, and of the 40% who do, only 20% are denied those hours by their manager. This means that only 8% of those surveyed were declined these hours by a manager.
Statistics from the WRC do not show that there is a huge issue with the banded hours, but we do need to review the legislation and we will do that in good spirit, taking on board the report and taking on board the comments the Deputy has made this morning, as well as those of employer groups who meet us through various fora, such as the retail forum etc.
There is not a massive amount of difference between the Minister of State and me on this. However, the Mandate survey is for unionised workers. As everybody knows, the best bet you have for getting a decent rate of pay is to join your union and be active in it. These are unionised workers. Again, the WRC very often sees unionised workers. If it is bad for workers who are unionised and who are engaged with their union, we can only imagine what it is like for workers who do not have that collective voice to speak up for them at work. It is fair to say that the sector is over-represented in terms of low pay. It is not so much the low pay, but the way the hours are used. Anyone who has ever worked in shift work on an hourly rate will know that even with the banded hours, one week you might be at top of the band and the next week you are down. You cannot plan when you are trying to live like that. Now is the time. When the legislation was debated a commitment was given that this issue of the hours being distributed would be looked at. I welcome that that is now being done.
Very briefly, there is not much difference here between the Deputy and me, which is welcome. The workers will appreciate that politicians from all corners are here to try to get better conditions for them and to work with employers to make it sustainable. There is not low pay in the retail sector, because the average is €17 per hour, but there is an issue with hours. That is something we can address. The salary rates are set, the employers are doing a good job and they are engaging with the unions. The workers are making solid representations and we see that coming back through the very few cases that are being brought to the WRC. The review will go on and it will be done in a timely and thorough manner most importantly.
71. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will support the progress to Committee Stage of the Industrial Relations (Provisions in Respect of Pension Entitlements of Retired Workers) Bill 2021; the proposals his Department has to enhance the representative rights of retired workers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9411/23]
Will the Minister of State support the progress to Committee Stage of the Industrial Relations (Provisions in Respect of Pension Entitlements of Retired Workers) Bill 2021 and outline what proposals his Department has to enhance the representative rights of retired workers and will he make a statement on the matter?
I understand the Deputy has already engaged quite a bit with the Department in relation to this Bill, which is very welcome and I encourage that going forward.
As the Deputy is aware, the Joint Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment met in public session on 25 January to discuss detailed scrutiny of the Industrial Relations (Provisions in Respect of Pension Entitlements of Retired Workers) Bill 2021. Following this meeting, my Department was asked by the joint committee to provide a briefing in response to the issues raised, in order to assist the joint committee with its detailed scrutiny.
This detailed brief has been prepared and has issued to the joint committee. On Second Stage, my predecessor as Minister of State outlined the Department's concerns in respect of the proposed Bill. These concerns remain. The Bill, as introduced by the Deputy, seeks to create a third category in industrial relations, contrary to international practice, which recognises industrial relations as the management of work-related obligations and entitlements between employers and workers and their representatives. The introduction of a third party to collective bargaining procedures has the potential to create significant disharmony in the industrial relations system. Departmental officials have been unable to find another jurisdiction where such a third category has been introduced in industrial relations legislation.
Added to this concern, this third category would be unregulated and would not require a negotiating licence. This could cause a proliferation of representative groups, sometimes with competing demands. It would make it impossible for employers to identify whom they should be negotiating with. Moreover, the interests of a small group of retired workers would, for the first time, be put against those of current workers in the industrial relations sphere, potentially creating significant disharmony. A position could arise where certain retired workers' representatives were at odds with trade unions representing deferred members. If a person is in receipt of an occupational pension, he or she is no longer considered a worker and does not have an employment relationship with his or her former employer. Rather, the person's relationship lies with the trustees of the pension fund. Trustees have statutory and fiduciary duties to act in the best interests of all members of a fund and must always be consulted if a collective agreement refers to a pension matter.
In order to ensure that the views of all stakeholders were considered in respect of this issue, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment ran a consultation process in March 2022 and all submissions received have been published on the Department's website. While some were supportive, many showed significant concern about the proposal. In any event, it is up to the Deputy to progress the Bill to Committee Stage.
I note what the Minister of State said about the status of retired workers and the dangers of a third party coming into negotiations. Nevertheless, what these workers are seeking is that if they have a problem with their pensions after the six-month limitation of their having left work has passed, they would be able to go to the WRC. They want that six-month limitation to be lifted to allow them to go to the WRC at any stage after the six months if their pensions become the subject of negotiations. We have seen this happen time and again, in particular since - this has been a frequent bone of contention - the bank bailout and the austerity measures were adopted. Many of these people are workers who worked in the public sector or for semi-State bodies and built this State. Many of them have retired and have for 13 or 15 years been fighting to change this, but they are not going to live forever. Will the Minister of State give us some sense of the Government's attitude to the Bill? The committee's attitude will be determined by that.
As I said, serious concerns with the Bill were raised by my predecessor, and those concerns remain. While we are sympathetic to the plight and the case of the individuals who have been involved in drafting the Bill, many of whom I met as both a Senator and a Deputy, whether because they are my constituents or because they are members of other representative groups, there are several serious concerns with the legislation from the Government’s point of view. I touched on some of them in my initial response but I might highlight a few more. At present, the WRC negotiation mechanism works on a voluntary basis whereby parties come to the commission to resolve industrial disputes to their mutual benefit. It is not clear what would motivate an employer to attend such negotiations in this category.
It is also concerning that the entitlement of retired persons to engage in collective bargaining with employers would be a considerable disincentive to employers to offer voluntarily any pensions above the legal minimum obligation. Furthermore, the measures in the Bill could severely undermine the existing dispute resolution bodies, which are provided to retired workers to vindicate their rights, including the Pensions Authority, and would undermine the separation of powers between pension fund trustees and employers, which has been deliberately legislated for to protect retired workers.
I am talking about the lived experience of 500,000 retired workers who are represented by the people who met the previous Minister of State, Deputy English, with me. There are quite a few retired workers' organisations. They represent a significant cohort of retired workers, but these people are not retired voters. They paid into occupational pension schemes, which basically comprises their deferred wages. Whenever that is being tampered with in order for the Government or another party to achieve other means, they want to sit at the table to have their voices heard. Telling them they have access to an ombudsman, an equality officer or, within six months, the WRC is not going to cut the mustard because they have been down that alley and had negative experiences and it does not do it for them. I refer to people in their late 70s or 80s who are willing to fight this. If the Government cannot come up with the solution, it should let them know that and they will talk to one another and decide on their next steps.
As outlined, I have met the groups previously in my capacities as a Senator and a Deputy, and I would be more than willing to meet them again with the Deputy. There are serious concerns about this approach and the serious impact it would have on the industrial relations mechanism. It is in all our interest to work towards a solution relatively quickly, and I am prepared to do that with the Deputy. I am new to this brief but perhaps we can arrange a meeting in the coming weeks with that representative body before the next Stage, if she is interested in that. I hear her concerns, which are valid, but we believe that the Bill, as drafted, and the mechanisms proposed would not be appropriate.
72. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of young people 16 to 19 years of age in work, excluding those in training or apprenticeships, who are being paid below the minimum wage; if he intends to legislate to remove sub-minimum rates of pay; if there will be a public consultation on sub-minimum rates of pay; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9171/23]
My question relates to sub-minimum rates of pay and workers aged between 16 and 19, excluding those in training and apprenticeships, who are being paid below the minimum wage. Does the Minister intend to legislate to remove sub-minimum rates of pay? Will he enter into a public consultation on the issue and, most important, on the impacts they have on workers? It is unfair to suggest these people work only for pocket money or that they do not make a contribution to the family budget.
The minimum wage for those aged 19 and under is less than the minimum wage for those aged 20 and over, given that sub-minimum, or age-based, pay rates are in force. The latest figures available from the Central Statistics Office, CSO, using the labour force survey quarter 3 of 2022, show that there are an estimated 91,000 employees aged between 16 and 19. Of these, the CSO estimates 19,600 earn less than the full minimum wage. In most cases, 16,400 to be precise, this is because they are earning the relevant sub-minimum, age-based rate of the national minimum wage. The Low Pay Commission previously undertook a review of the sub-minimum, or youth, rates as part of its work programme and recommended, in 2017, abolishing the training rates and simplifying the youth rates by moving to age-related, as opposed to experience-based, rates.
The Low Pay Commission's recommendations were accepted by the Government and were introduced as part of the Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2018. The commission commissioned its own research, carried out by the Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, and consulted widely on this matter before making its recommendations. As some time has passed and we want to ensure our legislation will be fit for purpose, last year, the then Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment requested the Low Pay Commission to again examine the issues relating to retaining or removing the youth rates and to make recommendations on the subject. To inform its work, the commission has asked the ESRI to conduct background research on this issue under the terms of the Low Pay Commission-ESRI research partnership agreement.
The Low Pay Commission report and recommendations on sub-minimum rates are expected later this year. I do not want to pre-empt its work or suggest a course of follow-up action, given the Minister and his officials will consider the commission’s report and recommendations when they have been received later this year. While the issue of sub-minimum youth rates is being considered, the Government will continue to be guided by the recommendations of the Low Pay Commission with regard to any changes to the national minimum wage.
Trade unions and member-led organisations representing young people have consistently highlighted the manner in which sub-minimum rates of pay can be used to exploit workers. In my previous question, I referred to people working on the shop floor. They will tell you that if additional hours are available, those hours are more likely to go to the person with the shortest service because that person will be the cheapest person, in contrast to the person with the longest service. That is happening and it is not fair on young workers. It is also not fair on more established workers, who are losing out on hours.
This is exploitation and goes against the principle of equal pay for work of equal value. Nobody at any stage has suggested the sub-minimum rates of pay equate to sub-minimum rates of work. They just do not. Workers are expected to turn up and work as much as anybody else. Excuses for this have suggested the work was for pin money or pocket money for people, but in the middle of this cost-of-living crisis, these people are making a substantial contribution to the family budget. The sub-minimum rates of pay are being used on both sides whereby they exploit the worker, and that worker is then used to the detriment of the longer serving worker to pay cheaper hours.
It is a combined response to this question and the previous one. We both have to be careful in our language when we are talking about reports or anecdotal evidence versus empirical evidence. We do not want people to go out thinking that this is used across any sector, retail or otherwise, as suggested in terms of lower pay and the way hours are being allocated. There have been some reports of that, but having genuine, empirical evidence with real thorough research is very important in the context of this and the previous question. That is what the Low Pay Commission will undertake to obtain in the coming months. The commission will report back to the Government later this year with a suggestion. It is worth remarking on the fact that the minimum wage is €11.30, whereas it was €7.65 in 2010. There has been movement more generally in this area. As already stated, however, this is something that will be looked at. When it is looked at, the evidence will be taken into account by the Government in determining whatever action is needed.
Sinn Féin introduced legislation on this matter in 2018 and 2021. We believe that the practice is exploitative. If what the Minister of State is saying is true and it is not happening, it would not make a blind bit of difference if the Government legislated for it. It is fair to say that it is happening. It is not happening everywhere, there are many good employers, but it is happening, and the anecdotal evidence is there. We can also see that these workers continue to be employed. Sub-minimum rates of pay have been abolished in Germany, Spain, Korea, Canada and Belgium. It is time that we moved quickly to follow suit. In the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, it is unfair to have available a reservoir of workers who are paid less than others. There is no sub-minimum rate of work, hours or effort; there is only a sub-minimum rate of pay. These people do the same work as others. The principle of equal pay for work of equal value should apply.
The Deputy knows all the arguments from the Low Pay Commission as well as I do. She knows the reasoning as to why this was introduced in the first place. She knows what the response would be to the points she has made about other jurisdictions that have changed this. What I will repeat is that the Low Pay Commission has been asked to look at the matter by the previous Minister. It will look at it and report to the Government by the end of this year. The Government will take those recommendations on board and act accordingly.
73. Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the way to stimulate the establishment of indigenous businesses in the renewable energy supply chain through a national renewable energy business accelerator programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9401/23]
The west coast of Ireland has significant potential for the development of renewable energy. I refer, in particular, to wind and wave energy. I want to know what engagement is taking place between Government and Enterprise Ireland with regard to establishing a national renewable energy business accelerator programme to support Irish entrepreneurs and businesses in capitalising on the potential and creating jobs in every single community across the western half of the country.
First, I would like to say that I look forward to working with all Members of the House in this new brief and with the two other Ministers in the Department. As we have heard, the Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, is taking over the Department in terms of responding to questions this morning.
I am glad Deputy Naughten asked this question. My Department together with Enterprise Ireland are actively engaged in building the capacity in the indigenous sector for supply chain opportunities in the green energy and renewables sectors. With the support of my Department, Enterprise Ireland’s new sustainability department is examining the key emerging areas of opportunity in these sectors and how best to develop Ireland’s renewable energy sector on a basis of competitive advantage, including through the mechanism of business accelerators and-or incubator programmes.
The offshore wind industry, for example, has a significant regional employment potential and this is being exploited through the development of nine regional enterprise plans. The delivery of smart grid management systems, offshore wind energy and hydrogen for national industrial development and international markets is currently being explored as well, as the Deputy will know only too well. In the medium and longer term, Ireland will have excess renewable energy capability and enterprise policy should ensure domestic value-added opportunities are fully captured alongside energy exports. Hydrogen and decarbonised gas and stimulating domestic biomethane production should also be a critical component of Ireland’s energy ecosystem and decarbonisation pathway.
Building on and complementing the recently published White Paper on Enterprise 2022-2030, my Department is assessing how Ireland’s enterprise sector, both indigenous and foreign direct investment, FDI, will support the development of Ireland’s ambitions to deliver an offshore wind generation sector of significant scale. Part of that consideration will be how to capture the industrial development opportunities that would arise both in terms of exports and in developing appropriate supply chain strategies from co-locating renewable energy infrastructure, transport infrastructure and industrial energy demand and building clusters of economic activity in that regard. This is in accordance with the framework for enterprise policy for the period to 2030, as outlined in the White Paper, which was only launched in December. It is expected that actions aimed at developing indigenous supply chain capacity will be an integral part of these initiatives.
I thank the Minister. A study commissioned by the Irish Wind Energy Association in 2020 estimates that the development of just 3 GW of offshore wind energy off the west coast, approximately 4% of the actual energy potential off our coast, could lead to the creation of 2,500 jobs during the construction phase and a further 600 permanent jobs once the wind farms are in operation. The study also estimated that the development of the offshore wind energy sector could contribute €1.7 billion a year to the Irish economy. The difficulty is that Enterprise Ireland is primarily focused on helping Irish SMEs to develop capability in terms of exporting, not looking at the potential that we have here. When they do look at it here, they are only focusing on high-potential start-ups rather than the indigenous potential that exists already. I know the Minister's commitment to and interest in this. I am asking him to take a special focus on this area.
Many people are only beginning to realise the scale of what is being proposed here. We have projects comprising about 28 GW of energy at various stages of proposals, planning and funding. In capital terms, that is €80 billion worth of expenditure. If we can realise that kind of potential offshore, which of course is many multiples of what Ireland's energy grid actually uses, the estimate is that by 2050 about 5,000 people will have been employed in the creation and building of that sector, while billions of euro of investment will have been generated along with many permanent jobs in the maintenance and management of those offshore grid systems. There are huge pieces of infrastructure that need to be constructed onshore and then taken offshore, both fixed and floating. This is an energy revolution that we are talking about. It is going to change the Irish economy and it is going to change how we sell Ireland to the rest of the world as a place for international business. There will be massive opportunities for indigenous Irish companies in that space. We have a unit in Enterprise Ireland that is focusing specifically on renewable energy. They are contributing to the deliberations of the Shannon Estuary task force, for example, and to discussions that are taking place in respect of how we can ensure that Irish indigenous companies can grow and expand in order to allow us to realise this potential.
As the Minister knows well, when everyone is in charge, no one is in charge. This is a cross-Government issue. I am aware of the Minister's commitment in respect of this matter. I am asking him to take ownership and to take a leadership role. We need to see investment in key infrastructure that will serve as the pillar to support the Gael Offshore Network, to anchor additional foreign direct investment coming in here. One of those areas is that of our ports. We do not have the capacity in any of our ports to construct these turbines today. We also have an Irish indigenous company, SuperNode, that wants to develop a transmission network right across Europe in order to export the wind energy we are generating off our Atlantic coast directly into the European grid, as well as bringing southern European solar energy into the European grid.
We need to support that company in delivering on that objective to benefit every single citizen in the State.
I reassure the Deputy that we are not missing this. The White Paper states the scale of our offshore wind potential, when coupled with hydrogen production, offers a once-in-a-century industrial development opportunity, as well as high-value export capability. My Department, being responsible for enterprise, trade and employment, needs to be central to the planning in this regard. We are part of the offshore wind energy task force, which is chaired by the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan. On that task force, we have a specific responsibility for supply chain issues. Obviously, our agencies are very much part of that discussion.
It is important to say this is in development and that we do not have it right yet. However, considerable effort and time are being devoted to ensuring a cross-government response to the potential. In many ways, we are in a race against time because other countries are doing the same as us. Scotland and Portugal, in particular, are well ahead of Ireland regarding offshore wind. France is also developing at pace, as are other EU countries. Therefore, Ireland needs to ensure the State element of this, in terms of agencies, Departments and Ministers, is putting the necessary regulatory, policy and funding environments in place to allow the private sector to invest what is a wall of investment capital in the sector over the next five to ten years. That means making ready our ports and ensuring a supply chain that can greatly benefit parts of Ireland that currently do not have the job creation potential the sector can provide in the future.
74. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will provide details of the plan for the implementation of the White Paper on Enterprise 2022-2030, including a detailed timeline with key milestones; the details of the plans, under the White Paper, to support indigenous enterprises; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9165/23]
My question relates to the implementation of the commitments in the recent White Paper on Enterprise 2022–2030. Has the Minister a detailed timeline for the milestones? I am particularly interested in supporting indigenous industries, which subject I will come back to.
The White Paper sets out the Government's approach to enterprise policy for the period to 2030. It includes 15 targets that detail the Government's ambitions for employment and across the seven identified priority enterprise policy objectives. These objectives are integrating decarbonisation and net-zero commitments; placing digital transformation at the heart of enterprise policy; advancing Ireland's FDI and trade value proposition; strengthening the Irish-owned exporting sector; enabling locally trading sectors to thrive; stepping up enterprise innovation; and building on strengths and opportunities, particularly by building specific clusters in different parts of the country that could benefit indigenous and FDI companies.
My Department will lead the development of consecutive two-year implementation plans of cross-government activity to implement the White Paper commitments. The implementation plans will focus on delivery of key initiatives or projects under each of the seven priority objectives. The first implementation plan, covering the period to the end of 2024, will be prepared in quarter 1 of this year and published shortly thereafter.
Progress will be reported on every six months to the Cabinet committee on the economy and investment and monitored on an ongoing basis via the associated senior officials group, with the first progress report being prepared in quarter 3 of this year. The biannual reports will include updates on progress towards the 15 targets, with new data under each of the measures included as they become available from the relevant sources.
On the question of supporting indigenous enterprise, the White Paper sets ambitious targets to strengthen the Irish-owned exporting sector and enable locally trading sectors to thrive. This includes doubling the number of large Irish exporters and having an additional 2,000 Irish firms exporting by 2030.
Through successive implementation plans, we will facilitate enhanced management capabilities, provide access to competitive finance options and nurture strong sectoral and technological ecosystems. We will take action to fuel entrepreneurship and enable companies to scale and succeed from Ireland.
Locally trading firms will be empowered to achieve their potential through supports that will align their business models with the transition to a net-zero economy and boost their productivity through innovation, digitalisation and skills development.
I welcome that the Minister is giving a date for the implementation plan for the first quarter and that it will be published. The Minister set out the enterprise priorities and targets. I have read the document. I have read the White Paper although I have serious doubts about its failure to recognise that we need transformative change in how we do business. Given climate change, we have no choice. There has to be transformative change. Therefore, I am a little worried that the White Paper proceeds with the model as is. I am all for a thriving economy and a thriving Galway city but feel the transformative message has not got through. If I consider this on a parochial or specific basis, I look to the seaweed industry, or the lack thereof. I also look to the wool industry, on which a fantastic report was produced. There is something woolly about the setting up of the wool council. There is no mention of islands or of a policy for them. I am aware that this is parallel to the enterprise strategy, but it is also very much part of it.
Those are very broad questions. I am just trying to think of how I can give the Deputy an answer in a minute. I assure her the islands will not be forgotten in an enterprise strategy. I also assure her that small family-run businesses across County Galway and Galway city are very much part of our enterprise strategy. They, too, need to be part of a transition to a decarbonised economy and a move towards a digital-based economy. We need to help them do so. That is one of the reasons we changed the remit of the local enterprise offices, for example. Up until the end of last year, local enterprise offices could deal only with companies with fewer than ten staff. They can now deal with companies with between ten and 50 staff, which covers the vast majority of SMEs across the country. It will involve a huge additional workload for local enterprise offices. We need to staff them and fund them accordingly. There is a suite of support measures and grant-aid systems. There is mentoring and a very successful Skillnet programme, which we want Irish companies to be engaged in to upskill themselves. There is a considerable suite of measures.
The White Paper was launched only in December, so it is only a couple of months old. We do not even have the first implementation plan in place yet. Therefore, there is a job of work to do to get the narrative out, and that is why we are holding nine regional business conferences around the country, the first of which will start next Friday morning in Letterkenny. We will be taking the narrative out to the country to speak to businesses and work it out with them.
I am aware that we do not have enough time but maybe this is the start of a conversation or debate on the matter. To go back to the word "transformative", we cannot continue to do business as we have done. That is the message from climate change and the emergency we have declared. We need to go local again and go small.
With regard to the seaweed industry, the Dáil passed in 2017 or 2018 a motion I had tabled on recognising the potential of seaweed for local communities. Nothing has happened since. It is the exact same with wool. Sheep farmers are rightly complaining about getting no price for wool when there is a fantastic opportunity to deliver an indigenous industry given the various potential uses of wool.
I realise the White Paper was produced only in December. There is an absolute commitment to regional development. What is the Northern and Western Regional Assembly saying? It is saying the gap between its region and others has progressively widened in many spheres. It states this worrying trend has been attributed to a lack of investment in infrastructure assets.
On regional development, the IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland numbers from last year indicate that the majority of jobs created were actually created outside Dublin. Virtually every county in the country has seen an increase in employment and in population. There may be one or two exceptions, but that is all. There is a reason the regional meetings to engage with businesses are starting in Letterkenny.
We are finishing in Dublin. We are doing eight meetings outside of Dublin first to talk to businesses and listen to what they are saying about the pressures they are facing and so on in order that we can respond to that. I take the Deputy's points with regard to perception. By the way, some very innovative companies are using seaweed products in Ireland and exporting all over the world, adding significant value to those raw materials. That is what we want to see in sectors that have potential, for example, seaweed. I believe seaweed has much more potential than we are currently delivering on.
We need to piece this together. We have an enterprise strategy that takes us out to 2030, which is appropriate and very ambitious. We are heading off around the country now to speak to businesses about how they can successfully be part of that.
