Budget 2026 (Enterprise, Tourism and Employment): Statements
Seanad Éireann — 2025-10-14
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Peter Burke (FG), Longford-Westmeath

I thank the Acting Chairperson and all 14 Senators for their contributions and the points they raised. I will just touch on a few of the points. Certain themes went through a number of the points. First of all, Senator Linda Nelson Murray made excellent points about SMEs. We all know that small family businesses employ about two-thirds of people across the country and they do not have HR directors or finance directors. A lot of their great work is done around the kitchen table. That is why we are very keen to support them in having grants that do not require a huge amount of time. We are now putting a huge amount of effort into doing things simpler, lighter and faster, reducing the conditions and hopefully getting to a stage where we can turn those smaller SME grants around in 24 hours to grant approval in principle, particularly in the space of digitalisation and decarbonisation. We know that if companies can change the business model and reduce their utility bills, it gives them a fighting chance of being sustainable into the future.
In relation to scaling, we will come forward later next year with our new national accelerator programme. That will join all the dots between the current model, with Dogpatch Labs, PorterShed and Republic of Work and so many different pieces of the jigsaw around the country. We will have a very strong model with Enterprise Ireland at its core. That will allow our SMEs to scale and give them the support and the funding they need at an early stage, which is critical to their success.
One point that really runs through a few of the themes is in relation to our indigenous economy, which is very close to my heart and is very important. It is very important to have a strong multinational space as well, because some of the companies that are referenced here have been in this country for 50, 60 or 70 years. One of the great things that can be seen as a theme running through those companies is that many of them have hundreds of SMEs deeply embedded in their supply chains. We brought packages to Cabinet today with research, development and innovation grants. Some of those companies have small SMEs right across the country that are providing key services for them to be successful here in the Irish economy and it is important we never forget that. Intel, for example, has 850 SMEs working for it, including Banagher Precast Concrete and Kiernan Structural Steel in Longford. It is a hugely diverse spread. It is important that we understand this integrated relationship.
It is also important to note that the top ten Irish companies based in Ireland employ 450,000 people globally. This demonstrates the strong internationalisation of the Irish economy. If we go by evidence, which we all should in this Chamber, and look back, we had a record year for Irish indigenous companies last year, with exports of about €36.75 billion. They employ 234,000 people through Enterprise Ireland. We are looking to get to 50,000 exports in the next four years. In the key markets, Europe grew by 8%, to approximately €10.6 billion euro. This is now the lead market for our Enterprise Ireland clients. The US grew by 8% and the UK grew by 4%. We have a very strong base and it is growing and we are creating more jobs in it. That is the explicit evidence as we look at it. We can grow the links between our SMEs and our multinationals. I was awestruck by the connection between one of the very big life-science companies in Athlone and smaller companies. I was in Ballinasloe visiting a small printing company. This is a family business which employs some 25 people. The owner told me that the instructions that go into each bottle of medication are printed by his company and it is linked into one of the biggest life-science companies in the country. This demonstrates that link which should not be taken for granted.
Regarding the 9% VAT rate, this is very important to sustain jobs in rural and regional areas of the country. Senators Crowe and Nelson Murray pointed out how important it is to look beyond that. We have in the programme for Government measures that are contained within PRSI for our SMEs, particularly in retail and hospitality. We cannot do everything in one budget, and hopefully we will be looking at areas of further improvement for viability in the years ahead, and also looking at other areas that we could not deliver in this budget. Excise duty is one of those that is very important for our pubs and wet pubs, which provide a very strong offering. That is another area where I think there is significant merit in the proposal, particularly for the on-trade, which is very important to sustain. It is something we can look at in the future.
On the points raised by Senators Ryan and Collins, the licensing issues come under the remit of the Department of Health, unfortunately. I have raised the issue of the increase in licensing fees, particularly for corner shops. I have written to the Department of Health on the matter. There has not been any change on it yet, so we await further developments. Senator Kyne raised the matter with me already. He said it was raised on the Order of Business. It is another issue that we can respond on.
Regarding Senator Scahill's points about the national enterprise hub, the team there has responded to 7,800-odd strong leads since its inception, which is very strong. There is a lot of investigation in terms of working with and supporting many of our SMEs and considering the fact that time is a premium for family businesses, we want to do a lot more in that space and hopefully help them further.
Senator O'Donovan's point about the chambers of commerce is a good one. We can look at working more closely with them, particularly in relation to many of the grants that are available through local enterprise offices. The chambers can be brought on board as well to assist companies in accessing those grants. We have a lot of work to do to make them simpler, and that is the first horizon I am trying to get over, particularly the ones that are not of high value. There is no big risk to the taxpayer, but it is important to turn them around as quickly as we can.
Digitalisation is a very important objective of the Government. We are trying to improve the approach to make businesses more sustainable and we will be doing a lot in that regard. As Senators Davitt and Lawless pointed out, apprenticeships are also very important. The national action plan for competitiveness and productivity contains a large number of actions on apprenticeships and trying to upskill people, which is going to be critical. Incentivising businesses to take on apprentices is a key element. Businesses face a huge challenge with employment costs and we need to ensure that they are getting incentivised to deliver those apprenticeships. We have a lot of work to do in this area.
Auto-enrolment is a big challenge for businesses and I will raise the matter with the Minister, Deputy Calleary. We know it is a very significant policy decision to support the demographic change in our country and sustain people to have a proper income as they go into retirement, but there is a big challenge for business as well. We have to try to support them with information and support in terms of the mechanism to do it, but also financially it is a big challenge. That is why I am hopeful that some of the viability measures will help some cohorts, but I agree that we have more to do and we have to try our very best on it.
In relation to Mullingar, there have been a number of improvements relating to the advanced factory unit, on which the sod has been turned. A huge amount of work will be done there over the next 18 months to ensure it is delivered. There was also the announcement in the past month by the US company G and F Precision Molding of 30 jobs in the area.
Senators Kennelly and Conway raised important points about tourism, digitalisation and improving the offering. I am hopeful that we will have our tourism strategy ready next month. We will be doing a number of things within the tourism strategy.
We will expand the remit of Fáilte Ireland. It will work with our restaurants now, having focused more on hotels previously.
We need to develop the model. How do we make the offering more sustainable? We will embrace SMEs because they are integral to grasping the opportunity that will be in the marketplace. We will put boots on the ground where there are new air routes. We have three new gateways into the US market this year - three new direct flights. We have 21 in total. When policy decisions like that are taken, we need to put resources behind them to sell them and get people back here. That will be important.
We will have an all-Ireland food strategy, which will be particularly important in the European market where there is a challenge with the lack of understanding of the huge artisan offering we have in Ireland. We will expand our business events strategy and will potentially get €1 billion per year out of that.
That will all be captured by our tourism policy and we will have key performance indicators with our State agency, Fáilte Ireland, to ensure we are reaching our targets. They will be significant targets but we have to aim big because the sector can bring revenue to all parts of our country. I know from meeting businesses down there with Senator Kennelly how important it is. Equally with Senator Conway in County Clare, I saw how critical it is to Ennistimon, Lehinch and the towns and villages around there. The huge offering tourism makes is very important.
Senator Flaherty raised a number of issues. Artificial intelligence will be key. It is for the future. It does not have to be located in any one town or city. It is an area where we will have a lot of opportunity in the future. We will finish transposing and designating competent authorities under the AI Act by next August. Then we will establish our office, which will be a significant statement by the State. That will work not only on regulating artificial intelligence, but also on developing the model and looking at opportunities for our businesses across the country. There is a huge opportunity and it is something we have to grasp with both hands.
On the IDA, I understand from the last conversation I had that we should be due an announcement pretty shortly on it. I will try to get the Senator a note on that to bring us up to date. It is a significant priority. There are a few issues that Transport Infrastructure Ireland was working through on the site it has. Those have been resolved, I understand, and we can progress on it. I know it is very important for Longford town and the area.
I have covered as much as I can in my response and I thank everyone for their time.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2025-10-14/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:13+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-10-14