Developing next generation sites is essential for Ireland to remain competitive if we wish to attract further large-scale, high-value manufacturing opportunities such as major semiconductor and biopharma investments. The next generation site approach will be plan-led, streamlining development and reducing planning risks, and provide pre-permitted, utility-intensive sites, enabling swift development and certainty for investors. Each site will be developed in stages over a number of years to facilitate incremental in…

I am happy to work with Deputy Aird in Laois to ensure that Laois continues to grow. We have our advanced planning permit, which we are now working with IDA Ireland and Laois County Council on for our advanced building solution. It is important that we can reduce lead times and give certainty in that regard. We had a great day at Midland Steel, where we have 70 jobs. It is a good example of where Laois is at the cutting edge of innovation in areas that are critical to the supply chain of our economy. There will be …

I thank Deputy Aird for raising Leprino Foods and the 132 jobs there, which are valued. I know it is working under a timeline at the moment. We are working so hard with Enterprise Ireland and the IDA, looking at a prospectus for a site, because it is a highly valued building. It is highly regulated and utility-rich. It provides a significant offering for a company. We are working really hard to get another buyer and a company into it because it provides a unique location. It has the infrastructure, the connectivity…

I offer my sympathies to Gillian and Stephen, parents of the late Harvey, for their inconsolable loss. This debate is brought to us by Aontú, by a party that is absolutely bankrupt of ideas. We heard its leader, Deputy Peadar Tóibín, on "Morning Ireland" this morning bemoaning the fact that he has had only two or three opportunities to table Private Members' business in this House. Yet, at the very first opportunity Aontú has, does it bring forward an alternative plan or alternative ideas? Does it-----

-----bring forward a new vision? Absolutely not.

The first thing Aontú has done is brought the nuclear option and tried to pull down the Government, with parties that are providing solutions together for these families. When I was appointed Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, the then Taoiseach, Deputy Simon Harris, immediately said we need to reset and focus on family businesses. Since then, in the first eight weeks we delivered an SME package. We brought forward an action plan on market diversification and an action plan on competitiveness and prod…

I welcome the opportunity to address Senators today and make a few comments regarding budget 2026, particularly the budget measures that relate to my own Department. Budget 2026 is a strongly pro-jobs, pro-enterprise budget. The signal has gone out that Ireland is a fantastic place in which to do business, to scale and to invest. We must ensure that our economy and workforce continue to reap the benefits that the enterprise economy brings. The budget demonstrates the Government's commitment to ensuring that our eco…

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 suppo…

I thank the Senator for that intervention. We are price-takers in the market. That is a big issue in power. We have set up the national affordability task force and the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, is trying to ensure that as we invest in our grid, we make the user pay less. In the new capital programme, PR6, we are investing about €18 billion in improving our transmission and grid capacity. In PR5, we invested about €8 billion, so it is a significant increase in expenditure. The framework is the key thing that Govern…

This is a strongly pro-jobs and pro-enterprise budget. The signal has gone out that Ireland is a fantastic place to do business, to scale up and to invest in. Our economy and workforce must continue to reap the benefits. The budget demonstrates the Government’s commitment to ensure that our economy delivers for our citizens and supports our people and businesses through investment and sensible management of our finances. The fact we have a record number of people - 2.82 million – working in our economy, which, notw…

I thank Deputy Conway-Walsh for this very important question. I firmly commit to ensuring that small- and medium-sized businesses have access to affordable credit. My Department has developed several loan guarantee schemes, the first in 2012, that have enabled participating lenders to offer loans at interest rates below their standard commercial terms. The scheme currently open to SMEs is the growth and sustainability loan scheme. This is a €500 million initiative developed by my Department and the Department of Ag…

To go back to the evidence, if we look at the first scheme I referenced, which was the growth and stability loan scheme, we have at this point in time almost used up the €500 million allocation. This demonstrates that SMEs are using it and drawing it down. We also increased the Microfinance Ireland loan scheme for our smaller SMEs, up to €50,000 from €25,000, and it is supporting approximately 12,000 jobs in the economy. We have had a succession of schemes, including the Ukraine guarantee scheme, the future growth …

I am very happy to work in this regard. The critical thing I am trying to do is make these supports available to our SMEs and family businesses, which employ two thirds of the people throughout our economy. I am very aware that the average SME does not have a finance director or a HR director. A lot of the great work is done around the kitchen table. This is why we are working with the centre of excellence at Enterprise Ireland and those who craft the schemes so we are reducing red tape and the administrative burde…

I thank Deputy Conway-Walsh for her question. I am happy to inform the Deputy that my Department is making significant progress in simplifying the application process for enterprise grants, particularly those administered through the local enterprise offices and Enterprise Ireland. Following instruction from my Department through the recently established small business unit, the Enterprise Ireland LEO centre of excellence has completed a comprehensive review of application requirements for each of the LEO grants. T…

We are not really talking about regulation here but about the administrative procedures for small businesses to get the funding they need to develop online platforms, to become more sustainable and to meet their objectives. What we want to do is to make that process easier. This is not a significant risk to the taxpayer. Many of these grants are particularly small and many genuine enterprises just do not have time because time is their scarcest resource. We are working through the process with Enterprise Ireland. W…

I appreciate the feedback and ideas because we all need ideas to come forward. Along with Enterprise Ireland and the LEOs, I am particularly focused on making things more accessible and trying to reduce the administrative burden. I am trying to establish a new accelerator programme for our country. The Deputy will be aware of PorterShed in Galway, Dogpatch Labs in Dublin, the NDRC and issues around it. We need to ensure that we have a stable landscape for those businesses that are part of the indigenous economy so …

I am not aware of making any such promise. I want to be very clear on that. The National Minimum Wage Acts allow for lower or subminimum rates of the minimum wage for employees aged 20 years and younger. Those aged less than 18 years can be paid 70% of the full minimum wage rate, while those aged 18 and 19 years can be paid 80% and 90%, respectively, of the full rate. As the Deputy is aware, the Low Pay Commission recommended the abolition of subminimum rates in March 2024. The commission highlighted in its report …

This is not an over and back exchange. The Deputy can make his contribution.

The Government's commitment is to defer the decision to 2029. We will publish the data behind that shortly. It should be noted what the commission actually said on subminimum rates. It is not exactly what the Deputy quoted. It stated: The Low Pay Commission recommends that sub-minimum wage rates for employees who are 18 and 19 years of age should be abolished no sooner than 1 January 2025. Contrary to what the Deputy said at the very outset, I did not make any commitment to abolish the subminimum rates. It is impor…

I am proud of the role the Government has played in improving the rights of employees. The Deputy spoke about rhetoric. Every decision he puts across to us is binary. He does not consider the potential impact such decisions would have on education pathways for young people and the unintended consequences. He does not consider training. He referred to 19-year-olds and 18-year-olds. I can tell him right now that 5% of 19-year-olds are on subminimum rates. That shows us the opportunity in our economy and the pathways …