I think we hit a nerve there.

More came home last year than left.

More came home last year than left.

That is misrepresentative.

I am happy to speak in support of the motion of confidence in the Government. I respect that Opposition parties have a job to do to hold the Government to account. In truth, however, the putting down of a motion of no confidence in the Government by the Labour Party seems to me to be far more out about competition and headlines among Opposition parties than anything else. It comes in the week of the Labour Party conference and at a time the party continues to struggle for relevance and in the polls. I have a lot of…

Rubbish.

More Irish people came home than left last year. The Deputy should stick to the facts.

Deputy Calleary has been around here before.

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 rene…

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…

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, Dep…

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 t…

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…

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…

I thank the Deputy. The number of employment permit applications submitted to my Department increased significantly from 18,977 in 2019 to 16,449 in 2020, then to 27,719 in 2021 and to just over 35,606 last year, which resulted in a backlog in applications. The Department developed an action plan to reduce this backlog and the employment permit processing timelines. Following the successful implementation of the plan, the employment permits unit has reduced the number of applicants awaiting processing from approxim…

As I outlined, the Department has done an extraordinary job in effectively changing, modernising and improving the efficiency of the work permit system. I pay tribute to my predecessor and the Minister of State, Deputy Calleary, who is also involved in that discussion. This time last year, this was a huge issue for many businesses. It is no longer an issue from a delay perspective. There are still issues, though, that need further consideration, one of which the Deputy spoke about. We effectively have an applicatio…

Yes is the straight answer but I will come back to Deputy Stanton on the detail of that. My understanding was that we had made progress in facilitating spouses whose partners have a work permit to come and work here. I will come back to the Deputy with the detail of that because certainly the intention is to make some progress in that area. With regard to the Medical Council, I am happy to have a meeting either with Deputy Colm Burke or independently regarding some of those issues. From an enterprise perspective, b…

I know the site well. I drive past it regularly. It has extraordinary potential. It is known locally as the Amgen site because there was an expectation that there would be a significant development there quite some time ago now. However, the site still has significant potential. The availability of quality business parks and strategic sites, coupled with advance building solutions, is a critical component of the regional value proposition and winning of investments into the regions, particularly outside of Dublin. …

I would not like to give the impression that this part of east Cork is not getting attention from the IDA. Last May, Merck announced an investment of approximately €440 million to increase membrane manufacturing capacity at its site in Carrigtwohill. This investment included an extra 370 jobs. Last July, Stryker officially opened a new high-tech facility with the creation of 600 jobs. Last September, AbbVie announced an investment of €60 million with the creation of 70 jobs. Last October, GE Healthcare announced an…

I will see if I can get that number for the Deputy. I am not sure if I am supposed to give out information on the areas in respect of which the IDA has received inquiries, the number of inquiries and the number of visits, but I will give the Deputy any information on the issue that I can. I will correspond with him in that regard. He and I discuss the site constantly. We must try to find a way to move it forward. Regardless of whether it becomes a site for multiple companies to develop on or just one large player, …