Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)

I welcome this year's budget provisions for enterprise and for our Department more widely. I commend the Minister, Deputy Burke, and the officials in our Department on the work they have engaged in with the Department of public expenditure in recent weeks to secure a package worth €1 billion plus for our Department next year.

The Minister has reflected on how far we have come over the course of this Government. It is useful to go back to the beginning. At the very start of Covid, we were paying people not to work and businesses to close down. That inflicted significant damage on our enterprise system and enterprise culture. Just as enterprises recovered and caught their breath, we had the consequences of the illegal invasion of Ukraine on fuel and energy prices and on many other issues. Businesses struggled throughout this period, but they had a Government that backed them. This budget will continue to back them.

Within my digital remit in the Department, we had some significant announcements yesterday. The investment to upgrade the grid will lead to a grid that is AI and quantum computer ready, which will be the new way of doing business, the new basis of enterprise and the new direction for jobs over the course of the next five to ten years. The grid will be powered by renewable energy, including offshore energy. Within our Department, offshore energy will be led through the powering prosperity strategy. There was important news yesterday about the developments at the Port of Cork. These will enable us to begin positioning infrastructure along the south coast and, ultimately, the west coast so that we can harness the value of our waves, in particular in the Atlantic Ocean. By putting the infrastructure in place now and making investments in our skills, we will be able to power our digital revolution through our offshore revolution. Our Department is at the forefront of that.

The Minister has referred to the cost challenge facing business. Every member of the Government is acutely conscious of it. It would have been easy yesterday not to introduce the €170 million package that will get €4,000 to nearly 39,000 businesses between now and Christmas, but the Minister fought hard to get it. It will assist many businesses with their energy bills between now and the end of the year. It will be in addition to the €251 million already paid out under the increased cost of business scheme. All in all, there is a €320 million investment in small business in particular, the majority of which has gone to the retail and hospitality sectors, to assist with the challenge of cost.

We are aware that many of the changes that have been made to support employment and workers, which make sense on their own, have had a cumulative effect on business. This is why the SME test will now apply much more rigorously than it has previously. It is also why an examination of all of the underlying costs within Irish business is under way.

Regarding the digital space, I was honoured to be able to establish the national council on artificial intelligence - the AI council - this year. A sum of €100,000 will go to support its work through next year. I thank all of the council's members for the work they have done already.

We will provide an additional €2.75 million for the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission's new responsibilities under the Digital Services Act, the Digital Markets Act and the Data Governance Act. Due to the Digital Services (Levy) Act 2024, which was introduced with the co-operation of the House, the Department will be able to retain income that was previously spent on our responsibilities under the DSA. Those responsibilities will now be funded by a levy on the digital companies to which the DSA applies. The levy will take effect from 1 January, freeing us up to invest in other areas of our Department.

Tá sé tábhachtach freisin a rá go bhfuilimid ag obair le Ranna eile sa Rialtas seo, go háirithe Údarás na Gaeltachta agus Roinn na Gaeltachta, chun fiontar sa Ghaeltacht a chur i bhfeidhm agus chun cuidiú a thabhairt d'fhiontar sa Ghaeltacht agus i ngach cuid den tír. We are working across many Departments. As the Ceann Comhairle did earlier this evening at the Kildare event, I acknowledge the work of local enterprise offices. I join him in endorsing the work of Ms Jacqui McNabb, a former colleague of mine in the chambers of commerce movement. The local enterprise offices marked their tenth year this year and I commend them all on the extraordinary work they are doing in supporting small businesses in the country.

The Minister and I are fortunate to work in a Department with very committed and focused officials whose work across the island supports Irish enterprise and business.

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