Economic Policy

7. Deputy Willie O'Dea asked the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment if he will report on the implementation of the Action Plan on Competitiveness and Productivity. [66657/26]

Last week in Galway, a meeting was held by IBEC with all the Oireachtas representatives from right across the political spectrum with the site leads in Galway and some of the CEOs of the organisations. It was a fruitful meeting. Competitiveness was the lead item on the agenda so I would appreciate an update on the implementation of the action plan.

I thank the Deputy for his question. The Action Plan on Competitiveness and Productivity, an item in the programme for Government, was published on 10 September 2025. The action plan reflects a whole-of-government approach to the domestic drivers of competitiveness and focuses on areas that are firmly within national control. Its development was informed by extensive consultation across Departments and with external stakeholders. Accountability, monitoring and oversight are key to the successful delivery of the actions set out in the action plan. Each of the 85 actions is assigned a specific owner and has a timeline for implementation. Just under half of the actions are due for delivery in 2026. The remaining actions were delivered in 2025 or are scheduled for delivery between 2027 and 2030. The project team is in the process of drafting an update report, which should be published before the end of the year. Broadly speaking, of the total of 85 actions, 24 actions have been completed, 24 actions are on track for completion within their original timelines and 35 actions are in progress and expected to be delivered as scheduled. The remaining actions are at various stages of development, given differences in the implementation timeline. The most recent updates received demonstrate that the implementation of the plan is progressing as scheduled. It should also be noted that strong progress has been made in the implementation of the 26 priority actions, with 19 either implemented or on track to be implemented and the remainder being in progress and expected to be delivered on schedule. Key examples include an action to implement the outstanding recommendations from the civil justice review group report, with the general scheme of the civil reform Bill being published in January of this year. The research and development and innovation compass was also published in February of this year as part of an action to encourage the adoption of innovative technologies by the SME sector.

I welcome that the actions are being implemented. I believe the Minister of State said that 24 have been completed to date. That is welcome, but there are 85 actions included in that implementation programme so there is work to be done. I know it is a body of work that will be worth doing. The companies we met with outlined something to us. From small and medium enterprises right up to the largest of enterprises, when talking about competitiveness, they spoke of a fear about the speed at which Government has brought in changes over the last few years. They said it felt like there was a compounding of costs arising from that. If you speak to those involved in businesses, you hear that revenues remain strong and businesses are performing well but that the margins have gotten tighter. That is where the concern is coming from. Many cost burdens have been placed on businesses over the last few years. Is that going to accelerate or decelerate? Does the Minister of State have a comment on that?

I thank the Deputy for his response. It is a priority within our Department to focus on enterprise and the small business sector. That is why we established the cost of doing business advisory forum. We published that report last month. It had huge input from regulators, representative bodies, businesses and the private sector. It was broadly well received. It looked at the structural costs within businesses. We need a whole-of-government approach to drive the implementation of those recommendations. Some 63 recommendations were made. The Minister, Deputy Burke, and the Minister of State, Deputy Smyth, are very anxious to drive that agenda and we will. That is alongside the action plan on competitiveness. It is not just about identifying the competitiveness challenges; it is about actively implementing practical measures that will be felt to address them and ensure that Ireland is the best place in the world to do business, to invest and to create jobs.

One other thing that the Minister of State and all of the Ministers in the Department of enterprise will be aware of is that multinationals and Irish companies that are competing on a global scale are also competing internally. They are competing with sites in the US, sites in Asia and other European sites. We have to be conscious of that internal competition that is taking place. Part of the success story of the med tech and life sciences sector in Galway is the fact that we do research and development really well. If possible, I ask that the research and development tax credit be extended to related costs as part of the budget. It is not just the research and development costs that arise in Galway or in the west that count; it is also all of the related costs that go into making that research and development viable and allowing it to happen. I ask the Minister of State to give consideration to enhancing that tax credit in the budget. I would appreciate any comments he can make without giving away the budget.

I take the points the Deputy has raised. In the last budget, we made a decision within our Department and the Minister, Deputy Burke, brought forward an increase in the research and development tax credit, bringing it to 35%. That was broadly welcomed. The industry had campaigned for it. The Minister will bring forward a new life sciences strategy in the coming months. This will focus on our strengths but also try to implement practical measures to continue to make Ireland an attractive place not just for indigenous Irish companies within the life sciences sector but also for continued foreign direct investment, allowing many established companies that have embedded themselves within communities across the country to continue to expand, innovate and create jobs. That is where we are at our best. With the talent we have within our universities and the investment going into skills development, we can continue to support that very important sector.