Other Members' Questions

I raise the issue of how we protect and grow our successful open trading economy. The United States and the European Union remain our most important partners, but we need to consider more seriously how we diversify because too much rests on too few markets, sectors and companies. On markets, more than €4 in every €10 of our goods exports are earned in the United States. On sectors, more than half those goods are pharmaceuticals, and almost €6 in €10 of our service exports come from the IT sector. With companies, a handful of firms pay close to half our corporation tax. The companies behind those numbers have been very good for Ireland, and long may they stay, but it is a lot of eggs in very few baskets. Recently, in my constituency, I addressed a Hong Kong business delegation in Sandyford and a Yorkshire Chamber delegation in Clonskeagh. Yorkshire alone has as many people as Ireland, so even in markets we think we know, there is room to grow and diversify away from the main cities and established trading routes. Both these groups found their own way to us. Imagine what we would find if we went looking ourselves proactively. The difficulty, as I see it, is how we incentivise our agencies. It is always going to be easier to find the next dollar, job or company out of Texas or California, and we should keep prospecting there, but diversification means looking beyond the next dollar. This will not happen unless we give the relevant agencies the mandate and resources to do it. South Korea is the clearest example. As one of the world's 15 largest economies, it trains its biopharma workforce on the model of Ireland's National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training, NIBRT, which is based in Mount Merrion in my constituency. The Taoiseach will recall he was instrumental in bringing NIBRT about when he was Minister for enterprise in 2025. The Korean version, K-NIBRT, trained over 3,500 people there last year, all on UCD- and Irish-branded material. Every one of those newly qualified professionals working in cutting-edge industry knows and trusts Irish expertise as a result. ICON, which is headquartered in Leopardstown, helped Korea grow one of the busiest clinical trial sectors in the world. Korea has one in seven of the world's medicines in development, and they will need a home in Europe. Yet in Seoul, I found just one IDA officer and one Enterprise Ireland officer. Korea imports almost half a million tonnes of beef a year. Last year, we sold it only 358 tonnes, and the Bord Bia post remains vacant. Korea is not unique. Similar opportunity gaps exist across south-east Asia, India, the Gulf, and Latin America. Seán Lemass opened Ireland to the world. The opportunity today to double down on this is enormous. Building up our agencies' presence in these markets is a relatively small investment for outsize returns and a stronger, more resilient economy. Will the Government act, rather than waiting, to fill those gaps?

I thank the Deputy for raising in a very informed and insightful way the issues of Ireland's global footprint, the presence of our enterprise agencies in certain key markets and the need to expand that presence in markets, particularly in countries like South Korea. I agree with the basic import and substance of what the Deputy said. We have had Global Ireland 2025, which has been particularly impactful. We have expanded our diplomatic footprint significantly by opening 27 new missions since 2018. The final two missions, the consulates general in Malaga and Melbourne, opened this year. That enabled us to take a more strategic approach to global relations, to better weather the impacts of Brexit and then to deal with the Covid pandemic and Russia's illegal war on Ukraine and so on. We also developed a more proactive team Ireland approach, reflected in the Ireland House model. That will be key. I opened a flagship of that model in Tokyo, during my visit to Japan last year. I saw what a wonderful resource that is for the country and our enterprises. We now have 20 Ireland Houses overseas and we expect this to increase to 22 by the end of 2027 or early 2028. We want to expand the model with new Ireland Houses in London, Toronto, Madrid and so forth. We also need to plan for the next strategy, to 2040. The Presidency of the EU takes up time but I want the next strategy, Global Ireland 2040, ready to be launched in the first half of next year. We need to do that and I will be working with the Department of foreign affairs and my own team to make sure it happens. The Deputy made a fair point about market diversification. The key markets have been the UK, North America, including Canada, and areas of Asia. We have good relations with China. Twenty years ago, I was on a trade mission to South Korea. I take the Deputy's point that our presence is not good enough in South Korea. Ultimately, we need an Ireland House there. Enterprise Ireland in particular needs to be there. IDA Ireland needs to have a stronger team there. A review has been completed and resources will be increased and have increased in South Korea from the IDA perspective. The Enterprise Ireland review is expected to conclude in quarter 4 of 2026. I take the Deputy's point on Bord Bia. The footprint review, aligned with the market prioritisation framework, is still under review with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. Research Ireland does have dedicated overseas staff and they are not necessarily needed. South Korea is a market of growing strategic importance. The IDA has strengthened its presence in Seoul with a new chief executive in place since late last year, but we need more.

I thank the Taoiseach for the reply. I appreciate him confirming the delivery of the Global Ireland 2040 report. An international trade and investment strategy depends on having people on the ground to deliver it. At the moment, nobody outside those agencies can really see where those people are. Will the Government publish the staffing and targets of the IDA, Enterprise Ireland and Bord Bia on a market-by-market basis every year or indeed every quarter, so that we can see whether the effort is actually following the strategy? If we are serious about new markets, we need to invest and we need to see and measure that investment. Will the Taoiseach ask those three agencies to direct their focus, sooner rather than later, on Seoul and similar markets, so that, rather than reacting to each lead as it comes in, we have the resources there to make the most of every opportunity in markets like these?

I will. They should be transparent in that regard. For example, Bord Bia has about 50 people working in offices overseas. The numbers vary, with six in China, six in France, three in Germany and four in Singapore, but, to the Deputy's point, I do not think there are any in Seoul. I was very impressed with Bord Bia in China when I visited at the beginning of the year. Irish people were communicating about Irish food products in Mandarin to Chinese media, which was very impressive. We have had a debate this morning on technology. To me, Seoul in South Korea is one of the big capitals for advanced technologies. The IDA has had some success with companies coming to Ireland to work on battery storage for supporting renewable energy. There are very important advanced technologies to be understood and to have their presence in terms of the tasks and challenges we face in technological advancement and investment in renewables.