There are huge challenges in our economy in respect of the turnover of jobs, which I, as Minister, can see. There is huge opportunity, but there is also a turnover of jobs every week. The Government is acutely aware of this and is supporting employees through it.
It is clear that the Corporate Enforcement Authority is responsible for policing company law. If there are any issues, they should be reported. We have a v…
TDs / Peter Burke
Peter Burke
Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment
Portrait: © Houses of the Oireachtas (Oireachtas (Open Data) PSI Licence) · source file
0
questions asked
Members of the Government answer questions rather than ask them
99,195
words spoken in the chamber
99,195 as a minister, 0 as a TD
306
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
From the Dáil chamber only: committee meetings are not in this archive.
Members of the Government answer parliamentary questions rather than ask them, so this page lists none of theirs.
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Low months are usually recesses, when the Dáil does not sit. The archive runs to 22 October 2026.
Contributions to debates 403 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
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| December 2024 | 0 |
| January 2025 | 0 |
| February 2025 | 20 |
| March 2025 | 1 |
| April 2025 | 16 |
| May 2025 | 26 |
| June 2025 | 15 |
| July 2025 | 3 |
| August 2025 | 0 |
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| August 2026 | 0 |
| September 2026 | 12 |
| October 2026 | 52 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 360 contributions in the regular slots, such as Leaders' Questions and Priority Questions. Speech from the chair is not counted.
Party, constituency and offices
- constituency Longford-Westmeath 29 November 2024 to now
- party Fine Gael 29 November 2024 to now
- office Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment 23 January 2025 to 1 June 2025
- office Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment 2 June 2025 to now
I thank the Deputy. The establishment of the AI office of Ireland is a strategic initiative of this Government. I am delighted to have secured start-up funding of €1.4 million as part of budget 2026 for the office's establishment. The AI office will act as a central co-ordinating body for the implementation of the AI Act in Ireland and will also provide a focal point for the promotion and adoption of transparent and …
The Deputy makes valid points on this. The Government has not made a decision yet. We are going through a lot of the issues and seeking advice on them. Hopefully, in the coming months, we will be able to go to Government with a memorandum on the final structure. Enforcement and independence are key. It is important we have public trust in artificial intelligence. Some of the areas the Deputy referenced will be looked…
Absolutely. We will consider them as part of our deliberative process. The enterprise committee will be key in our approach. The private sector has done a lot of good things with AI. Insight is the largest research centre in Europe. It is based in Trinity College and shows us how we can commercialise research based in tertiary education.
We do have a lot to do from a public service point of view and in Departments. …
I thank the Deputy for this important question. Enhancing cross-Border co-operation and connections is a key ambition of this Government and tourism is an important asset we have to realise together.
Tourism Ireland is responsible for marketing the island of Ireland overseas as a leading holiday destination and works closely with colleagues in Fáilte Ireland and Tourism Northern Ireland. In addition to a commitment …
We are working closely with our partners in Northern Ireland to expand our brands, particularly Ireland's Hidden Heartlands. There is ground for expansion there. I met with Minister Archibald in London last week. We were doing an expo together. It is great to see everyone together trying to push Ireland as a destination. We have discussed a number of areas which we will be supporting through the shared island initiat…
Last year was a bumper year for tourism and it is a big challenge to replicate that. However, we have to look at the evidence and the facts. Some 12% fewer seats came into our country because of the airport cap. That was a very significant challenge for the tourism sector. That will not be the case for the winter ahead. I think there will be approximately 9% more seats in the winter ahead, which will provide capacity…
I thank Deputy Ward for this very important question. The Government recognises that the cost of doing business has been an issue for firms in recent years arising from both the wider inflationary trends and Government-mandated changes in the form of improvements to working conditions across a range of areas. It is important to note that costs for firms, as measured through the CSO's wholesale price index, are declin…
First, I would robustly challenge the premise that big businesses in the economy are not good. They employ people. Many franchises provide huge employment in many rural parts of our economy. Let us focus on what we are doing as a Government in the sector the Deputy referenced. First, we increased the PRSI threshold for those on the living wage. We brought forward moderations to the living wage and additional sick pay…
I note the Deputy's concerns but I have not seen any workable framework under the European VAT directive that allows for differentiation on turnover. I have not seen it yet. I have not seen any workable proposal in relation to that. My point is very clear. There are 228,000 jobs supported in our hospitality sector. Many of them are in regional parts of our country and the vast majority of them, well over 90%, are sma…
I thank Deputy Burke for his very important question. Balanced regional development is a Government priority and a central component of the White Paper on Enterprise 2022-2030 is to support balanced regional enterprise development. My Department and its agencies work to support this agenda in several ways, including through the work of Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland, local enterprise offices, LEOs and nine regional …
I thank Deputy Burke for all his work in this area. I was with him recently in Cork. We had a great meeting looking at all the opportunities there and met many people from the community.
I will say three quick things. First, the Department is working on a scheme for small manufacturing sites for businesses. There is huge demand, particularly for manufacturing and engineering businesses, for small units. Second, Cork…
I am happy to work with the Deputy on all those areas. He has been a firm advocate for business competitiveness, which is key. In the new infrastructure proposals the Government will be bringing forward in February, it will be key to look at our ports and such authorities to ensure we are quickly able to get the key infrastructure enhancements into those areas. On the national planning framework for businesses expand…
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 …
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 cutt…
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 …
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 …
-----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 bro…
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 finan…
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 sustainabili…
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 econ…
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 Enterpr…
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 exce…
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 be…