I appreciate the feedback and ideas because we all need ideas to come forward. Along with Enterprise Ireland and the LEOs, I am particularly focused on making things more accessible and trying to reduce the administrative burden. I am trying to establish a new accelerator programme for our country. The Deputy will be aware of PorterShed in Galway, Dogpatch Labs in Dublin, the NDRC and issues around it. We need to ens…
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.
Month by month
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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| Month | Contributions |
|---|---|
| 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 |
| September 2025 | 27 |
| October 2025 | 4 |
| November 2025 | 22 |
| December 2025 | 0 |
| January 2026 | 61 |
| February 2026 | 25 |
| March 2026 | 1 |
| April 2026 | 26 |
| May 2026 | 1 |
| June 2026 | 62 |
| July 2026 | 29 |
| 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 am not aware of making any such promise. I want to be very clear on that. The National Minimum Wage Acts allow for lower or subminimum rates of the minimum wage for employees aged 20 years and younger. Those aged less than 18 years can be paid 70% of the full minimum wage rate, while those aged 18 and 19 years can be paid 80% and 90%, respectively, of the full rate. As the Deputy is aware, the Low Pay Commission re…
This is not an over and back exchange. The Deputy can make his contribution.
The Government's commitment is to defer the decision to 2029. We will publish the data behind that shortly. It should be noted what the commission actually said on subminimum rates. It is not exactly what the Deputy quoted. It stated:
The Low Pay Commission recommends that sub-minimum wage rates for employees who are 18 and 19 years of age should be abolished no sooner than 1 January 2025.
Contrary to what the Depu…
I am proud of the role the Government has played in improving the rights of employees. The Deputy spoke about rhetoric. Every decision he puts across to us is binary. He does not consider the potential impact such decisions would have on education pathways for young people and the unintended consequences. He does not consider training. He referred to 19-year-olds and 18-year-olds. I can tell him right now that 5% of …
That is what the Deputy's proposal will do. Let us be clear about it. He would close down every small business in the country if he had his way and he was running the country.
The Deputy does not have any balance. He does not know what it means to keep good high-value jobs in our economy.
I thank the Deputy for the question, which I appreciate. It concerns a very important area for us as a Government and one that under the programme for Government we have committed to finalising the action plan on the promotion of collective bargaining by the end of 2025, in line with the EU directive on adequate minimum wages. Work on developing the action plan in conjunction with our social partners is currently ong…
I thank Deputy Conway-Walsh again for her comments on the matter. As I said, it is one area that through the programme for Government we are very much committed to. The Deputy quite rightly spoke about participation in the various forums. Deliberations will be ongoing on that and how we can address it in our action plan. We will be doing that. We have got a lot out of the LEEF structure in terms of the social partner…
I absolutely agree that quality jobs are so important in our economy. I think this will be one of the areas we will focus on during our Presidency of the EU in the second half of next year. That will give us a key opportunity. We must remember that in the action plan and under the adequate minimum wage directive, MEPs from my party, including Regina Doherty and others, played a huge role in really working on that dir…
First, I should say that we will have a new tourism plan, hopefully in the next month, following consultation right across Government. That should be a good response to where we need to be for future-proofing the sector.
I should clarify that the promotion and operation of regional tourism is a matter for the local authorities, Fáilte Ireland and other tourism stakeholders. Cork is represented by three regional tour…
I thank Deputy Moynihan for his question. Absolutely, I am open to working with the Deputy on that. Maybe we could set up a meeting with Fáilte Ireland to see what is specifically being done for the Gearagh to ensure that the message about its natural beauty is being advertised. Údarás na Gaeltachta and Fáilte Ireland met recently to form a strategic partnership. They have signed a memorandum of understanding detaili…
I am happy to bring in the stakeholders to see how we can improve the offering. I have no objection to that, especially when, as the Deputy has well described, the asset could have great potential. That is what we need to do. We need to get back to the authentic beauty that Ireland has to offer and the authentic céad míle fáilte that we are so renowned for worldwide. We can do a huge amount of work on that in the upc…
IDA Ireland’s regional strategy has a proven track record of success, and the agency has reaffirmed its strong commitment to regional development as a core pillar of its strategy for the period 2025 to 2029, which I launched some months ago. The strategy aims to secure 550 regional investments over its lifetime. That is 55% of all investments, including 100 in the west, reflecting IDA Ireland's ongoing commitment to …
I do indeed. Our new life science strategy will be brought forward next year. That will be in line with the EU life science strategy and will aim to grow the 100,000 employees in the sector and the more than €100 billion in exports. Galway is very much front and centre of that, being a hub of medtech. About 70% of medtech companies are doing research and development and they are very good at the commercialisation of …
I understand that work is ongoing with the local authority in relation to that. My Department is very happy to support that planning permit, which will be very important for the sector. There is huge opportunity. We hear some negative things about the planning process but one thing that strikes me, as a former Minister of State with responsibility for planning, is that over 90% of planning decisions in this country d…
I thank Deputy Fleming for his question on the midlands region. Regional development is a key focus in the programme for Government and is central to the work of my Department and its agencies. In that regard, IDA Ireland has reaffirmed its strong commitment to regional development as a core pillar of its 2025 to 2029 strategy, which we launched a number of months ago. This ambitious strategy aims to secure 550 forei…
I will be categorical in stating that we are absolutely not excluding Laois. I was down there recently. The Leprino plant is an existing sector business under Enterprise Ireland that we are trying to find a replacement for through the FDI sector. It is a highly regulated plant that needs very significant support. As the Deputy will be aware, we are also working on an advance planning permit for Portlaoise. This is a …
I would absolutely support Deputy Fleming in what he set out, those 30 ha and the critical importance of an advance factory unit or a building solution unit because we know that it shortens lead time for investors. When you are bringing someone on site and you have a ready-made building, or the consent agreed for a building, it makes a difference. We will absolutely work with the Deputy on that. I know from my town, …
I thank Deputy Clendennen. The Government recognises that the cost of doing business has been an issue for firms in recent years arising from wider inflationary trends, including energy costs. It is important to note that costs for firms, as measured through the CSO’s wholesale price index, are declining and are down 3% in the 12 months to August 2025.
Most recently, the Government has taken action to address busine…
Deputy Clendennen has been a firm advocate for small family businesses. His voice has been very strong in that regard. We know many of those operate around the kitchen table; they do not have a finance or HR director. They employ two thirds of all people in our economy. That is why we have worked very hard to reduce the red tape in LEOs. We set about working through the centre of excellence in Enterprise Ireland, red…
I thank the Deputy for his strong support of the 9% VAT proposal. I know as tourism Minister as well that the key link in our identity is the authentic offering we have through our independent businesses like small coffee shops and restaurants. That will be key to the Government's response. We know the pressure they are under. There are over 240,000 jobs in regional locations and an €8 billion sector that we need to …
I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. My role and that of my Department in relation to tourism includes the development of national policy and the securing of resources to assist the tourism agencies, Fáilte Ireland and Tourism Ireland, in the implementation of policy.
County Louth is included in Ireland's Ancient East Regional Tourism Development Strategy 2023-2027. Ireland's ancient east is not only internat…
I am happy to work closely with Deputy Butterly on that. Another area I am actively working on is expanding the remit of Fáilte Ireland. One of the first things I did was to take a deep dive of the legislation that underpins the State agency. I want to include a restaurant sector. It is key as regards developing its model. Fáilte Ireland has focused on hotels but if we look further afield, our restaurants are key to …
Wexford will not beat Mullingar.