I welcome the opportunity to speak on this legislation. I thank the Minister and his officials for bringing it forward. This is a largely technical Bill. It updates the Industrial Development Acts and modernises the powers of the IDA and Enterprise Ireland. It removes an outdated restriction in the Science and Technology Act 1987 and introduces a number of sensible miscellaneous provisions on consultancy grants, property co-investment and the Health and Safety Authority, HSA. Fianna Fáil supports this Bill. I will come to the detail in a moment, but this is a week in which we must step back and look at the longer arc of Irish industrial development. This is the centenary week of my own party, Fianna Fáil. It is also the week when, 55 years ago, former Taoiseach Seán Lemass died. While we debate a Bill to modernise the agencies he helped to establish and build, it might be appropriate to reflect for a moment on his contribution. Lemass was the architect of the modern Irish economy. He was the Minister who, in the 1930s, set up the Industrial Credit Corporation, supported the establishment of Aer Lingus, Bord na Móna and Irish Shipping, and built the spine of the semi-State sector. He was the Taoiseach who, in 1959, working with T. K. Whitaker, brought forward the First Programme for Economic Expansion 1958-1963, the document that opened our economy, ended the years of stagnation and laid the foundations for everything that followed. That decision was not a popular one at the time. It was against the orthodoxy of the previous generation. It required Lemass to argue patiently within our own party for the best part of a decade. He believed an open, outward-looking Ireland would be a more prosperous Ireland, and he was right. Like Lemass, we live in turbulent times. Economic and social systems are being tested. The international order is shifting beneath our feet. Trade tensions, geopolitical uncertainty and the pace of technological change are reshaping the landscape for every open economy, and few are as open as ours. The challenges Lemass faced in the 1950s - a stagnant economy, a closed society and a country in danger of falling behind - were of a different kind to ours, but the test is the same. When states and societies are tested, those who rely on hope decline, those who adapt just survive, but those who are willing to transform lead. Lemass was a leader who believed in the power of transformative policies to improve the nation. Where clear direction is given, the public service can and will deliver. It worked with Lemass to establish the likes of Aer Lingus, Irish Shipping and, critically, the First Programme for Economic Expansion 1958-1963, which laid the foundations for the transformation of Ireland into a modern, open European economy. We debate this Bill at a turbulent moment internationally, yet Ireland enters this period from a position of real strength. More people are at work in this country than at any other point in our history, the public finances are in surplus and Irish enterprise continues to compete and win on the world stage. This did not just happen by accident. It was the product of steady, serious Government policy that has guided this country through a pandemic, a war in Europe and now a more uncertain global outlook, with the calm and conviction the moment demands. This Bill before us is part of that work. It does three substantial things. First, it gives the IDA and Enterprise Ireland a new power to award environmental protection aid grants assessed on environmental criteria. For the first time, our agencies will be able to support projects on carbon abatement grounds alone without having to force them through criteria designed for a different purpose. That is a sensible and overdue reform. The IDA has described the current arrangements, quite bluntly, as an onerous constraint. The Bill removes that constraint. Second, it allows the IDA, with ministerial consent, to co-invest in property and infrastructure with third parties, including ISIF. The availability of serviced industrial property is one of the deciding factors in major investment decisions. If we want to keep winning the competition on a global stage, our agencies need the tools to deliver. Third, it removes section 8(5) of the Science and Technology Act 1987, which I mentioned previously, a provision written for an agency that no longer exists and that has had a chilling effect on the work of our agencies in defence, security and resilience. In a Europe investing heavily in cyber, satellites, maritime security and hybrid threat monitoring, Ireland cannot afford to have one hand tied behind its back. The substantive safeguards, export controls, ministerial oversight and Government approval of overall policy all remain in place. The deeper point of this Bill, though, is in the first of those three reforms. It is in the recognition that the next phase of Irish industrial development is going to be defined by transformation in solar, wind, public transport, energy and the digital transition. That is where the investment and jobs are going. That is why Ireland needs to position itself to lead or it will find itself being left behind. Societies that transform do best, those that rely on hope decline and those that adapt just survive. If we want our children and grandchildren to inherit a country that is prosperous and secure, then we need to be the country that transforms. That means decisive investment in renewable energy - onshore and offshore wind and solar - and grid infrastructure. It means a public transport system worthy of a European capital and of every town in this country. It means honest investment in the housing and water and energy infrastructure that our economy and society need. It also means giving clear direction to the public service, because when clear direction is given, our public service can and will deliver. It did it for Lemass in 1959. It implemented structural reforms in concert with social partners from 1987. It also delivered during the pandemic. The public service will do it again if we in this House are clear about what we are asking it to do. Lemass once said that a rising tide lifted all boats. He meant it as a description of what economic growth, properly directed, could do for Irish people. A century on from the founding of Fianna Fáil, that ambition remains. This Bill is a modest and technical step, but it is a step in the right direction. It strengthens our agencies, modernises our framework and gives us better tools for the work of transformation that lies ahead.

Sentiment score: 0.21