Industrial Development (Amendment) and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2026: Report Stage
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-30
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Alan Dillon (FG), Mayo

I thank the Deputies for tabling these amendments but I am unable to accept them. First, I will focus on the objectives of section 4 and 5.
Section 4 deals with the capacity of the enterprise development agencies, IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland, to provide environmental grants and consultancy grants. The objectives of these incentives for businesses are to invest in actions that drive decarbonisation and our national objectives with respect to green and digital transition. They also align with the Government's goals, as set out in the programme for Government, to support high-quality jobs, mitigate climate change and drive competitiveness. The proposals set out in section 4 are in no way related to military matters. Likewise, the ultimate objective of section 5 is to support jobs, economic growth and strong regional development.
Having listened to the Deputies, it is disingenuous to say that the proposal in this Bill is aligned to war, military matters or subsidies for the arms industry. That could not be further from the facts. Every substantial safeguard to protect Ireland's national security, reputation and international obligations remains fully in force. The Bill does not in any instance affect the Government's policy on military neutrality. If we look at the availability of suitable property solutions, we are looking at how we can centrally attract mobile FDI, particularly in the current highly, competitive international markets, and for companies to see Ireland as an attractive place in which to do business. In that context, the joint property ventures provided for in section 5 can play an important role in supporting job creation. Again, section 5 of this proposal is in no way related to military matters.
As a Government, we will continue to support Irish-owned companies to grow and scale, along with providing direct investment towards each step of their decarbonisation. At the same time, as global competition for FDI intensifies, Ireland needs to remain agile and ambitious to win investment. The purpose of the Bill is to support these objectives. Through its different sections, it amends different Acts to specify defined purposes. Applying exceptional conditions to unrelated supports, as proposed in these amendments, is piecemeal and is not coherent from a policy perspective. The amendments conflate unrelated issues. Deputy Boyd Barrett spoke about issues around export licences. These were substantially discussed on Committee Stage when the Minister was very clear on the export of dual-use items. The Department explicitly and carefully assesses export licence applications, having regard to their relevance, the regulations and criteria. Their authorisations are decided on that basis.
For the reasons I outlined, I will not be accepting these amendments.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-30/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-10-05T01:00:59+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-30