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

I thank the Deputies for tabling these amendments, and as with the previous amendments, I cannot accept them. The Act's section 8(5) provision is ambiguous and creates ongoing practical difficulties for the agencies. It hinders the agency support by creating uncertainty about what engagement requires prior Government approval and what does not. This blanket provision is outdated, given the multilayered regulatory framework that now exists. Increasingly, the Defence Forces have procurement needs related to the defence and security technologies required to protect the infrastructure on which our economy and prosperity depend. In this debate, not one Deputy mentioned our requirements around investments in our Defence Forces. We are raising the level of ambition to where we can continue to protect our citizens, strengthen national security and deliver more capable and resilient Defence Forces. I think we all accept that the landscape is changing in terms of the operational needs of the Defence Forces and also the opportunities in domestic and European funding.
We have been very clear on the priorities, which are in relation to defence, security and resilience opportunity, and streamlining these procedures facilitates that. The agencies remain subject to ministerial directions under the Industrial Development Acts. We will also have robust mechanisms in place for rigorous project appraisals by the agencies, our export control regulation, ministerial powers and Government oversight, and defence procurement safeguards. It is important that the agencies remain subject to these requirements under the Industrial Development Acts. Governance and oversight remain robust for agency project approval. This will ensure that every project is assessed carefully, transparently and consistently.
Deletion of section 5 of the 1987 Act, as proposed, will streamline the work of the agencies in supporting innovative SMEs and enterprises, including cutting-edge technologies of strategic importance to Ireland, such as cybersecurity, sensors, data analytics and maritime surveillance. That has been raised many times regarding our national security vulnerabilities.
I am unable to accept Deputy Conway Walsh's proposed amendment No. 8 because it would reintroduce the central ambiguity that the Bill is designed to remove. We should not delete any ambiguous statutory requirement and replace it with something that recreates the ambiguity. The section 8(5) requirement no longer reflects the reality of how innovation, research and industrial ecosystems operate. Instead of providing clarity, it has the opposite effect. It has prolonged legal ambiguity and encouraged excessive caution in the system when considering engagement with projects that involve emerging technologies with defence, security and resilience potential, and these are areas of importance for our Defence Forces.
Equally, the scope of Deputy Conway Walsh's amendment is open to interpretation and potentially is so broad that it would make the requirement challenging for agencies to interpret and burdensome for any administrative purpose, while the Bill is designed to streamline operations. Given the nature of the modern economy and the range of activities across civilian and dual-use activity, there is a potential for the Deputy's amendment to add an extra layer of bureaucracy to all engagements with a host of companies beyond those presumably targeted by the amendment, as the enterprise agencies would need to assess what is within the scope of statutory requirement and what is not. As a result, the work and focus of the enterprise agencies may be significantly hindered.
Ireland's approach to support for the sector will continue to be governed by a combination of existing policy frameworks, legal duties, governance standards, and oversight mechanisms, including the regime supporting export controls.

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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