Remarks by Taoiseach Micheál Martin on the occasion of the 2022 Dublin Chamber of Commerce AGM Dinner

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Ladies and Gentlemen, good evening.

I am delighted to be able to join you all in person this evening, following on from the festivities held virtually last year.

I would also like to thank Mary Rose for the kind introduction.

Is mór agam a bheith i bhur dteannta agus labhairt libh tráthnóna chun rathúnas na príomhchathrach, dlúthchuid de rathúnas eacnamaíochta na tíre, a cheiliúradh agus a aithint.

Spreagann Baile Átha Cliath fás náisiúnta, agus is ann atá raon leathan gnóthaí nuálacha, dinimiciúla agus acmhainneacha idir SMEnna dúchasacha, ghnólachtaí Éireannacha a bhfuil rath orthu go hidirnáisiúnta, chomh maith le cuid de na corparáidí ilnáisiúnta is mó ar domhan.

These past two years have certainly been challenging, as we are all aware, with many of you dealing with both Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic simultaneously.

As a nation I believe our response to these challenges has shown great resilience, understanding, and strong sense of shared community.

I believe businesses, right across Ireland, have demonstrated these principles, while also displaying incredible adaptability and innovation, in rapidly changing circumstances.

Throughout the pandemic, the government remained acutely conscious of the extraordinary burden the necessary public health restrictions placed on so many including on your businesses, and on your employees.

The work of so many of you and your employees to keep your workplaces safe for all in the pandemic is to be truly commended. You played your part in what was truly a great national effort.

At every stage of the public health emergency, the government worked to make sure that appropriate measures were in place to support workers and to secure the survival of businesses.

We did this, to an extent and with an urgency never seen before, through schemes such as the Pandemic Unemployment Payment, the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme, commercial rates waivers, tax warehousing, restart grants, and the COVID Restrictions Support Scheme.

In excess of €20 billion in direct supports have been provided to date.

This has been expensive, and added a lot of debt to the government balance sheet, but I firmly believe it was the absolutely the right thing to do.

I also believe these interventions have been highly effective, and have laid strong foundations for the recovery which has now begun.

Unfortunately, we are once again facing into a period of significant uncertainty.

Just over a month ago, Vladimir Putin launched an unprovoked, unjustified and illegal attack on the Ukrainian people.

In doing so, he started a war on European soil the likes of which we all believed had been consigned to history.

The damage being done to Ukrainian cities, towns and communities is truly terrible, and the suffering being inflicted on millions of innocent civilians is heart breaking.

The scale of the dislocation of Ukrainian people is staggering – a quarter of the population has already been displaced and almost 4 million people, mainly women and children have had to leave the country entirely.

The response of the Irish people to this tragedy and injustice has been just as you would expect – despite all of the stress and disruption of the last two years they have opened their hearts and many have opened their homes to Ukrainian refugees.

As head of government, I am determined that as a country Ireland will do whatever it can to ease their suffering.

The impact of this will be unlike anything we have seen in our lifetimes and it will, I believe, require an extraordinary societal response.

Providing safety for so many fleeing the conflict will touch upon every city, town and village in Ireland.

It will also place another terrific burden on our public services and I would like to pay tribute tonight to our public servants who have been working around the clock to help make sure than those fleeing war to come to Ireland are met with compassion and support.

I would also like to pay tribute to the many businesses, and members of the Chamber, who are also quietly working away and doing their part to help in this effort.

From an economic perspective, the invasion has also exacerbated the inflationary pressures we were already experiencing in the wake of the supply chain disruptions wrought by the pandemic.

The war, and the necessary introduction of sanctions against Russia, is also disrupting supply chains and leading to large rises in international prices for energy, food and other commodities.

Global economic growth and investment this year will be impacted – and this will affect Ireland.

The government is monitoring the supply situation closely and working closely with affected sectors.

We are conscious too of rising COVID-19 restrictions in parts of Asia.

There will also be significant short and medium-term impacts, especially in areas like energy, as the economic impacts feed through across the economy in the months ahead.

The government will help mitigate these effects – but we will not be able to address them all, given the extent that that these effects are being driven by developments outside of our control.

We do recognise however the short-term challenge which rising prices are bringing on households and businesses.

We have already taken steps to help ease the impact.

This includes a €505 million package which will see a Electricity Costs Emergency Benefit Payment of €200 which people will see credited to their accounts from the beginning of April.

We have also introduced a temporary reduction in excise duty on fuels worth €320 million.

In addition, the government has also provided a targeted and temporary grant scheme for hauliers, valued at €18 million, to mitigate the rising cost of fuel.

We are facing a changed global environment – carrying risks for an open, trading economy, such as ours – we must proceed with care, managing prudently our national resources, while working to protect those most vulnerable.

The current cost pressures we are facing are a global phenomenon but one which we know has very real impacts on people’s daily lives and, on our businesses, and we will bare this carefully in mind as we plot our course in the coming months.

Despite these challenges, the government is committed to working hard, with you, to create an environment in which businesses big and small, international and domestic, can flourish and thrive in Ireland in the years ahead.

We will also continue to nourish and support Ireland’s creative and entrepreneurial spirit, which I believe is stronger than ever.

While public debate has swiftly moved onto the topic of inflationary pressures, it is worth pausing to take note of the strong economic recovery underway.

We can see this in the labour market, where employment has reached record levels.

We can also see it in the strength of the exchequer returns, in particular income tax.

We can see this here in Dublin, as our city centres return to life.

It is this activity, and the resources generated by business such as yourselves within the Irish economy which allowed us to devote such unprecedented means to addressing the challenges we faced.

And it is these same resources which will allow us to invest heavily in future growth and prosperity, while at the same time ensuring our public finances remain on a sustainable path.

The steps we take now can lay the groundwork for our future economic prosperity and growth.

Those of you who have heard me before will know of the emphasis I place on education. It has been a lifelong passion and it is my firm conviction that the stability and prosperity we enjoy today is based on our emphasis on education in the past.

Our future progress and prosperity will only be safe if we continue to put it at the centre of our public policy and debate.

That is why the establishment of a new Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science was critical to the formation of this government.

And it is why I was very pleased this week to agree the most radical reform of the Leaving Cert and Senior Cycle in half a century.

As long as Ireland stays focussed on education and continues to innovate and invest in it, we will continue to make progress as a nation.

In the shorter term, through our Economic Recovery Plan, launched in 2021, the government aims to drive a jobs-rich recovery, while supporting the transition towards a decarbonised and digital future.

Much has already been achieved, and we are delivering on our plans.

In the last 12 months we have:

• published and begun implementation of Housing for All, our strategy to address the housing crisis
• renewed the National Development Plan, the largest infrastructure investment plan ever delivered in the history of the State at €165 billion, with funding for climate change, housing and broader infrastructure ambitions
• launched the government’s Digital Strategy, “Harnessing Digital”, with the ambition to be a digital leader
• set out the government’s medium-term fiscal framework in our Summer Economic Statement
• joined the OECD Inclusive Framework on BEPS, a new tax framework to address the tax challenges of digitalisation, providing long-term certainty for business and investors
• continued substantial investment in Further and Higher Education and Training, including enhanced supports for apprenticeships, reskilling and upskilling; apprenticeship uptake so far has been encouraging
• delivered a new framework for employment support and activation services through Pathways to Work, which will help move people from long term unemployment into work
• taken steps to enhance the quality of employment, including the forthcoming phased introduction of Statutory Sick Pay, an initiative I believe will be a positive legacy of the pandemic, making our economy and society fairer and more inclusive
• and, we have stepped up our ambitions on climate change, through legislation and the government's Climate Action Plan, which will require an extraordinary level of transformation across our economy over the next decade and beyond

We have ambitious and resourced plans in place. The challenge for us now is delivery, and making an impact here in Dublin and in communities around the country.

As we look to the years ahead, we do so knowing that thanks to its continued success, the population of Dublin City and Suburbs is expected to grow by nearly a quarter by 2040.

To support this population growth, Government is committed to reinforcing and expanding the infrastructure in the Dublin area.

We are committed to delivering on key infrastructure investments such as Busconnects, Dart Plus, and the Metrolink. Investments which will transform the city.

Through the Urban Regeneration and Development Fund, we have invested significantly in the Dublin region including:

• the development of key Strategic Development Zones such as Cherrywood and Clonburris
• the regeneration of towns such as Tallaght and Balbriggan
• along with significant investment in the regeneration and development of Dublin’s North and South Inner City

A government sponsored revised Regional Enterprise Plan for the Dublin region will also launch shortly. Building on the success of its predecessor, this will be a bottom up plan, identifying growth opportunities and vulnerabilities.

Under the Housing for All Plan, there is a strong delivery pipeline for this year’s target of over 24,000 new homes, which is a positive sign that we are on track to sustainably increasing Ireland’s housing supply – something that will be absolutely critical to Dublin’s future success.

It is these investments, our planning for the future, which will provide the foundations for Dublin’s continued attractiveness as a place to live, and to work.

This year will also see the Dublin Citizens Assembly take place to consider the type of directly elected mayor and local government structures best suited for Dublin.

The reform of government structures in the capital can help underpin the city’s continued success, and I look forward to outcome of the work of the Assembly.

Dublin competes for Ireland on an international stage. While we will continue to pursue balanced regional development, a vibrant, thriving, prosperous Dublin remains central to our national economic development.

Through the resilience and innovativeness of businesses and workers, along with extraordinary government support, we have seen in recent months a remarkable economic recovery.

We want this progress to continue. This will require that we be ever more dynamic, ever more innovative.

While we can’t remove uncertainty, in particular from external developments, Government will seek to provide as much stability as possible on those issues within our control.

In turn we look forward to your continued contribution in our shared, collective effort, to bring about prosperity and opportunity for all in our country.

The success of Dublin will always be of paramount importance to our collective, national, social and economic prospects.

Tá súil agam go mbainfidh sibh go léir taitneamh as ceiliúradh na hoíche anocht, agus guím gach rath oraibh go léir don todhchaí.

Thank you.