28th April 2026
Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment Peter Burke has today secured Government approval for the Industrial Development (Amendment) and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2026. The legislation empowers IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland to accelerate investment, employment and regional development.
Once enacted, the Bill will ensure the enterprise agencies have the legislative tools they need to incentivise companies to accelerate their green and digital journeys and will make the approval of environmental protection aid grants less complex. The Bill also streamlines the ability of the agencies to support projects in the Defence, Security and Resilience (DSR) sphere.
Following Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting, Minister Burke said:
“This Government continues to support Irish-owned companies to grow and scale, along with providing direct investment towards each step of their decarbonisation journey. At the same time, global competition for FDI intensifies and Ireland needs to stay agile and ambitious to win investment. It is essential that we continue to demonstrate to potential investors that Ireland is a great place to do business in by keeping sustainability and digitalisation at the forefront of our industrial policy.
“As EU state aid rules change, IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland need flexible legal powers to move fast. This legislation will help them reduce carbon emissions, meet national climate goals and stay competitive in attracting and keeping businesses that create jobs and growth.”
“The Bill will help Ireland attract investment and support innovation in areas that matter for our long‑term economic strength and national security. For enterprise agencies, the focus is on defence, security and resilience—not on military activity.
“The change removes red tape and makes it easier for Ireland to engage with EU funding programmes. It ensures IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland can use their decades of experience and expertise in advising companies of all sizes, to the benefit of the economy and Irish citizens”
ENDS
Notes to editors
The Industrial Development (Amendment) and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2026, once enacted, will further enhance the ability of IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland to support enterprise development by strengthening their capacity to support the green and digital transitions. The Bill’s amendments will also future-proof the legislation in this area, ensuring IDA and Enterprise Ireland have the flexibility and agility needed to swiftly capitalise on future EU state aid rule adjustments as they arise.
These changes will give the agencies the power to incentivise projects primarily geared towards carbon abatement and environmental protection, ensuring that for the first time these projects can be assessed for grant aid solely on carbon abatement and environmental protection criteria under the grant powers of the Industrial Development Act 1986.
In addition, once enacted, the changes will amend the Industrial Development Act 1995. This will allow IDA to enhance its property and infrastructure offering by co‑investing in such projects with third parties, including the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF), a State fund that specialises in strategic investments aimed at supporting economic activity and employment in Ireland.
The Bill also streamlines the ability of the agencies to support projects in the Defence, Security and Resilience (DSR) sphere. It deletes Section 8(5) of the Science and Technology Act 1987 which requires the enterprise development agencies to secure formal Government approval before they engage in, or promote, any activity of a primarily military relevance.
Ireland’s enterprise landscape is evolving in a rapidly changing European and global context. Increasingly, the Irish enterprise base needs to respond to DSR-aligned technology opportunities which are emerging. This area has developed to include fields such as cyber defence, space domain awareness, maritime security tasks and hybrid threat monitoring. The Section 8(5) provision is broad, open to varying interpretations, and creates ongoing practical difficulties in determining when — and to what extent — teams in EI or the IDA may engage with existing or prospective clients that might be considering opportunities in DSR technologies.
Section 8(5) is a provision which originally applied to the now dissolved Eolas agency. It is outdated given the comprehensive, multilayered regulatory environment which now exists in this sphere. The amendment allows the agencies to support, financially or non-financially, enterprises in the DSR sphere like other parts of the economy, subject to compliance with all existing controls and legal obligations governing the sector
The miscellaneous provisions included in the Bill will enhance the safety regime around the storage of flammable liquids, clarify Enterprise Ireland’s FOI obligations, amend the 2008 Chemicals Act to give full effect to EU detergents regulations and increase the period members can serve on the board of the Health and Safety Authority from three to five years.
The Industrial Development (Amendment) and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2026 includes the following provisions.
The amendments to the Act of 1986 provide for:
- an Environmental Protection Aid grant which can be provided in a form and on criteria deemed suitable by IDA Ireland or Enterprise Ireland, enhancing their capacity to drive the sustainability agenda and future-proofing against future updates to the EU’s state aid rules including the General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER) framework.
- a consultancy aid grant to incentivise enterprise agency clients to map out and begin their digital and green transformation journeys.
- an increase in the threshold at which technology grants to an undertaking must be approved by Government to an aggregate of €15m, aligning with other grants in the 1986 Act and streamlining the approval process. The individual grant threshold for this category is to increase to €7.5m.
The Industrial Development Act, 1995, amendment provides for:
- IDA, or IDA jointly with Enterprise Ireland, to establish jointly-owned Designated Activity Companies (DACs) with third parties, such as other Government agencies, for the specific purpose of developing industrial and commercial property and infrastructure.
The Science and Technology Act, 1987, amendment deletes Section 8(5), which provides:
The Agency [EI or IDA as amended] shall not engage in or promote any activity of a primarily military relevance without the prior approval of the Government.
The miscellaneous amendments will:
- enhance the safety regime related to the storage of flammable liquids, through amendments to the Dangerous Substances Act, 1972.
- clarify that Enterprise Ireland’s disclosure obligations under the Freedom of Information Act, 2014, are not overridden by the provisions of the Industrial Development (Enterprise Ireland) Act 1998.
- increase the period members can serve on the board of the Health and Safety Authority from three to five years in line with the code of practice for the governance of State bodies, amending the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act, 2005.
- update the Chemicals Act 2008 in order to give full effect to EU regulations regarding detergents.
For further information please contact Press Office, Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, press.office@enterprise.gov.ie or (01) 631-2200
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