Goal 1: L E AD O N CR E ATING AND SUST AINING H IGH Q UALITY

Goal 1: L E AD O N CR E ATING AND SUST AINING H IGH Q UALITY E NT E R P RISE AND E MP LO YMENT ACR OSS AL L R E GIO NS O F T H E CO UNT R Y BY SUP P O R TING A ST R O NG IND IGE NO US E NTE RPR ISE BASE , T H E CO NT INUE D AT TRACT IO N O F F O REIGN D IRECT INV E STMENT AND A ST R O NG E NT REP RENE URIAL CUL T URE

In 2020, global economic output is estimated to have fallen by between 3.25% - 3.4%, which represents a far larger shock to economies than the recession in the wake of the global financial crisis. At the peak, in April 2020, the COVID-adjusted unemployment rate was 30.5%, with over 1.2m of the workforce in receipt of some form of income support. Over the course of last year, the unemployment rate has fallen and at year end the COVID-adjusted unemployment rate5 was 20.4%.

The level of State support over the course of the year was substantial to insulate businesses and workers from the worst of the pandemic. The cost to the State over the course of the year was €25bn, which included €8.8bn of income supports via the Employee Wage Subsidy Scheme, its precursor the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme and the Pandemic Unemployment Payment.

The expectations for the forthcoming year recent forecasts suggest that the economy has weathered the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, with forecasts suggest that Irish GDP will grow by between 4.4% and 4.9% in 2021, and by between 4.5% and 5.2% in 2022.

S TA KEH O LDER ENGA GEMENT Enterprise Information Centre With the first closures were announced in March because of the pandemic, the number of calls to the Department from business seeking advice and assistance increased significantly. A dedicated COVID-19 Business Support Call Centre was established immediately to

4A new Statement of Strategy for 2021 to 2023 was published in January 2021 as required following appointment of a new Minister and can be found at www.enterprise.gov.ie

5https://www.cso.ie/en/methods/labourmarket/monthlyunemployment/monthlyunemploymentandcovid- 19adjustedestimatesmarch2020technicalnote/

provide information on the various new and existing schemes and financial measures available. A dedicated helpline phone number and email address were established and these details were advertised on the Department’s website and social media. The Centre responded to over 11,200 calls and emails in 2020.

Having been proven to be a valuable addition to the public service offered by the Department, it was decided to continue and to expand the Call Centre function and for it be grown into a business information service addressing all business initiatives and measures in a post-Covid environment, including those Brexit-related. The Centre provides a central point of contact within the Department for businesses to learn about the assistance and services available from the Department, its Offices and Agencies and across Government and where and how to access them.

The Centre was included in the Excellence in Customer Services Case Studies published in December 2020 as part of Our Public Service 2020 as an example of how the Department is continually working to improve customer service and put citizens at the centre of service design and delivery.

Retail Forum The Retail Forum continued its focus on the developmental needs of the sector in 2020. It also intensified its work on Brexit preparedness, including mitigations to minimise disruption to food supply chains and helped the sector with the impact of COVID-19, the periods of closure of non-essential retail and the ongoing public health guidance. In relation to Brexit preparedness, the Forum supported by the Brexit Unit, facilitated engagement with a range of Government Departments and relevant bodies including the Departments of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and Transport, Revenue Commissioners, Food Safety Authority of Ireland, Environmental Health Services, Dublin Port. In addition to the three scheduled meetings of the Retail Forum, Minister English, formerly Minister Humphreys, as Chair of the Retail Forum met with the Grocery, Retail and Distribution Sector regularly throughout 2020 on COVID-19 and Brexit.

COVID-19 has accelerated structural changes in the retail sector, including the move to digital and online. Trading online is a very important route for retail to grow and improve their business in the current crisis and will be an important element in their recovery over the longer term. The COVID-19 Online Retail Scheme, which is administered by Enterprise Ireland on behalf of the Department, was introduced in 2020 with the aim of helping indigenous Irish retailers to sustain their business through the crisis and into the future by strengthening their online offering, increasing their customer base, and building a more resilient business in the domestic and global marketplace both online and offline. During 2020 two calls were announced under the COVID-19 Online Retail Scheme with 330 retailers awarded €11.9m.

Additional issues considered by the Forum in 2020 included town centre renewal, cost of insurance, skills needs, commercial rates, commercial rents and the various COVID-19 business initiatives.

Code of Conductbetween landlords and business for commercial rents On 1 October 2020, a new voluntary Code of Conduct between landlords and business for commercial rents was published. The Code, which is a commitment in the Programme for Government, was developed in consultation with relevant stakeholders, including Ibec, Retail Excellence Ireland, Chambers Ireland, Dublin Town and Irish Institutional Property. It is based on an approach taken in other jurisdictions, including Australia, France and the U.K. The Code applies until 31 July 2021 and sets out a structured approach for engagement between both commercial landlords and tenants, based on their mutual interest in continuing to work together.

The Code sets out a number of principles that both parties should commit to abide by, including transparency and collaboration. It asks commercial landlords to provide concessions where they can and where this is not possible, asks them to set out clearly the reasons for this. It lists some of the issues to consider when determining the impact of COVID-19 and the public health restrictions on a business and the need for concession. Where a concession is being considered, the Code provides some suggested options for new arrangements. The Code also suggests that commercial tenants seeking new arrangements should be clear as to why assistance is needed when seeking concessions from their landlord.

Engagement with Small Business Community The Department’s engagement with the small business community is assisted by extensive participation in international fora on SME policy matters. At EU level, the Department continues to engage proactively as a member of the SME Envoy Network, contributing to the development of the new EU SME Strategy in 2020. The Department was again an active participant at the OECD’s Working Party on SMEs and Entrepreneurship and, at Ministerial level, co-chaired the OECD’s Digital for SME initiative at its events in 2020. This engagement has helped to build strong relationships with our international partners and has been a valuable resource for best international policy examples.

During 2020, the supportingsmes.gov.ie website provided up-to-date critical information for SMEs regarding COVID-19 business initiatives, Return to Work Policy Guidelines, Brexit supports and signposting facilities to business initiatives and training webinars.

In September 2020, the Department established an SME Growth Taskforce to design and deliver a National SME Growth Plan, a long-term strategic plan for SMEs and entrepreneurs which would look beyond Brexit and COVID-19. The membership of the SME Taskforce was drawn from a wide range of representatives from the small business community, including successful entrepreneurs, representative bodies, and other business leaders.

The Taskforce, which was chaired by the Tánaiste, met in plenary session on four occasions between September and December. There was a further total of 18 meetings of four subgroups, which worked on developing recommendations in thematic areas. The proposals developed include measures to help SMEs to start up, scale up and access foreign markets, as well as recommendations aimed at helping SMEs to become more productive and ready for the transition to a digital, green economy. In addition, there is particular focus on creating and growing local business networks and clusters, which are an important driver of regional development.

The work of the Taskforce concluded with the completion of its draft Report, which sets out over 80 actions aimed at ensuring that Irish SMEs and entrepreneurs continue to grow and become more productive in the years to come. In December, Government noted the Growth Plan and approved its upcoming publication.

A C C ES S TO FINA NC E SBCI COVID-19 Working Capital Scheme The SBCI COVID-19 Working Capital Scheme was launched at the end of March 2020 to provide an immediate response to liquidity needs of COVID-19 impacted SMEs and small mid-caps. Loan amounts under this scheme are offered at competitive rates for between €25,000 and €1.5m for terms between one and three years, with no security required on loans of less than €500k.

Between the SBCI Working Capital Scheme and the Brexit Loan Scheme, €337.5m of lending has been made available to help liquidity needs of SMEs, as of the end of 2020. A further expansion is in progress to bring available lending through these two schemes up to €500m. In the five months to the end of September 2020, prior to the launch by this Department and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine of a tailor-made liquidity loan scheme for COVID-19 impacted SMEs (the COVID-19 Credit Guarantee Scheme - further details below), 808 loans under the SBCI COVID-19 Working Capital Scheme were progressed to sanction at bank level to the value of €103.5m. A further 150 loans progressed to sanction to the value of €22m, as lenders reviewed their pipeline of applications between September and December 2020. In total 958 loans to the value of €126.5m were sanctioned over nine months of 2020.

COVID-19 Credit Guarantee Scheme The Credit Guarantee (Amendment) Act was passed through both Houses of the Oireachtas and signed by the President into law in July 2020. It allows for the COVID-19 Credit Guarantee Scheme to be extended to the end of 2021. The COVID-19 Credit Guarantee Scheme provides for €2bn in lending for Irish businesses and is the largest guarantee scheme in the history of the State. Its function is to add certainty to businesses that funding is available for working capital and investment purposes. Loans of up to €1m are available for up to five and a half years at reduced interest rates. Loans under €250,000 do not require collateral or personal guarantees. The Scheme is available to SMEs, small Mid-Caps and primary producers.

The Open Call to the Scheme, operated by SBCI, saw the largest number ever of applications from finance providers in Ireland and by year end over 20 new finance providers had either completed the legal and operational process or were in the final stages. This signifies the largest ever successful interaction by private finance providers with a state scheme and will add competition, regional spread and diversity into the SME lending market into the future.

AIB, BOI and Ulster Bank launched the Scheme in September 2020, with Credit Unions and non-bank lenders joining in December 2020. After less than four months in operation, 1,890 businesses had drawn down funding worth over €98m by year end. This represents more than a 600% increase on the €14.8m drawn in the entirety of 2019 under the Credit

Guarantee Scheme. The Scheme was initially established to operate until end of 2020 but was extended to 30 June 2021 by government decision in November 2020.

Future Growth Loan Scheme The €300m Future Growth Loan Scheme was launched in March 2019 to provide access to lending to eligible Irish businesses and the primary agriculture and seafood sectors to assist strategic long-term investment. The scheme was expanded in July 2020 to bring available lending to €800m. Finance provided under this scheme is easier to access, more competitively priced, and offered at more favourable terms than other lending for such businesses. Loan amounts are offered of between €100,000 (€50,000 for agriculture) to €3m with unsecured loans up to €500,000. Loans are for terms of between seven and 10 years – addressing a gap in the market for longer term finance. The scheme is jointly funded by this Department, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the European Investment Bank.

This scheme has been well received in the market such that at the end of 2020 there had been 2,742 loans progressed to sanction at bank level, to a total value of €555m, of which 2,023 of these loans to the value of €415.1m were sanctioned in 2020 alone.

Microenterprise Loan Fund Scheme The Microenterprise Loan Fund Scheme, operated by Microfinance Ireland, was introduced in 2012. The purpose of the fund is to provide loans to microenterprises which are defined as businesses with less than 10 employees and/or turnover of less than €2m.

In 2020, Microfinance Ireland approved €27.4m in funding to 2,202 small businesses throughout the country, helping the creation or sustainment of 2,972 jobs with 74% of loans going to microenterprises outside of Dublin.

Since the Microenterprise Loan Fund Scheme became operational in 2012 to the end of 2020, 3,199 loans totalling €53.9m have been drawn which have helped to support 9,002 jobs.

Further to the Microenterprise Loan Fund (Amendment) Act 2020, a governance review was begun to evaluate the potential change in ownership/parentage of the company which owns the sole share in Microfinance Ireland. This was done in tandem with an external due diligence review of the organisation on behalf of SBCI to progress their ability to become a lender to Microfinance Ireland.

RES TA RT GRA NT Working with the local authorities, the Department launched the Restart Grant and the Restart Grant Plus Schemes which contributed towards the cost of re-opening or keeping a business operational and re-connecting with employees and customers. A total allocation of €685m was made available through these schemes in 2020, with over 108,000 grants made.

REGIO NA L ENTERP RIS E P LA NS Overseen at the national level by the Department, and originally launched in 2019, the purpose of the Regional Enterprise Plans is to identify growth opportunities, recognise

vulnerabilities, and in response, strengthen the regional enterprise ecosystem to enable job creation in the regions.

Developed by regional stakeholders, each Plan contains a small number of agreed priority Strategic Objectives and specific actions to help enterprise development and job creation over a two-year work programme.

The Plans complement existing activities being undertaken by IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland, the LEOs and the wider range of State Bodies directly involved in assisting enterprise development in the regions and generate added value from regional and local actors working collaboratively.

Nine ‘bottom-up’ and collaborative Regional Steering Committees implement the Regional Enterprise Plans. Chaired by a person from the private sector, membership includes: the enterprise Agencies, LEOs, local authorities, higher and further education bodies, private sector and others.

In line with the focus on balanced regional development in the Programme for Government, the Regional Enterprise Plans will be renewed for a further multi-year work programme following a consultation and prioritisation exercise with the Regional Committees overseen by the Department commencing in 2021.

REGIO NA L ENTERP RIS E DEVELO P MENT FUND The Regional Enterprise Development Fund, which is administered by Enterprise Ireland, has been an effective instrument of policy to encourage and financially assist bottom-up collaborative initiatives that seek to strengthen regional enterprise ecosystems and the potential for job creation in the regions. The Fund complements the aims and objectives of the Regional Enterprise Plans.

In January 2020, under the third call of the Fund, 26 projects were awarded funding totalling €45m. Almost €100m in funding has now been approved for 68 projects across three competitive calls under the Fund to date, with projects approved in every region, ranging from the development of new start-up/enterprise hubs to nationally significant sector focused applied research and innovation facilities that build on specific regional specialisms. Successful projects under the third call include the Future Mobility Campus Ireland which was awarded €4.7m in funding to establish a transport testbed based in Shannon Co. Clare and Premier Lakelands Food hub, which was approved funding of over €1.3m to develop a state of the art food-hub based in Longford.

A Border Enterprise Development Fund (BEDF) was launched in early 2020 to provide assistance for collaborative, enterprise capability building projects, to advance entrepreneurship, productivity and innovation in the Border region. The Fund was part of a €28m Brexit economic stimulus package announced for the six border counties of Louth, Monaghan, Cavan, Sligo, Leitrim and Donegal. In June 2020, under the BEDF, 11 projects were approved funding totalling over €17m with projects approved in each of the Border counties. Winning projects under the BEDF range from an innovation-as-a-service project in Donegal which aims to accelerate the uptake of disruptive technology solutions by SMEs, to the establishment of an Advanced Manufacturing and Technology Training Centre in Dundalk, Co. Louth.

ENTERP RIS E IRELA ND Reflecting the impact of the pandemic on the Irish economy and global markets in 2020, Enterprise Ireland client companies reported a decline in total employment. Enterprise Ireland’s 2020 employment survey reported 220,613 people employed in Enterprise Irelandsupported companies, a decrease of 0.4%, taking into account job gains and losses then overall 872 net jobs were lost. Enterprise Ireland client companies in some sectors saw significant growth in 2020, including Life Sciences (6.8%), Cleantech (6%) and Construction (4.7% employment growth). The total spend of Enterprise Ireland clients in the Irish economy across payroll and goods and services purchased reached €27 bn in 2019.

There were over 60 ‘International Virtual Buyer Events’ organised. In October, ‘International Markets Week’ launch witnessed 1,651 virtual attendees. Ireland’s largest exporter event saw more than 700 companies meeting 140 market advisors from 40 overseas offices in 2,000 individual virtual one-to-one meetings to plan their COVID-19, Brexit and market diversification strategies.

Enterprise Ireland launched Phase 2 of the ‘Enter the Eurozone’ programme for Irish business, designed to maximise opportunities for Irish business in what is now the second largest market for Enterprise Ireland client companies. With growth of 15% in 2019 and exports valued at €5.6bn, the Eurozone constitutes 22% of total exports.

In 2020 the challenge for Enterprise Ireland was to assist companies weathering the storms of COVID-19 and Brexit. This was mainly achieved through the liquidity assistance provided to companies via the Sustaining Enterprise Fund which was negotiated by the Department. The main objective of the fund is to sustain business so that companies can return to viability and contribute to the recovery of the Irish economy. €124m in funding helped sustain 418 companies and 17,710 jobs across the country.

Targeted COVID-19 funding to help companies stabilise, reset and recover included:

8,650 companies (including non-Enterprise Ireland clients) offered advice and directed to funding options.

989 companies provided with €4.9m in funding to develop a robust financial plan through the COVID-19 Business Financial Planning Grant.

330 retailers provided with grants, totalling €11.8m, to develop their online presence through the Online Retail Scheme.

€5.4m provided to companies innovating and scaling to produce products to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic under the COVID-19 Products Scheme.

95 regional enterprise centres throughout the country awarded €8.24m in total through the Enterprise Centres Fund. The local business hubs received grants ranging from €10k up to €150k to help them continue to offer services to local businesses across Ireland.

531 company representatives completed a Virtual International Selling Masterclass – providing vital skills for businesses to continue to grow their export footprint during the pandemic.

Building Scale: In 2020 a total 125 new start-ups were assisted through the HPSU programme and Competitive Start Fund initiatives.

In December, 15 women entrepreneurs were announced as participants in the Competitive Start Fund.

During 2020 Enterprise Ireland established partnerships for HPSUs with Amazon and Microsoft.

Details of Enterprise Ireland’s strategic response to Brexit is included under Goal 6.

LO C A L ENTERP RIS E O FFIC ES The 31 Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) are the ‘first-stop-shop’ for providing advice and guidance, financial assistance and other measures to those wishing to start or grow their own business. During 2020 the role of the LEOs focused more on assisting business owners to identify the initiatives available to them to respond to this unprecedented crisis and help them keep their businesses viable. During the year:

•a total of 5,585 new full and part-time jobs (gross) were created by LEO clients overall;

•there was a net decrease of 1,494 jobs (full and part-time); and

•the LEO portfolio in 2020 consisted of 7,529 client companies, with an employment total of 35,236 (full-time and part-time jobs).

COVID-19 Measures As a key player in the government’s response to COVID-19, the LEOs developed new measures and adapted existing ones to provide financial assistance to SMEs across the country

The Business Continuity Voucherscheme introduced in March 2020 provided a voucher, worth up to €2,500 in third party consultancy costs, for use by companies and sole traders to develop short-term and long-term strategies to respond to the initial COVID-19 pandemic and to plan for eventual recovery and reopening of the economy. The scheme, which was closed to new applications in May 2020, had an uptake of 14,871 applications in this period and 12,077 approvals amounting to almost €26m.

The Trading Online Voucher Scheme offers skills training, mentoring and f inancial assistance of up to €2,500 to help small and micro-businesses to develop their ecommerce capability. New flexibilities to the Scheme were introduced in April, including reducing the requirement for co-funding from 50% to 10% and allowing businesses to apply for a second voucher of up to €2,500 where they have successfully utilised their first one. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, this scheme has proven to be a very popular measure that can open up new markets to struggling businesses and has seen 17,197 applications and 12,946 approvals this year to a value of €30.7m.

The Micro Enterprise Assistance Fund, introduced in September, targeted those micro enterprises that could not avail of existing government measures. This Grant Fund provided eligible businesses with a voucher of up to €1,000 in respect of vouched expenditure, as a contribution towards the cost of re-opening or keeping a business

operational and re-connecting with employees and customers. This scheme saw 428 applicants and 196 approvals to date and with €185,000 approved.

Core Measures The LEOs continued to provide advice and assistance to entrepreneurs to pursue their business ideas and look for opportunities to start up new businesses.

In 2020, the LEOs paid out direct financial assistance to 1,216 business projects, to the value of €13.2m. Of these, 336 were priming grants for start-up companies of almost €5m.

In addition to the financial measures on offer, the LEOs responded to the restrictions of lockdown by pivoting their training programmes, workshops and networking meetups to an online platform covering areas such as:

cash management in a crisis;

leading your business through COVID-19; and

advice for employers impacted by the crisis.

The LEOs provided free of charge mentoring assistance to 16,231 participants, who work with an experienced mentor to identify solutions to areas of exposure within their business. With advice and guidance from their mentor, clients develop strategies that are more robust, address issues and maximise potential opportunities including those around COVID -19 challenges.

There were also 77,466 participants in the COVID-19 training programmes.

The LEOs launched the LEO Client Training Initiative, a new ‘Lunch & Learn’ live training webinar series, open and accessible to all LEO client companies and prospective clients across the country, with no registration or sign-up required. This series is intended to complement the online training and webinar programmes already in place for clients. This is an interactive chat with a different expert every week under a ‘Lunch & Learn’ model and is available on the national LEO Facebook Page and through the LEO YouTube channel.

A positive outcome of LEO investment and assistance is the progression of 133 LEO client companies to the Enterprise Ireland portfolio in 2020. These clients are among the best performing companies in the LEO client portfolio (and because of the transfer to Enterprise Ireland their performance is not reflected in the 2020 outturn above).

IDA IRELA ND IDA Ireland performed strongly in 2020 with client companies creating 20,123 gross new jobs on the ground. IDA Ireland client companies now account for 12.4% of COVID-19 adjusted national employment.

Total Foreign Direct Investment employment in Ireland at the end of 2020 stood at 257,394 the highest ever number employed in the multinational sector.

Of the 246 new investments won in 2020, 128 (52%) were for regional locations.

Every region, except the border region, grew employment in 2020. The mid-East showed the strongest growth rate at 6.2%.

Through its Regional Property Programme, IDA Ireland is also developing appropriate property solutions in designated regional locations to help attract overseas investment.

IDA Ireland Strategy: Driving Recovery and Sustainable Growth 2021-2024 Amid the context of COVID-19 related economic uncertainty and Brexit, IDA Ireland developed its new strategy during 2020. The strategy, entitled ‘Driving Recovery and Growth 2021-2024’, is built on five interlinked pillars – growth, transformation, regions, sustainability and impact. IDA Ireland aims to win a total of 800 investments and create 50,000 jobs over the period 2021-2024. The ambition of the strategy is to deliver substantial job creation and drive economic activity, targeting a 20% increase in client expenditure to maximise the impact of foreign direct investment. Supporting the Climate Action Plan, the strategy also aims to win 60 sustainability investments over the period to 2024 and will help future growth through 170 Research, Development & Innovation and 130 training investments, enabling a transformative recovery focused on sustainability and inclusiveness. The strategy was launched in January 2021.

Details of IDA Ireland’s strategic response to Brexit is included under Goal 6.

INTERTRA DEIRELA ND Intertrade Ireland (ITI) is one of the six North/South Implementation Bodies established under the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. Since then, ITI has been helping small businesses in Ireland and Northern Ireland explore new cross-border markets, develop new products, processes and services, grow their business and become investor ready. ITI’s suite of programmes and services aim to help businesses to build competitive advantage in the crucial areas of trade and innovation, all backed by evidence-based economic and business research. The Department has been steadily increasing its funding to ITI, with increases every year, including an additional €675k provided for 2021. This has seen our funding to ITI increase from approximately €7.5 million in 2017 to over €11 million for 2021.

ITI’s activities in 2020 included: Providing opportunities and financial resources for North/South technology transfer projects to develop new innovative products and services which can drive exports;

Scoping new areas for co-operation between firms North and South;

Providing sales and marketing opportunities to help firms find new cross-border markets;

Providing access for SMEs to the €12bn all-island public procurement market;

Continue to help Cross Border prepare and adapt to the new trading relationship following Brexit; and

Delivering a rapid response to business impacted by COVID-19.

Main outputs delivered by ITI in 2020: Jobs impact was 1,597 against a target for the year of 1,500;

Business Development Value for companies was €79m against a target of €75.6m;

First time innovator companies were 63 against a target of 67; and

First time exporters companies amounted to 78 against a target of 67.

BA LA NC E FO R BETTER BUS INES S The third report from Balance for Better Business was launched by the Tánaiste at a virtual event on 16 December 2020. Balance for Better Business was launched in 2018 by the then Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar T.D., to improve gender balance in senior leadership in Ireland.

Co-chaired by Brid Horan and Gary Kennedy, the Balance for Better Business Review Group comprises senior figures in Irish business and the public service. This independent Review Group examines the gender mix within the governance and senior management of companies in Ireland and the issues which arise in connection with the appointment of company directors and senior management.

The Review Group makes recommendations on how more women can be involved in decision-making at the top level of businesses in Ireland including calling for a reform of the current system to ensure more women play a role at board level and in senior leadership teams. It has also set progressive targets to 2023 for the achievement of improved gender balance on the boards and senior management of these companies.

This third report monitors progress against the targets to 1 September 2020 and now includes major multinational companies operating in Ireland as well as companies listed on Euronext Dublin (formerly the Irish Stock Exchange) and other large Irish private comp anies.

The report shows that encouraging progress is being made in some areas including:

Overall for listed companies, 22.4% of directors are female, up from 19.1% in 2020 (and up from 14% in 2018);

ISEQ20 companies, at 27.4% female directors on average, exceeded the interim 2020 target of 25% and on track to achieve 2023 target of 33%. This is a significant improvement from 18% in 2018;

Two ISEQ20 companies have 50% female boards;

Females on leadership teams of ISEQ20 companies increased from 17% in 2019 to 22% in 2020; and

The gap between Ireland and the EU28 average for women on boards has continued to narrow, from 8% in 2018 to 1.2% in 2020 with Ireland now ranked in 13th position, compared to 17th in 2018.

NA TIO NA L S TA NDA RDS A UTH O RITY O F IRELA ND The National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI) is the State Agency responsible for standardisation, conformity assessment and measurement. The NSAI saw continued demand for its services in 2020 against a backdrop of a strong performance by the Irish economy. There was a significant interest in standards and across the wider range of services for conformity assessment and measurement services as businesses sought to improve their performance and plan for Brexit.

NSAI’s response to COVID-19 had three main points of focus: financial and cash management, continued operational activity and additional operational activity to assist the COVID-19 response. Operationally the emphasis was directed at helping business over the longer term through increased Knowledge Transfer activities which aim to build on the

extensive technical knowledge within NSAI to help companies ‘re-start’ and build post COVID-19 and post Brexit.

NSAI published 1,349 standards during 2020. NSAI rapidly developed several COVID-19 guides in areas such as retail, shopping centre recovery, PPE, and barrier mask specifications. The objective of the guidance for Manufacturers and Retailers was to allow staff safely return to the workplace, and to also put in place measures which protect the public. The documents offer practical advice on how to conduct risk assessments and put in place safety protocols based on current information from NPHET, the HSE and others. On the medical PPE side, standards were made freely available to allow for the speedy delivery of PPE equipment into the country.

THE NSAI published IS 10101 - National Rules for Electrical Installations (Wiring Rules) in March 2020. The document is the first major revision to the standard in over 10 years and is based on internationally agreed standards for safety of electrical installations including new technologies such as charging of electric vehicles, solar photovoltaic systems and guidance on energy efficiencies.

The total number of standards available in NSAI’s catalogue now exceeds 24,000. The number of standards accessed by Irish users exceeded 224,769 (up 30% on 2019) and the number of new registered users to the Agency’s ‘Your Standards, Your Say’ portal increased by 351.

The certification environment was dramatically transformed in 2020 with the requirement to pivot auditing to a virtual working environment, which engaged clients in facilitating remote audits that enabled organisations to continue to use standards for competitive advantage. Business commitment to standards was demonstrated as organisations sought to improve their resilience in the face of COVID-19 impacts while simultaneously preparing for a post Brexit environment. During 2020, NSAI continued to certify organisations to world class business standards:

Over 1,900 Quality Management Standard certificates issued; and Product certification in accordance with the EU requirements for: Automotive (8,118); Construction (866) and Medical Devices (188).

In place of the bi-annual certification ceremony, celebrations were taken online with a monthlong social media campaign, #NSAICertified during December 2020. The campaign was a major success with NSAI clients and followers, garnering over 50,000 impressions across media platforms.