I forewarn him I will be interrupting and asking him to move the adjournment because the debate must close at 5.26 p.m.

The Deputy will get to start and then I will interrupt.

I am not sure what the Deputy is reading there but the House is debating the Protected Disclosures (Amendment) Bill.

That is all right. My attention wandered until it was pointed out to me. Is anyone from the Social Democrats here to speak on the Bill? No. I will go back to give people a chance because there are just a few minutes left. I return to the Government slot and the various parties. I am going to have close this debate if someone does not show up very soon. There is a Regional Group of Independents slot. In fairness, there are committees going on. In light of that, I will hold on for a minute or two. We are almost finis…

I am afraid the Deputy cannot speak again. She has had her day. There would be many more offering if that was the case. I thank her. If Members are watching, we are going to be moving straight on to the Private Members' motion on tackling the cost of living. We are almost there, so I ask Deputy Mairéad Farrell to move an adjournment of this debate until tomorrow.

I call Deputy Munster.

I call Deputy Munster. The clock is running.

I am asking about the status of the new west regional enterprise plan, which I have followed assiduously. Where is the plan at? Is it in the Minister's office or the Department and when will it be published?

I thank the Minister of State for the background. It is very helpful and I have learned a lot from all the questions and answers that I have tabled. However, the question was about the status of the plan and when it would be published. Do I take it from the reply that the plan is currently with the Department, that it is finished with the steering group, it has produced a completed plan which the Minister of State and the Department is looking at and it will be published in March? Is that the answer to my question?

I thank the Minister of State. It will be published in March and it is before the Department. Will the Department be making changes to it? Has it identified the new way forward and the transformative actions that are needed as a result of climate and biodiversity change and the pandemic? This will be a completely different plan if we are going to make language mean something. I pointed out to the Minister of State's colleague previously that it is beyond my capacity to understand how the indigenous industry of wool…

My question is very specific on the timeline for the next review of the employment permits occupation list. Has the Minister or his Department had any engagement with the Department of Social Protection about the ongoing exclusion of home care workers from the critical skills list?

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit. He is saying the critical skills list will be reviewed in the next few weeks and a decision made on whether to add to or take from it. That is the answer to that part.

Okay. That then is going to happen and I thank the Minister of State for the clarity on that. I thank him also for the clarity on highlighting that it is not just a shortage or workers, which it is, because nationwide there are 5,322 people approved for home support but with no carer available. In Galway there are 278 persons on a waiting list and in the region, that is the community healthcare organisation, CHO2 region, there are 698 persons on a waiting list. Clearly, we have a problem of not enough carers. It is…

This is very interesting and significant because we have a major crisis on the ground. People are suffering and services are burdened with people who should be at home with carers but cannot. There are many other implications, not to mention the backbreaking work carried out predominantly by women going in and out with terrible conditions, which the Minister of State has set out. Does it look like the critical skills evaluation list will not be changed to include home carers because there is no evidence? Who should…

I did not use all my other time so I might take 30 seconds. Where are we going with this? There is a crisis. Cross-departmental work is going on and the Minister of State said that gender-balanced committees have been set up to deal with this issue, but in the meantime the list is growing to 5,322 nationally, which is an underestimate. What is the short-term solution? Can we make an exception in the short term and then look at a longer term solution? Where are we going with it?

My question relates to the introduction of a living wage and whether the Minister has received the research from Maynooth. Where are the data? What is the status? I will refer to my previous question. I am not promoting the use of permits in this regard; I am looking to see why it is not possible. There has to be fundamental reform of the conditions for carers in Ireland and for it to be recognised that this economy cannot thrive without such reform. That is what we need. This question relates to the Low Pay Commis…

The Minister said he expected the report next month. I have the privilege of being Leas-Cheann Comhairle, and I think when I listened carefully to a previous reply, the report was to be in the next few months. This is the difficulty. Can we get a precise time for when that report will be ready and when it will be published? Will the research and the report be published? I agree that one has to proceed cautiously, but not forever. Workers in this country could not survive without the benefit of the State through soc…

I entirely agree with the Minister. A substantial amount of that budget goes back to workers in many guises because they are simply not being paid enough. I understand many small employers cannot pay enough because there are many restraints on them, but there is no escaping the fact we need a living wage. It has certainly become much more difficult to provide it because of the way we have given free rein to the market. Has the Minister seen any interim or draft reports?

Tá mé ag bogadh ar aghaidh. Go raibh míle maith agaibh as ucht bhur tacaíochta.

Deputies-----