I thank the Deputy for raising this important and pertinent issue. I am sorry that the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, cannot be here to take part in this discussion which I am taking on her behalf. It is a topic that I am very interested in. I am sorry I missed that fireside chat which I am sure was very useful with the three people the Deputy mentioned involved in the conversation. It is important that we have these conversations and that we tease out all these options. I chair the regional enterprise strateg…

I thank Deputy Crowe. We are very much committed to leading that sustainable future. It is in the climate plan announced last week and we can see the direction of travel for Ireland. I have been involved with the research agenda for a number of years in this country and I know the potential in our research community to drive successful projects and research while tunnelling into options that can help us create jobs and reduce our carbon emissions. The Deputy mentioned a fund and I mentioned the regional enterprise …

I thank Deputies Griffin, Dillon, Carey and Stanton for raising this issue today. It brings me back to my previous role and part of the job I liked but did not make as much progress on as I would have liked to, because tackling vacancy and dereliction are essential parts of our work. Tonight, I will take this debate on behalf of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and specifically the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke. We all know the importance of this issue. It is important that we use th…

I agree with all four Deputies. We need to add more schemes to the pot. There are also schemes that are available that could be utilised more. I accept Deputy Stanton's point that the vacancy officer cannot perform miracles out of fishes and loaves. We need to strengthen their teams. I have addressed this in many councils of all parties and I have listened to many in the Opposition over the years criticise vacancy. There is a role here for every elected representative on a councillor level to help join the dots whe…

I thank Deputy Joan Collins for bringing up this issue in respect of Emmet Road, previously St. Michael's estate. It is a project I am very familiar with and which I had hoped would be further along at this stage. Covid and other issues have caused delays but this project should have started by now and I am glad we are nearly at the stage of getting planning permission because I had hoped we would be providing homes before now. At least the project is still intact and we are making progress. It is being developed o…

I want to be clear. I am not saying those numbers; the Deputy is. I want to be clear on that.

I do not know anything about them because we never put out any figures in respect of this scheme. I am not saying anything. I want to be very clear on that. The rents will be reflective of the cost. I did not think I would ever hear the Deputy advocating the use of the HAP scheme. I say that in jest.

I know the Deputy does not and she is not advocating its use as it is. The HAP scheme was only ever meant to be a short-term housing solution for people as they moved to more permanent housing. Without the HAP scheme, 60,000 families would not have houses. I acknowledge that the Deputy and I will never agree on that, but it is the reality. There should only ever be a short-term need for HAP as the recipient moves on to a permanent home, which can be delivered on the Emmet Road site through a cost-rental project and…

I thank the Deputy for the question. The WRC is one of a number of agencies that contribute to the enforcement of the atypical workers commission scheme for non-EEA fisheries workers employed in certain Irish-registered fishing vessels. The commission has a particular responsibility for checking compliance insofar as terms of employment, permission to work, payment of wages, annual leave, public holidays, and the national minimum wage entitlements are concerned. Where contraventions are detected, WRC inspectors wil…

We can certainly examine that. The memorandum was signed several years ago by 11 Departments and Government agencies. The working time directive is generally administered by the Department covering the marine, not necessarily my Department. This is the difficulty with the scheme. That responsibility for the scheme extends across Departments and agencies is the difficultly with it. Best practice is what has been done since October. I am glad the decision in this regard has been made. We can certainly carry out a rev…

I agree with the Deputy that the vast majority of employers in this area are good and genuine and treat their workers extremely well. The investigations cover the cases where there might be some rogue employers. They are dealt with and followed up on. The WRC has the inspectors in place and the additional resources following budget 2022 to complement and increase its work in this area. The scheme covers 170 vessels and approximately 149 owners. We should be very clear on that. Over the period in question, nearly ev…

I thank the Deputy for the question. I am sorry that the exact information that the Deputy requested is not readily available just yet, but as soon as we have it, or updated figures for the last number of months, we will bring it to the Deputy. I can inform the Deputy about the jobs created within Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland's client base for 2020. The CSO also provides data from the labour force survey, although it does not record whether a job is newly created. My Department collects data on employment in …

Previously, I was going to reference the Enterprise Ireland fund of €115 million for regional enterprise strategies and plans. It is a good time for the Deputy to raise the issue, because we are about to sign off on the regional enterprise plan for his area. I have no doubt that he made a submission to that with some suggestions as to how we can create jobs and serve the peninsula and the various towns he referenced previously. I am conscious that in the Deputy's area, the farming and fishing sectors are very stron…

I can assure the Deputy that all our development agencies have that regional approach. The proof is in the pudding when one looks at the figures for Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland. Over 65% of jobs created by both agencies are created in the regions. Through the enterprise plan, the LEOs also very much focus on their own areas. The Deputy mentioned two issues in particular, that is, rural areas and rural investment. If the Deputy analyses the budget that was allocated to the Minister of Rural and Community Deve…

I thank the Deputy for the question. Regional enterprise development and sustainable local job creation is a key policy priority of the Department and the Government. The Department is overseeing the development of nine new regional enterprise plans to 2024, including for the west region covering the county the Deputy represents. These are bottom-up plans developed by regional stakeholders working together to identify growth opportunities, recognise vulnerabilities and address ecosystem gaps to enable sustainable j…

I presume and hope the Deputy has made a submission to the plan because she has expressed some very good ideas there. The regional plan is meant to reflect all of the local ideas and it is genuinely a bottom-up process. I do not chair this plan but I chair four other ones and the Tánaiste chairs the Dublin one. The Minister of State, Deputy Troy, also chairs four. In all cases - in the plans I, the Minister of State, Deputy Troy, and the Tánaiste chair - we have taken the same approach. We have reached out for publ…

I want to be completely clear with the Deputy that these plans are meant to be bottom-up. I have sat around the table when the very first versions of these plans were put in place and I can assure the Deputy that it was all local people who were around the table with me when we went through each and every idea. The Deputy and I discussed these during one of my first set of parliamentary questions in this Department. This is the first time the Deputy has suggested wool to me, even though I am familiar with it. I am …

A strong and resilient SME sector is key to rebuilding the economy after the Covid crisis. Provision made by the Government in budget 2022 aims to ensure small and medium-sized businesses are sustainable and competitive in the long term. Specifically, we want to equip enterprises for the transition to the green and digital economy. We also recognise that some businesses are in need of assistance as we continue to reopen the economy and society in general. My Department, together with IDA Ireland and the local enter…

The Deputy will appreciate that I do not have the details of every scheme across the different Departments with me, especially as I thought the question was coming from a Kilkenny Deputy. However, I have discussed the situation in Tipperary with the Deputy and I have been there as well to engage with all the stakeholders. I am aware of the opportunities as well as the difficulties for some of the businesses in Tipperary. I can assure the Deputy that, from our point of view, when we announce budget supports, both in…

I assure the Deputy that we fully intend to see this out. As I said, a jobs-led recovery means supporting business all the way. The Deputy referred to the hospitality sector. It is a sector that valued the wage subsidy more than most. That remains in place until next April. On top of that, I ask the sector to look at and engage with Pathways to Work. There are additional supports in that to encourage the sector to take on new staff and to take staff off the pandemic unemployment payment, PUP, or off social welfare.…