I will make sure to wrap it up. If I run over time, I ask the Ceann Comhairle to tell me to finish up. I will make a couple of comments. I welcome all the contributions made last night and to date on this Bill and the support for what we are trying to achieve. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae certainly got that message across. The Bill seeks to support businesses through a very difficult time. By doing so, we support the jobs they create. By supporting those jobs, we support the families involved. There is a connection in …

I look forward to Members' support as we move to Committee Stage soon. I thank the Ceann Comhairle and Members for facilitating the speedy passage of the Bill through the Houses.

I move: That the Bill be referred to the Select Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment pursuant to Standing Orders 95(3)( a ) and 181(1).

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I thank the Ceann Comhairle and Members for their co-operation in getting the Bill to this stage and the committee for having this Bill prioritised for publication. I am pleased to bring forward the Credit Guarantee (Amendment) Bill 2022. It is further important legislation as part of the Government's efforts to help the wider enterprise sector to meet the considerable challenges presented by the invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent significant rise in business c…

As the Deputy is aware, following our discussion that night on his Private Members’ Bill on workplace ventilation, which was not opposed by the Government, I asked the Health and Safety Authority, HSA, to start immediately a formal review of the existing provisions on workplace ventilation to determine what further enhancement measures could be considered. Following this review, a decision was made to update the existing regulations and to introduce a robust code of practice on ventilation in the workplace. Both th…

The fact that the code of practice is being published next week means we are moving it pretty quickly. It will be in place in 2023, which I must remind the Deputy is only about eight or nine weeks away. It is not as if we are saying this will be in a couple of years’ time. To be fair, there is a process to go through when updating these regulations. I assume the Deputy wants this done right. I believe it will be done right in the way it is being done. The code of practice will be published next week. The developmen…

Again, we analysed the Deputy’s Bill and we felt that amending existing regulations was a more appropriate and pragmatic way of achieving the objectives of that Bill. We probably will have achieved the same things. The Deputy’s Bill, as drafted, focused primarily on improved workplace ventilation. However, both the Department and the HSA believe that workplace ventilation goes beyond Covid-19. The code of practice will provide a more long-term, sustainable and holistic approach to workplace ventilation and gives fl…

I thank Deputy Colm Burke for raising this very important matter and assure him that we have tried to work with the Departments of Health and Justice to improve the situation. The State's employment permit system is designed to supplement Ireland's skills and labour supply over the short to medium term by allowing the recruitment of nationals from outside the EEA where such skills or expertise cannot be sourced from within the EEA at that time. The system is, by design, vacancy led and managed through the operation…

Again, I thank Deputy Burke for raising this issue. We keep this under review. The changes were put in place last November in our Department and then the Departments of Health and Justice followed suit. The three Departments are working quite closely to try to prioritise this area. When it comes to judgments on the permits, we have made a lot of changes in our own Department to streamline that overall process and to be responsive. The time for most permit applications is down to a couple of weeks now. We have for a…

I agree. It is important that we have streamlined the process. It is now much more accommodating to the situation regarding stamp 4 and family reunification. The issues the Deputy raises probably cross over with the Department of Finance and Revenue as well as the Department of Social Protection. I am certainly happy to raise them. We have been for a long number of years trying to implement a lot more cross-departmental arrangements to solving problems, and that is working quite well. I will raise the issues the De…

The WRC, under the aegis of my Department, is one of several agencies that monitor the operation of the atypical worker permission scheme for non-EEA fishers employed on certain Irish-registered fishing vessels. I presume this is the scheme the Deputy is mainly referring to. The WRC has particular responsibility for checking compliance insofar as terms of employment, permission to work, payment of wages, annual leave, public holidays, and National Minimum Wage Act 2000 entitlements are concerned. Hours of work and …

I cannot comment on the specific case raised, but I am happy to engage with the Deputy separately on this aspect in general. We are bringing forward this package. I do not have a timeline for it now. I will, though, try to get it fast-tracked. We were waiting for the recommendations and the changes and the review of the atypical worker permission scheme. The Deputy will agree that it is positive that this scheme will now be changed and replaced by access to the work permits scheme. A cross-departmental working grou…

This is an area of priority. Most stakeholders with whom I engage in this sector across the different Departments wanted the review of the atypical working scheme prioritised as soon as possible. To be honest with the Deputies, that is where a lot of our work has gone in. That review is to be completed. The recommendations and the report went to Cabinet a few weeks ago, and we can get on with that work to replace the atypical working scheme with the work permit scheme. That will be beneficial to everybody. Most Mem…

I am taking Questions Nos. 13, 14 and 43 together. Is that okay?

Responding to the exceptional circumstances of the Covid-19 pandemic, Ministers at the WTO Ministerial Conference in June 2022 agreed an outcome in relation to the production and supply of Covid-19 vaccines. The ministerial decision on the TRIPS Agreement provides for a waiver of certain obligations of the agreement and includes clarifications that will allow eligible WTO members to authorise a company to manufacture and export Covid-19 vaccines in a fast and simplified manner and without the consent of the patent …

It is probably fair to say that the ministerial decision was the outcome of extensive, detailed and politically sensitive negotiations which we have discussed here quite a lot over the past year. Ireland has always taken a prominent position on that within the EU. They hold the competency for this and we contribute to that. Our officials in Dublin, Brussels and Geneva are involved in a round of negotiations since that meeting nearly four and a half months ago in preparing for the next round, which is on 17 December…

I also have the letter that was addressed to the Taoiseach from the individuals outlining their concerns. We have to reflect on what progress has already been made on access to the vaccine since we discussed this when people raised it previously. The ministerial decision on the TRIPS agreement provides for a waiver of certain obligations of the TRIPS agreement. It includes clarifications that will allow eligible WTO members to authorise a company to manufacture and export Covid-19 vaccines in a fast and simplified …

It is fair to say a lot of extra public money was put on top of billions of euro of private money for Covid. There is no doubt about this. There was an investment of private money well before this. We have to make sure the intellectual property regime protects both of these investments and enhances the best opportunities. We believe Ireland's role in our negotiations through the EU in the trade talks has assisted with these changes. We will continue to take this approach in the coming months until 17 December. They…

It is about how we best maximise money for research. I do not have all the figures here today but I ask Deputy Connolly to trust me that the private end has been higher than the public end for a long number of years. Let us be fair about this. It is important that we maximise the opportunity. We differ on the need to have a blend of public and private money in research. To me it is about how we maximise the impact of expenditure. This is done by combining the two in many ways. This is not an approach shared by Depu…

I will respond on behalf of the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, who could not be here to address the issue. The National Monuments Service of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage administers the community monuments fund, CMF, through the local authorities. It was established in 2020 under the July jobs stimulus package and had an initial fund of just over €1 million. I am delighted that the grants awarded under this scheme totalled €6 million for 2022, including a grant to St Canice’s, which i…