Gabhaim buíochas le gach Teachta as a gcuid óráidí inniu. I thank Deputies who have spoken for their engagement in recent weeks on direct cases. That engagement will continue. We are now in the stage where we can look back at the storm and learn lessons from it. Many Deputies have put forward good suggestions this evening, which will be taken on board because, unfortunately, the precedent, as I said previously, has been set. These storms will be repeated. It is important the frameworks are still solid and I commend…

I hear his concerns with regard to farming and small businesses in particular. With regard to the humanitarian assistance scheme, to date, the community welfare service of the Department of Social Protection has issued more than 5,000 stage 1 payments, totalling almost €1 million, to people who at the time their application was approved did not have any power or water supply following Storm Éowyn. The community welfare service continues to be available to citizens who are experiencing extreme hardship as a conseque…

I have been across County Mayo and across the country in recent weeks and I have seen at first hand, as many colleagues have, the very devastating real effects of Storm Éowyn on communities and families throughout the country. I assure people in every community, in rural and in urban areas, that we are working hard and doing all we can to get their power, water and communications back up and running. While Storm Éowyn was unprecedented, it is now the precedent and we have to prepare accordingly based on this preced…

This is my first time since my appointment to address the House in this form - I spoke earlier on the storm debate - so I thank Deputies for their good wishes. I congratulate the Ceann Comhairle on her election and Deputy Buckley on his re-election. I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I am sorry to hear about the case he described. As he will know, in some of its laws, the State distinguishes between the treatment of people in a marriage or civil partnership and those not in a marriage or civil partnership. …

I am pleased to bring before the House the Companies (Corporate Governance, Enforcement and Regulatory Provisions) Bill 2024, which will amend the Companies Act 2014. The Bill has completed its passage through the Dáil and I acknowledge the co-operative support of all Deputies across the House on Committee Stage. I note the constructive engagement, particularly on the provisions giving companies and industrial and provident societies the option to hold virtual meetings while at the same time ensuring the rights of …

Gabhaim buíochas leis na Seanadóiri Crowe agus Ahearn as páirt a ghlacadh sa díospóireacht thábhachtach seo. I thank the Senators for their remarks about the Bill and the work of the bodies. I assure the House the legislation not only provides safeguards for Members but provides the Minister of the day with the ability to draft regulation should changes be required in how meetings are held on a virtual or hybrid basis. The Bill is another step in the right direction as the Government continues to strive for better …

The Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly, set out to Deputy Cullinane on Committee Stage that the de-nicotinisation of tobacco products is only one of multiple endgame measures that will be considered as the next steps in the elimination of tobacco smoking in our country. It is well recognised that success in addressing public health problems such as tobacco consumption entails multiple evidence-based interventions in order to affect usage and that no single measure is effective on its own. As our next national tob…

No.

We fully appreciate how difficult the announced closure of Aer Lingus Cargo is for the employees, their families and the wider community. Our thoughts are with them. This is a commercial decision being made by Aer Lingus as a private company. We have no role in Aer Lingus’s commercial decisions and it would not be appropriate for any Minister to seek to intervene. However, Ireland has a robust and strong suite of employment rights legislation to protect and support employees in redundancy situations, including the …

As a Government, we have responded to many of the Deputy's campaigns and calls on Shannon Airport. The Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Deputy Lawless, announced just last week €4.2 million for Shannon and Cork airports, and €47 million is being invested in Shannon Airport alone. We are very much committed to it and it is a very important part of the enterprise network along the entire west coast. Cargo volume should be increasing but we cannot account for a private company. Aer Lingus has made a c…

If there is a case to be made for investment in physical facilities, the Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Deputy Lawless, will be more than open to it. We want to see Shannon strengthened. We have identified a very exciting future in terms of Shannon Estuary being an Atlantic green digital corridor. This has enormous potential for Shannon Airport and the supply chain, which will need very good cargo operations. The Minister, Deputy Burke, has had discussions with Senator Conway on the issue. With r…

I thank the Deputy for his question. We have taken a number of steps to address the concerns of small businesses and the challenge they are facing around rising costs. The increased cost of business scheme has paid out over €244 million in this year to almost 75,000 SMEs, which includes 38,000 SMEs in retail and hospitality. Recognising that businesses operating in retail and hospitality sectors face higher costs, we have announced a €170 million power-up grant in budget 2025. Under this grant, these retail and hos…

There is an acknowledgment that we have introduced a lot of initiatives in recent years and that the sequencing of them was not properly thought out with respect to costs. It was not done. We have strengthened the SME test. The Cabinet signed off on that this week. It will ensure that far more vision is given to initiatives, and that they are sequenced and streamlined. As the Deputy knows, auto-enrolment has been postponed for a number of months to give businesses a chance to get more ready for it. We are constantl…

There is lots there. The Minister, Deputy Burke, is conducting a consultation exercise on how the new sick pay changes are working. He is engaging with employers directly in that space to get their feedback. That will feed into future decisions with regard to sick pay. On retail, I absolutely agree with the Deputy. Retailers are the backbone of our economy. They sustain not just employment but also town-centre living and local clubs. We are trying to work with retailers with regard to supports to take on the digita…

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta as ucht an cheist thábhachtach seo a ardú. The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, CCPC, is the independent statutory body that enforces competition and consumer protection law under the remit of our Department. It continues to promote and monitor compliance with competition and consumer protection laws across all sectors of the market, including ticket sales, and to investigate potential breaches, prohibited practices and offences. With regard to concerns of concert tic…

I absolutely agree with the Deputy's concerns regarding unfair pricing. This Government has already introduced legislation in this space, such as the Sale of Tickets (Cultural, Entertainment, Recreational and Sporting Events) Act 2021, which prohibits the sale and advertising of tickets or ticket packages for prices exceeding the original sale price of those tickets for events taking place in designated venues or designated events. Consumer law is very strong. It requires traders to provide certain information to c…

I want to go back to the remarks of Deputy Ó Snodaigh. Dynamic pricing is used in many sectors and we have to make sure that in dealing with the consequences of one model we do not damage the other sectors that use it responsibly and in the best interests of the consumer. That is why the CCPC process will be of use to us. There is also work underway at European Commission level, which means we will be able to act collectively in this space. We do not want that kind of differential. What happened during this particu…

They would not serve.

They did not have the courage.

Gabhaim buíochas leis na Teachtaí ar fad as páirt a ghlacadh sa díospóireacht thábhachtach seo inniu. Níl mé ag iarraidh agus níl aon suim agam maslaí a thrádáil le haon duine sa Fhreasúra. I do not want to trade insults with anybody. I disagree with a lot of the policies, but I will say that in the case of the proposers, that is, Deputy Ó Broin and Sinn Féin, they have a policy as opposed to slogans. They are actually willing to serve in government unlike some who spoke in the debate earlier this evening when I wa…