I thank the Deputies for their good wishes and I look forward to working with those involved in this sector. I am conscious of the old saying that there is very little difference between a pat on the back and a kick somewhere else but I nevertheless welcome colleagues' good wishes. A lot of broader, enterprise-related issues were raised, to which we will come back. Some very interesting thoughts were expressed earlier in the debate about the direction of travel in regard to investments and so on, which definitely a…

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).

Go raibh maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle. I thank you for your good wishes. The findings of the commission of inquiry shine a light on very unacceptable practices by certain parties during the course of the Siteserv transaction. The commission’s report reminds us we must be ever vigilant in ensuring our laws are upheld. One purpose of company law is to facilitate entrepreneurial activity. It does so by providing for separate corporate legal personality and limited liability, thereby limiting personal exposure to fin…

Hear, hear.

The current SCSI model discriminates against smaller homes, in particular smaller semi-detached homes. Can the Minister give a commitment that when setting the regulations, there will be an uplift for smaller homes with regard to the square foot range, which as currently constructed will not cover their full costs?

I welcome the chance to discuss this legislation. I acknowledge the significant work put in by so many people to get to this point, including the Minister, his team and his officials, but especially homeowners from Mayo, members of Mayo Pyrite Action Group, North Mayo Pyrite Group, Mica Action Group in Donegal, and similar groups from Clare, Limerick and Sligo. Last week, one of their representatives said they were ordinary homeowners put in an extraordinary situation. They led an extraordinary response, which shou…

Much reform has been made on the jurisprudence side of insurance costs and legal costs, yet business insurance costs continue to rise. What action is the Government taking to address this issue and to follow up whether the reduction in legal costs and awards are being passed on in the form of reduced insurance premiums? What further actions are planned?

I thank the Minister of State. I was contacted recently by a company in my constituency in the broader hospitality industry. It was closed for much of 2020 and 2021 as a consequence of Covid, yet has had a 300% increase in insurance costs since 2019. There has also been a considerable increase in its excess. This is in spite of the changes to judicial guidelines which, as the Minister of State rightly said, have had a big impact on motor insurance premiums. One would assume they should also have had an impact on bu…

While we wait on the courts, premiums are going up. Public liability premiums increased by 16%, according to research from the Alliance for Insurance Reform. Many businesses cannot wait given the other cost pressures they are under. Again, I ask the Minister of State whether there will be price monitoring under the new system. Can we give a role to the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission with regard to price monitoring so that people can see that premiums are coming down? I know premiums are different fo…

The Minister of State has been doing a lot of work and has engaged extensively with various elements of the credit union movement since his appointment. I want to get a sense of where we are at with the plan to support our credit unions in their ambition to grow and become a much bigger part of banking solutions, particularly community banking solutions.

I acknowledge the Minister of State's engagement with the credit union movement. We cannot just dismiss the role of the Central Bank by saying this is a matter for the Central Bank. There is no doubt that the Central Bank's attitude and its regulation act as a brake on credit unions playing a bigger role in communities, in particular, in banking. That is historical. We need to reflect on how we can get the credit union movement to grow to the strengths it has in 2022, as opposed to ten years ago. Perhaps we have to…

I welcome movement on this matter. If the legislation is passed, how will it change the operation of the individual credit unions? Will it unleash them or give them the chance to be more responsive than they can be currently? As the Minister of State noted earlier, banks are withdrawing their physical services from communities, leaving many people who depend on branch banking exposed. The credit unions are perfectly placed to step in and provide physical banking services. Will there be provision in the legislation …

I do not mind how the questions are grouped. I was listening to the discussion earlier and I wish the Minister and his Department well in these talks. I wish to examine a particular angle. Is any work being done in respect of sectoral-specific challenges within the public service, where vacancies cannot be filled? For example, is there any focus on vacancies in health and disability services? Those vacancies are causing major deficiencies in the delivery of public services. We cannot currently fill them because of …

I welcome that. The Minister knows himself, for instance in health, that there are so many challenges in filling vacancies in the therapies and for consultants and nurses, in particular advanced nurse practitioners, all of which would make a significant difference to the delivery of services. Similarly, vacancies cannot be filled across the National Educational Psychological Service, NEPS, and educational psychology services that we will talk about later. Pay is an issue, in particular compared to that in the priva…

I know the whole area of relativities is embedded in the concept of a lot of these talks, but if relativities and the need to restrict their effect is impacting on the delivery of public services, is there an argument to be made for some measure to be put in place to balance the need to deliver to people on waiting lists and parents of children with additional needs? There is a need to make a difference to citizens' lives and some balance must be given to that in regard to the whole area of relativities.

I wish to query where we are at currently with capital expenditure profiles given that we are nearly halfway through the year. I know the Minister is doing a lot of work to reform capital expenditure systems to make sure money is spent quicker and without the kind of delays we have been seeing. When can we expect to see changes?

Of the €12 billion projected spend, we had only completed €2.2 billion by the end of May. Is the Minister confident we will reach that €12 billion target? I understand and get the pattern of capital expenditure. Of all the Departments, only two are over profile. Is there any Department in particular the Minister or his officials are concerned about that is substantially behind profile? What steps are taken to intervene or work with a Department that, for whatever reason, is behind profile? Given we are halfway thro…

It is coming towards the end of the session. We have four more sitting weeks. Does the Minister foresee any Supplementary Estimates around capital expenditure that may enable some projects to start? For instance, the Department of Education is doing some excellent work on its capital side at present. I commend the Minister, Deputy Foley, on that. However, there is a reluctance in that Department to commit expenditure to some projects ahead of 2023 that are necessary, for instance, e-hubs. I am sure there are many o…

I am sharing time with Deputy Devlin. I have some examples similar to that raised by Deputy Verona Murphy relating to the intransigence of a system that is no longer fit to serve those it seeks to serve. I have spoken so often in this House about the silo mentality in this country when it comes to delivering public services, and nowhere does that do more damage than in the area of special and additional needs and special education. That is not to take away from the Minister of State's work or commitment or from tha…

Whatever about the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, not being present, the fact that no officials from the Department are physically present in the Chamber to observe the debate speaks more volumes. The Minister is busy, I understand, and the Minister of State, Deputy Ossian Smyth, will probably tell me that the officials are watching the debate from home or online, but that speaks to a bigger problem which manifested itself on Sunday in Dublin Airport, that is, that nobody seems to take responsibility. Nobody in the D…