May I just reiterate that the Government is conscious of the need to support the food and hospitality sector?

I have outlined some of what we are doing in that regard.

It is not opposed.

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." In bringing this Bill before the House, I am standing in for the Minister of State with responsibility for trade promotion, digital and company regulation, Deputy Calleary, who is travelling on official business. Before proceeding, I acknowledge the significant work by those involved, most notably in the past 12 months, to develop the general scheme of the Bill before the House. I acknowledge and thank in particular the members of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on …

So will I, as Minister of State.

There is not.

Perfect.

No problem. I will answer them.

Me too.

No, we did not.

The local authority is responsible for the rates.

I thank Deputies - for the most part - for their overall support for this Bill and for the comments I have heard this evening, many of which have been very helpful. I thank my officials from the Department who have steered this Bill through pre-legislative scrutiny and in the Chamber today. I wish to respond to some of the comments made. Deputy O’Reilly referred to the need to support employees in remote working as well to support those on boards. I fully agree with that. That is why this year the Government brough…

I assure Deputies Collins and McGrath-----

-----that there will not be any additional costs for SMEs due to the passage of this Bill. I reassure them that, as Minister of State with responsibility for this matter in the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, my commitment is to reducing bureaucracy and unnecessary red tape and making it even easier to do business here in Ireland. We heard statistics earlier from a competitiveness perspective on how easy it is to do business in Ireland, but I agree there are barriers. We need to remove them where ap…

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).

That was the easiest thing yet.

I am aware of the Respect at Work campaign, which is seeking new protections for workers wishing to organise in their workplaces. These proposals will be considered in the context of Ireland’s publication of an action plan to promote collective bargaining, as required by the EU directive on adequate minimum wages. Article 4 of the directive, promotion of collective bargaining on wage setting, aims to promote collective bargaining on wages in all member states. The directive requires member states in which the colle…

The Respect at Work campaign has six recommendations seeking new protections for workers seeking to organise in workplaces. These proposals are being discussed and will be considered in the context of the action plan to promote collective bargaining. These discussions are ongoing and are happening at the moment. They were discussed at a meeting of officials in the technical working group this week. They will be discussed at a meeting I am chairing this month. They will be discussed in September at a meeting the Min…

The Government is absolutely committed to protecting workers. The Doherty report, which we commissioned, is our path towards doing that. We got a progress report on it only this week and work is under way on its recommendations. That is agreed at this point as the review mechanism we are looking at to improve workers' rights. So far, only last month on 17 June, the Labour Court confirmed it will examine the scope for amendments of its rules to include technical assessors, and it will engage with my Department on th…

The Government is absolutely committed to taking a holistic approach to rejuvenating Dublin city centre. We appointed a task force on 7 May 2024 to help the city centre to thrive as an attractive and safe city. Led by the Department of the Taoiseach, the task force held its first meeting on 21 May and has been asked to deliver its recommendations for consideration by the Government within 12 weeks. The task force is led by an independent chair, Mr. David McRedmond, chief executive officer of An Post, and its work i…