The Deputy is right that the initiatives he referred to are all really positive. Investing in the old Ambassador Theatre building and reopening the Iveagh Markets would be really beneficial to Dublin. Those are the kinds of projects the task force is considering. The task force has already met. It has 12 weeks to report to the Government. When we receive the report, we certainly will look at its recommendations. The task force was led by the Department of the Taoiseach. As such, it will be up to the Taoiseach to co…

The Minister, Deputy Burke, chairs a hospitality and tourism forum that looks at a lot of the issues the Deputy has raised such as access outside working hours to hospitality, including cafés, and the importance of having a vibrant night-time economy. The Minister co-chairs the forum with the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin. That initiative shows the level of cross-departmental co-operation and collaboration that is required and is happening in this area. We are absolutely committed to continuing that work. The t…

As the Deputy will be aware, the Low Pay Commission was asked in 2022 to examine the issues around retaining or removing the sub-minimum youth rates of the national minimum wage and to make recommendations on the matter. The Low Pay Commission asked the ESRI to conduct background research on the issue under the terms of the Low Pay Commission and ESRI partnership agreement. This ESRI report on sub-minimum wages in Ireland was published in November 2023. The ESRI study examines the incidence and the characteristics …

The Deputy alluded in his opening remarks to the fact that he has a Private Members' Bill on this issue. I draw the Deputy's attention to the line in the Low Pay Commission recommendation that states that sub-minimum rates should not be abolished before 1 January 2025. The reason for that is that the Low Pay Commission asked the Government to consider the report and its recommendations to ensure all decisions are evidence-based and to get legal advice on this. They are the recommendations of the Low Pay Commission …

There is international evidence that this has happened in other countries when decisions like this were taken-----

-----and that is part of the rationale for further investigation on this.

It is not.

It is-----

To be clear, my intention is to look at the Low Pay Commission recommendations and do exactly what it said in terms of analysing them and looking at consequences, including unintended consequences. As I said, I do not want a situation whereby we have an unintended consequence of a change to people's working hours. Deputy Boyd Barrett has alleged that some industries are disproportionately dependent on student workers. I do not believe this is the case. If he can show me evidence to the contrary, he should please do…

That is industry doing the right thing by these people. What we have is a situation where under-18s cannot necessarily work the same hours legally as those aged over 18 and cannot always do the same duty.

We need to take that into account as well. That is why we are doing the economic impact assessment and looking at this further.

Go raibh maith agat, a Theachta. As the Deputy will be aware, copyright legislation ensures that all authors and performers, including actors, performers, writers and directors, are protected by provisions of copyright legislation where the authors or performers choose to transfer their rights to another party, for example, to producers in the film and TV industry. The transfer of rights is usually done by way of a licence or contract in which the remuneration due to the authors or performers in exchange for the tr…

It is regulated more.

To clarify, Regulation 27 is about transparency. Once you have your transparency, Regulation 28 kicks in and that offers authors and performers a contractual adjustment mechanism when the remuneration originally agreed turns out to be disproportionately low compared to the success of their work. That is important to clarify. To be clear, the existing copyright legislation ensures that rights holders have an effective means of enforcing their rights by way of proceedings before the appropriate courts. Alternative di…

Well done.

In relation to the Deputy's specific question around legislation in this area, it will be in the context of the sharing of royalty payments between producers and performers of recorded music. I recently sought and received Government approval to address this matter by amending the primary copyright legislation. Accordingly, drafting will proceed on the relevant Bill shortly. As the Deputy said, the committee of which he is a member, on the basis of his ask, has done quite an amount of work on this. In January, reco…

I thank the Senators for raising this important matter and I acknowledge their passion for and work on this issue. I will first reiterate my and Minster for Justice, Deputy McEntee's, appreciation of the important role played by barristers and solicitors in the administration of criminal justice. I also acknowledge the important role that women play in this sector, as Senator Seery Kearney pointed out. I am aware of today's withdrawal of services and further proposed withdrawals of services on 15 and 24 July. I hop…

I hear what the Senators are saying and I will convey their feedback to the Minister. The main message is that, from a budgetary perspective, it is very difficult to make budgetary announcements ahead of budget day and I know that the Senators appreciate that. I understand their sincerity and passion about this matter. I also understand that they want to see a resolution and that is something the Minister also wants.

I thank the Senator for raising this issue. I commend him on the passion he has shown for the provision of advocacy services. The Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Humphreys, acknowledges the value of the important services the National Advocacy Service, NAS, provides to adults with disabilities throughout the country, as the Senator articulated so well. I, too, value them. The Senator may be aware that the National Advocacy Service was established in 2010, originally as part of the Citizens Information Servic…

As the Senator will be aware, talks which were led by Kevin Duffy broke down on Friday without agreement and strike action has now recommenced. That is the reason for that. It is deeply unfortunate and will undoubtedly impact people with disabilities. We do not want that to happen and we do not want that to continue. I understand a number of offers were made over the course of the four-day talks-----