My predecessor signed agreements with the UK around Brexit. In fairness, we have a good few reciprocal agreements regarding social welfare contributions and pensions, etc. I have to acknowledge that. In this particular case, the UK has indicated it will not sign up for this agreement. Nevertheless, that does not stop us from having conversations. The Deputy is talking specifically about the PayPal workers. Those who are living and working in the North and paid by the UK-based employer PayPal are no longer frontier …

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. My Department provides a wide range of income and employment supports to assist jobseekers and employees with disabilities, as well as their employers. I am committed to improving targeted employment supports where disabled people are facing additional challenges accessing work. The reasonable accommodation fund is one of these supports which aims to support the employment of disabled people by providing financial support to help make workplaces more accessible. Under the…

I thank the Deputy for raising this because that is what I want to do. I want to get more people to know about it. I want more employers to take it up and I want more employees to benefit from it. The money is there. We have published a consultation, as I said, on the reasonable accommodation fund. We want more people to use it. There has been a very good response so far. If I need to make some changes to it, I will make them because I genuinely want to see more people with disabilities having the opportunity to go…

The Indecon cost of disability report, among other strategies and commitments, is feeding into the preparation of a straw man reform proposal on disability payments. Work on the straw man is at an advanced stage. All stakeholders and members of the public will be invited to make submissions on some of the straw man proposals. We are looking at a complete overhaul of the disability allowance payment. The Deputy and I will both accept there are people with severe disabilities which prevent them from going to work whi…

I thank Deputy Smith for raising this issue. We are all aware of the work that carers do. However, the Department is about giving people a basic income. We increased in last year's budget the means test threshold for the carer's allowance so that more people are able to benefit from it. In fact, we increased it to €750, which is the highest it has ever been. We will continue to review the means test. There is a broader discussion to be had on how we compensate carers for the work that they do. We have to have this …

I thank the Deputy for raising the matter. Of course, there will be a lot of demands between now and October in terms of the budget. I said it before and will say it again this year, there will be a lot of kites flying. I am going to be like an octopus trying to keep them all down.

I would not dream of it. The Department's pre-budget forum will take place on 19 July. I will be meeting all those stakeholders and will hear their views, which the Deputy articulated clearly. He will appreciate that I will not give any commitment today because my good colleagues, the Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, would not appreciate any comments I might make. What I can say is that we supported pensioners last year. We expanded the fuel allowance and …

And more emigration.

Come on.

I am very pleased to have the opportunity to open today’s debate. I launched Our Rural Future in 2021. It is the most ambitious and transformational rural development policy ever introduced by an Irish Government. It is a five-year plan, we are just over two years into its implementation and already we are seeing the hugely positive impact it is having on the ground. As we stand here today we have more people living in rural Ireland than ever before. We have more people working in rural Ireland than ever before. In…

With high-speed broadband, people can do the same job in Ballybay, Ballsbridge, Malin Beg or Manhattan. What does this mean for rural communities? It means people's sons and daughters can have a good career and live in their local community. It means they can build a house and start a family in their own locality. It means they can spend money in the local shop, their children can go to the local primary school and they can play for the local GAA club. Most important of all, it means a better quality of life. That …

You will not get rid of me now. There will be no surrender here.

Now, now.

No I do not. I am here a right bit.

I thank the Deputies for their contributions. It is clear that rural Ireland is a topic close to the hearts of all my colleagues here today. I know they share my passion and love for rural Ireland and its people and my determination to see it a bright and prosperous place in which to live, raise a family and to work. I acknowledged at the outset that there are challenges in rural Ireland but huge progress has been made and there is an air of positivity and optimism, and I go around the country a lot. I will respond…

-----Danny, his brother. He is the mayor of Cork. We had a great day going around opening projects. We were in Banteer.

No, he did not. I did not see him.

By the way, the Deputy forgot to mention the Dursey cable car. He had plenty of talk about it when it was not working but it is working now. It was reopened last week by his brother. I am delighted to see the Dursey cable car is back up and running. It is very important. I would also like to say thank you to Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan because in fairness to the fella, he came to me about that issue, and we worked hard on it together. I just want to put that on the record too. In fairness, I want to recognise the…

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. The town and village renewal scheme was introduced in 2016 and is one of a number of measures designed to rejuvenate rural towns and villages throughout Ireland. In 2022, the scheme prioritised projects that bring vacant and derelict buildings back into use and promote residential occupancy in town centres. In recognition of the urgent need to transform and regenerate town centres, I introduced a new building acquisition measure under the 2022 scheme. The purpose of this …

The building acquisition measure was a new idea that was introduced last year as part of Our Rural Future: Rural Development Policy 2021-2025, which is our five-year policy for rural Ireland. It has proven very popular. There has been great feedback from the local authorities and communities on its success. The Deputy mentioned the Central Hotel in Mallow. This is the sort of thing we are targeting. We are trying to look at old buildings that have gone past their use and repurpose them for 21st century use. For exa…