I will take the questions in order. In reply to Deputy Paul Murphy, I express the Government's solidarity with the people of Iran, who are struggling to see their democracy restored. They have not experienced democracy since the Shah was reinstated and Mohammad Mosaddegh taken down in the 1950s. They are demanding basic and equal rights for women and, in some cases, ethnic minorities and people from LGBT backgrounds. We are in full solidarity with the Iranian people in their efforts to change their country for the …

No.

As Tánaiste and leader of Fine Gael, I extend my deepest sympathy to Bobby's wife Helena, his children Bob, Mark and Triona, and his family and friends. Bobby dedicated his life to public service. Today his constituents in Carlow-Kilkenny are grateful for his service to their community, a community that is much better because of him. Mar Thánaiste agus mar cheannaire Fhine Gael, ba mhaith liom mo chomhbhrón a dhéanamh lena theaghlach agus lena chairde agus le muintir Chill Chainnigh agus Cheatharlach. Coming from a…

This motion of confidence was triggered by a motion of no confidence from People Before Profit. The People Before Profit Members know that their motion had no chance of being passed and would not build a single house or house a single other family. Its purpose was to embarrass and to personalise what is a deeply important political and societal issue. The time could have been used to introduce legislation on housing which might have become law but it was not.

This vote will serve only to demonstrate that the Government has a clear working majority. We will move on in the next hour or so and get back to the important work of government; taming inflation, helping families with the cost of living, building homes, creating jobs and investment, taking climate action and providing equal opportunities for all our nation's children. For a moment we should reflect on what life would be like if People Before Profit-Solidarity took the reins of government. For one thing we would s…

People Before Profit's policy states that it is critical that we break immediately from the failed living-with-Covid strategy and implement a strategy based on elimination - the Chinese approach. This would have our economy in shutdown for a third Christmas. Construction sites would be abandoned and we would deprive people of their basic liberties for far too long. Fewer houses would have been built in the past year under People Before Profit, if any would have been built at all. I accept that a left-wing governmen…

I am aware of the report on low-paid older workers in Ireland. It is useful research and I thank Dr. Micheál Collins of UCD and Dr. Catherine Elliott O'Dare of TCD for their work. It was funded by the Low Pay Commission, an independent body under the aegis of my Department. The report provides comprehensive information on both the commonalities and the differences between older and younger low-paid workers, and new insights on low-paid older workers. It is easy to think of low-paid workers as younger workers who su…

The objective is to eliminate low pay. There are many ways to define low pay but it is generally defined as the pay of those earning less than 66% of the median wage. With the introduction of the national living wage, the intention is to go to 60% initially and, provided the economy can manage it and businesses can afford it, to 66% thereafter. That would, at least on a statistical basis, eliminate low pay. That is what we aim to achieve. We will have auto-enrolment starting in 2024, which means people will have be…

The plan initially is to go to 60% by 2026 and then to 66% but that can be speeded up or slowed down depending on economic circumstances. Part of the research behind this, done by Maynooth University, indicated there is a point at which, if the minimum wage is increased too much too quickly, there can be negative effects. People could be laid off, businesses could close and people's hours could be cut back. We all want to avoid these effects, and that is why the plan is not being implemented in one fell swoop. I ac…

It is fair to say that the Government has not been found wanting when it has come to helping businesses get through difficult periods and saving the jobs of people who work in those businesses. We demonstrated this throughout the pandemic, particularly with the employment wage subsidy scheme. I am very conscious of how worried SME owners and managers are as we go into the winter. Putin's invasion of Ukraine has had massive consequences for the whole of Europe, not just in Ireland. Indeed, we are now facing a global…

On the Deputy's first question, I do not have the payment date for the first payment yet. I have spoken to the Minister for Finance about this and he indicated to me that the first payments would land in business accounts before Christmas, but I do not want to swear to that. I will follow this up with him. Although I have not seen the Wise Business survey itself, from the reports I have seen it is worrying. I was certainly worried when I read the headline figures from it. There are other business surveys that are l…

I am told that the first payments will land in business accounts within the next two weeks. I will check with the Minister for Finance tomorrow and get back to the Deputy if more information is available. At the moment, 40% is as far as we can go under EU state aid rules. In fact, we have stretched it a little. The rules say 30% but we were able to get clearance for 40%. We have done other things like reducing excise on petrol and diesel, and there are other schemes available and certainly for companies that are ex…

Violence and harassment in the workplace are unacceptable and undermine the principles of human rights. We have comprehensive legislation in Ireland to protect against this and the International Labour Organization, ILO, convention sends a clear signal to workers and employers that every workplace must be free from harassment and violence. I was committed to Ireland being an early ratifier of this convention. I am particularly pleased that we have met the timeline to ratify this convention before the end of 2022 in…

The convention is a legal instrument that recognises the right of everyone to a world of work free from violence and harassment, including gender-based violence and harassment as well. It acknowledges that gender-based violence and harassment disproportionately affects women and girls. The convention calls for states to recognise and address this as far as is possible and to minimise the effect of domestic violence and harassment at work. The introduction of domestic violence leave by the Department of Children, Eq…

We will certainly do that. We are keen to work across government and different Departments to get this right and make some real changes in these areas. One of the things I have been pleased to be involved in in the past number of years is increasing the number of women on State boards and company boards. We have made real progress in that regard. It is more or less 50:50 or 45:55 on State boards and well over 30% on the boards of listed companies. Where it is still pretty weak is at the C suite - CEO, CFO and CPO. …

We want to reward work and ensure that work pays more. Minimum wage workers are among the hardest working people in Ireland and deserve to be paid appropriately, particularly at a time of rising prices. In September, the Government agreed to accept the Low Pay Commission’s recommendation to increase the national minimum wage by 80 cent to €11.30 from 1 January 2023. At least 164,000 people will benefit, but we think many hundreds of thousands more will benefit from the knock-on increases that those on slightly high…

I thank the Deputy for her remarks. I hope that in times to come people will look back on this Government as one that has made a lot of strides forward in improving terms and conditions for workers. At a time when employers find it hard to recruit and retain staff, I believe that better terms and conditions and better pay must be part of the solution. We are moving towards a living wage. Auto-enrolment, which has been spoken about for a very long time, will become a reality in 2024. People in the private sector in …

I thank the Deputy. I think the fact that people pay the highest marginal tax rate at such modest incomes is very unfair. That improves next year when people will be able to earn up to €40,000 without paying that highest rate of income tax and will only pay the highest rate on income earned above €40,000. If we look across the OECD and across Europe, Irish workers pay much the same amount of income tax as other workers do but the distribution is different. People on relatively modest incomes pay the highest rate an…

I am very conscious business owners and managers are worried heading into the new year. The invasion of Ukraine has had massive consequences for the whole of Europe and not just Ireland. Indeed, we are now facing a global inflation crisis exacerbated by the war. Energy and other input costs have risen considerably. Interest rates are rising and consumer confidence is waning. It is fair to say the Government has not been found wanting when it has come to helping businesses get through difficult periods and saving th…

Roughly 10,000 businesses availed of the Covid loan scheme and the Brexit loan scheme. The Ukraine loan scheme is essentially-----