The Deputy asked a lot of questions there, which perhaps the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, might be better placed than me to answer. With regard to the legislation promised, that legislation is a priority. We intend to get it through the Dáil and the Seanad as soon as possible. I would be extremely surprised and disappointed if we cannot have the scheme up and running by the end of the year. Families in mica-affected houses have been waiting long enough. It is incumbent on the Government to get the legislation …

I agree totally. If the current energy price hikes and the current instability in Russia and Ukraine tell us anything, it is that the sooner we move away from fossil fuels towards greater use of renewable electricity and new fuels such as green hydrogen, the better in terms of energy security and price stability. We should accelerate our plans and ambitions in that regard. How we do that is a matter for discussion. I am not sure how we will do it. I am frustrated by the slow rate of progress. I think everyone inter…

I do not have an update on that report, but I will tell the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, that the Deputy raised it and ask him to revert to the Deputy directly. We should acknowledge, however, that both the National Ambulance Service and Dublin Fire Brigade provide a very good service. It is a service that has improved in the last couple of years. Sometimes when management and administration staff are hired, it is precisely so paramedics are freed up from administrative work.

I have asked the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, to examine that as part of the legislation. Employers have approached me, as Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, and have told me that they want to pay their staff a pandemic bonus from their own resources, but that if they do so their staff could lose perhaps half of it in tax. I have asked the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, to examine that as an option. It is already possible for employers to pay up to €500 per year in the form of a bonus that is tax fr…

He said he would look at it. He is always very polite, but quite stubborn.

The announcement the other day by the Northern Ireland Minister, Mr. Poots, was unhelpful. It adds to the uncertainty for businesses and citizens in Northern Ireland. It seems to me that it was a political decision rather than one based on the public interest. It is noteworthy that his decision is not supported by the Northern Ireland Executive or by the majority of members of the Northern Ireland Assembly. Whether people agree with the protocol, surely on democratic grounds it was not the right decision to make, a…

It does not fall within my remit, but I undertake to make some inquiries about it. It is a long time since I have been in Portrane. I used to be there regularly when I was a member of Fingal County Council. I cannot visualise the derelict houses in Portrane, but if the Deputy says they are there I am sure they are.

It would be a shame to have houses in Portrane that are in State ownership not being used.

I will make inquiries.

I thank the Deputy. I remember her raising this suggestion in the past. The Minister, Deputy Humphreys, is examining that proposal at the moment as part of the package we are developing. I cannot commit that it will happen but on the face of it, it is a good idea. The Minister will need to do due diligence around it and ensure it does not turn out to be open-ended. We need to put some cost on it. I can tell the Deputy that the Minister is looking at that at the moment.

I am pleased to introduce the Bill to Seanad Éireann. I have set three objectives in my role as Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment. These are as follows: to help businesses respond to Covid and Brexit and to survive and prosper again; to restore and exceed pre-pandemic employment levels by achieving a target of a record 2.5 million people at work in Ireland by 2024 and ensure there are job opportunities in all parts of the country; and to create jobs with better terms and conditions, that are more sustai…

I welcome the contributions from Senators and the broad support for this Bill. When I first decided we would revive and reintroduce it, I actually believed it would be very simple. I thought we would do just two things: make it illegal to use tips to top up wages, bearing in mind that it is already illegal to top up to the minimum wage but not to other contractual rates, and introduce transparency around tips and service charges to make sure they go to the staff and so people will know how they are divvied up. Most…

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. Speaking as a public representative but also as a doctor, I am disturbed and worried by what I have read and heard about what happened with psychiatric services for children in Kerry. I extend my sympathies to the children who have been affected and to their families. What it appears has happened is very serious, including misdiagnosis and overdiagnosis of psychiatric conditions, with children being put on medicines inappropriately and those medicines not being m…

I am a little disappointed that the Deputy has chosen to try to make this issue, which is very sensitive, into a party political one and to try to personalise it politically. I would remind him that while he may pretend to claim otherwise, Sinn Féin is very much an establishment party. In the past 20 years, his party has been in government on this island as long as my party has been. His party has co-chaired a government that is in charge of health services in Northern Ireland which consistently perform inferiorly …

I did not have a chance to listen to that interview this morning but a number of people have mentioned it to me already so I will make a point of doing so later today. It is important to hear the voices of patients and parents. It is the best way to understand the impact this has had on them. Let me not mince my words in any way. I am a politician and a medical doctor. I have come across, as have all of us in this House, a number of examples of failings in care and failures in our health service to provide the stan…

The Minister will provide more details on the audit in early course. It is intended that it will be nationwide. It will be an audit of compliance with CAMHS operational guidelines by all CAMHS teams to ensure the other 71 teams have been prescribing appropriately. This will include a random selection of files proportional to the medical caseload from a continuous six-month predefined time period in 2021. Additional clinical resources have been made available to the team in Kerry including an additional doctor. Howe…

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. I wish to extend once again my sympathies and condolences to the families affected by the Stardust tragedy and all who have followed this issue down the years. The decision to carry out these inquests was made by the Attorney General in the last Government, Séamus Woulfe, who acceded to the request by the families that the matter should be reopened and that inquests should be held. I led that Government at the time and very much agreed with the decision he made. …

I thank the Deputy. The timing of the inquest is a matter for the senior Dublin coroner Dr. Myra Cullinane and it is not possible for Government to interfere in her work. However, it is the wish of Government that these inquests should start as soon as possible. I mentioned that pre-inquest hearings have already taken place. The OPW, which is a branch of Government, is working with the coroner to try to find a suitable location when the RDS takes that space back next month. We will work on that and I am sure it can…

On gas supplies, I had my Department look at this for me the other day. Ireland does not use very much Russian gas. Pretty much half our gas comes from our own supplies in the Corrib gas field and the other half comes from Britain. Most of that either comes from Britain, Norway or Qatar. The gas comes from Qatar on ships to LNG terminals in Britain and then comes across the pipelines into Ireland. Thus, while we do not have an LNG terminal, we use LNG. It just comes in from Britain rather than coming into one of ou…

As the Deputy rightly acknowledged, the budget provided for a social welfare package and a pension increase across the board, in addition to targeted increases for those who need them most, in particular, the fuel and living alone allowances. The budget also provided for reductions in income tax, increases in tax credits and widening of the tax bands so that people on middle incomes who are also struggling with the increased cost of living would get something. In that way, we made sure that somebody who is not gett…