I thank the Deputy for the work she has done on this matter. I share the objectives of the Private Members' Bill, namely, the Irish Corporate Governance (Gender Balance) Bill 2021, which is designed to increase the participation of women at the highest levels in the corporate world. I look forward to meeting with the Deputy on the Bill and having it debated in this House in due course. As the Deputy acknowledged, we are now up to 30% female directors on ISEC companies. We are moving up the EU league table in that r…

With regard to Deputy Tóibín's question, I understand that the Minister, Deputy Coveney, referenced that matter. I will let him know it was raised again in the Dáil, however. I will talk to the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, and let him know about the issue regarding Kiltimagh to see if he can intervene with Irish Water in that regard. The payment of wages (amendment) (tips and gratuities) Bill will be published in the next session. We intend to get it enacted hopefully before the summer tourism season.

I thank the Deputy for her question. Since the outbreak of Covid-19 here in March 2020, the Government has sought to save as many lives and as many livelihoods as possible. The early introduction of the temporary wage subsidy scheme, TWSS, and its longer term successor, the employment wage subsidy scheme, EWSS, provided immediate assistance. This was followed by many targeted measures for business which have been critical in keeping them afloat and preventing redundancies. We acted swiftly to prevent the closure of…

I will certainly examine that. If more resources and staff are needed, we will provide them. I accept the Deputy's point that it can be difficult for people to work through the redundancy process. Some of us have experience of it but it is more complicated than people may think. The Deputy's point is well made in that regard. On the number of people on the PUP, at its peak there were 650,000 people in receipt of that payment. That is down to around 55,000 now. It should be evident to everyone that more than nine ou…

I will certainly talk to the Secretary General at the Department about that and see if it can be done. One might say that what is happening in the economy is a bit peculiar. We are facing a pandemic, yet in the face of that pandemic the economy is growing very rapidly. There are 2.4 million people at work. We think that next year there will be more people at work in Ireland than ever before. Most sectors are doing extremely well, but there are some sectors that have been hit really hard. We have always had two econ…

Wholesale and retail energy costs, electricity and natural gas, have risen significantly over the past year, primarily driven by the market price for natural gas internationally. The global natural gas price appears to be rising because of a combination of international geopolitical factors, lower than usual reserves and regional supply chain and weather issues. Increased oil prices are also affecting the cost of petrol and diesel at the pump. I am extremely conscious of the pressure that volatility in costs can pu…

I thank the Deputy. I do not recall seeing that particular email but I will ask my private secretary to pull it out for me and I will take a look at it today or tomorrow. That is a huge increase from 6 cent to 25 cent. For any business facing that sort of increase in energy costs it will be very serious and very severe. I will take a look at it. Obviously responsibility for energy and energy prices does not fall under my remit or that of the Department. It is the responsibility of the Minister, Deputy Ryan. I will …

I draw the attention of the Deputy and businesses to the new climate toolkit for business which we will launch tomorrow. It is a toolkit that will highlight the help available from the Government in financial, educational, training and expertise terms. Assistance is available from local employment offices, Enterprise Ireland, the SEAI, Irish Water, the EPA, IDA Ireland and others to help businesses to implement their actions. The target audience for the toolkit is SMEs and small businesses that want to begin their …

I thank the Deputy. I think I said I was sceptical as to the need for additional restrictions, particularly ones that would impact on family life and businesses and so on. I will maintain a healthy scepticism around that as Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment. I hate to see any business being closed or restricted. As Minister for employment I very much hate to see anyone being laid off specially for the second or third time. As a politician who believes in personal freedom and liberty I hate to see people…

In fairness, anybody who takes part in these engagements will say that there are very valuable. We do them in different ways. There is the hospitality and tourism forum, which is co-chaired by me and the Minister, Deputy Martin. It very much engages with the representative bodies in that sector and there are many of them. Unions are also represented there, as they should be. The Minister of State, Deputy English, chairs the retail forum which is probably less significant in pandemic terms at the moment but was a ve…

It is very much on the agenda and is part of the work safety protocol. Grants have been provided to schools, for example, for CO2 monitors and other things like that. NPHET, our public health adviser, is sceptical in respect of the benefit of HEPA filters. However, if the pandemic is going to be a long war - unfortunately, it may be a war - part of our vaccine plus response in the next couple of months, the next year or however long the pandemic will last, may well be filtration, clean air and allowing more capacit…

As the Deputy is aware, Brexit is not a passing storm; it is a permanent change in our relationship with the United Kingdom with which the Government, business and citizens will have to deal for some time. On a positive note, it was confirmed earlier this week that Ireland's allocation under the Brexit adjustment reserve is €1.165 billion at current prices. This represents just over 20% of the total reserve, or the largest allocation for any member state. This week, I spoke at the launch of two ESRI reports on cros…

I thank the Deputy. He is absolutely right regarding diversification. If one goes back 100 years, 50 years or even 40 years, Ireland was almost entirely dependent on Britain for trade and foreign currency. It is never a good thing for a country to be too dependent on another country, particularly a large neighbour if it has one. For several decades, our industrial and enterprise policies have been about diversification and making sure all our eggs have not been in the one basket. That has stood to us. The fact that…

I will cover some of it anyway. I very much agree with the Deputy's remarks in respect of boots on the ground. There is no substitution for having boots on the ground or personal contact. It has to happen. Virtual engagement is great, but it is no substitute for individual personal contact and having boots on the ground. We are doing exactly that - increasing our embassies, embassy staff, counsuls and agency staff on the ground, not just through Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland which fall under my remit, but also…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 86, 131, 153 and 159 together. Universal and equitable access to vaccines is crucial in the global fight against Covid-19 and governments in the developed world must do more to ensure it happens. The Government is a very strong supporter of vaccine equality in the world. Morally, we need to ensure the world is vaccinated. We were not able to defeat smallpox and polio on a national basis; it could only be done on an international basis. This is what we need to do with Covid as well. …

I disagree with the analysis of Deputy O'Rourke-----

The fact is the EU is the biggest exporter of vaccines.

The EU is the biggest exporter of vaccines. While other countries such as the United States, on some sort of national security grounds, stopped vaccines being exported to developing countries, the EU exported as many vaccine doses as we made for ourselves. I acknowledge Sinn Féin is a Euro-critical party but that is going too far. The EU has exported more vaccine doses than any other major player in the world and Ireland has been part of that. We have donated 1.7 million vaccine doses and will do more in 2022. I di…

I can see where this is going and I am disappointed that, rather than having a rational debate and weighing up the pros and cons of options such as a TRIPS waiver or compulsory licensing, it will turn into-----

-----people wanting to shout at one another and make out they are more virtuous than the next person-----