It is fair to say that when commissions of investigation were established and that legislation came through the House - I remember it well during my first or second Dáil term - the view at the time was that they would replace tribunals and would be much less costly. They have certainly been less costly but the view was that they would happen more quickly, which has not been the case. Frankly, there is a real difficulty in inquiring into any kind of commercial transaction because there will always be people who will…

Ireland has a reputation for being a well regulated and business-friendly country in which to establish and operate a business. Company law has an important role to play in that regard. At the end of 2020, there were more than 500,000 companies on the register of companies in Ireland and more than 600,000 business names on the register of business names. This resulted in more than 131,000 filings made with the CRO last year. The office also maintains several other registers. These registers exist to provide transpa…

As regards fake or bogus companies, the position is that once a company has been incorporated, it is subject to the provisions of company law and other legislation. This includes filing obligations with the CRO when company circumstances change and the filing of annual returns. In addition, newly incorporated companies have reporting obligations to the Revenue Commissioners and under anti-money-laundering legislation are required to register certain information in respect of their beneficial owners with the central…

I am aware that the Deputy wrote to the Secretary General of my Department about this issue. I believe she replied on 30 July, setting out a detailed response to some of the matters raised, particularly regarding 100 companies being registered at one address, and companies even being registered at the same building that the CRO is based in. I think the reply is robust, but that is not to say that we cannot improve things further. I would like to restate that providing false information to the CRO is a criminal offe…

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue of working conditions in the hospitality sector. I have seen a synopsis of the report and the Oireachtas briefing document that Dr. Curran provided to the committee. The research by Dr. Deirdre Curran of NUI Galway, Inside Out Hospitality: A Study of Working Conditions in the Hospitality Sector in Ireland, was undertaken during 2019 and published in the summer. I was very concerned to read of the working conditions reported by the 257 hospitality workers surveyed. I have ask…

Principally, what we need to do is to encourage people to make complaints to the WRC and the HSA. No matter how many inspectors we have and no matter how robust the regime of inspection we have, it will only ever be possible to inspect a small minority of businesses at a particular level of frequency. As we all know from experience, starting with when the cigire came to school and then inspections in our workplaces, things may look fine when the inspector is there but it may be very different when he or she is not.…

The budget provides for increases for the HSA and the WRC next year. When it comes to the WRC, the budget provides for the recruitment of an extra ten inspectors in addition to replacing those who retire. We can build on this in the years ahead. Another matter I am progressing is legislation on tips and gratuities. I hope to get this legislation done in the next couple of months. It will outlaw the practice of using tips or gratuities to top up wages. It is already illegal in respect of the minimum wage but not ill…

I thank the Deputy for his question. Insurance reform is a priority for the Government and for me, as Tánaiste. Premiums have been too high for too long and I know some businesses and volunteer groups continue to struggle to find insurance at any price. The Personal Injury Guidelines were commenced on 24 April 2021. This met the programme for Government commitment to recognise the work of the Judicial Council in providing guidance on personal injury claims. The report published by the PIAB on 15 October 2021 provid…

I thank the Deputy. It is clear that a fall in the awards that are given to people who have been injured should result in a fall in insurance premiums but it is not the case that a 40% or 50% fall in awards through the PIAB will not result in a 40% or 50% fall in premiums. That is because many or, indeed, most cases do not go through the PIAB. Many are settled before that and that is why insurance companies need to change their settlement strategy. A small proportion, of course, end up in court. Many factors go int…

At the most recent Cabinet committee meeting on insurance, we did an assessment of sectors where it is not possible to get insurance. That involved speaking to insurance companies and brokers. There is a small number of sectors where it is not possible to get insurance at the moment. We are following up on that and trying to understand it better to see what we can do to help the situation. I understand it would be possible legally to require insurers to give a quote, but that might not be the solution because the q…

I was very pleased to visit Longford last week, where I was met by Deputy Flaherty, Senator Carrigy and the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke. The timely provision of appropriate and cost-effective property and infrastructure solutions to meet the needs of multinational companies thinking of investing in Ireland remains essential to winning foreign direct investment, FDI. Over the past five years, IDA Ireland’s regional property programme has enabled the winning of capital-intensive projects of significant scal…

Generally speaking, the regional property programme has been really successful where IDA Ireland identifies a site and is able to provide what it calls an advanced building solution, which I think is a terrible term. It is basically a building that can be used for many different purposes. We then find it is possible to get investment because there is a big difference between taking a potential investor or group of executives to see an empty park as opposed to one where there is a ready-made premises that can be occ…

The acquisition of property by a State agency is not something that I, as Minister, can get too involved in as it would not be appropriate to do so. However, I certainly hear the case the Deputy is making for facilitating both the potential future expansion of the Abbott site and having an advanced business solution at another location. I know IDA Ireland is aware of the case for such an approach, but I will emphasise it to the agency. In total, there are six IDA Ireland-supported companies in County Longford emplo…

As I said in September, the programme for Government includes a commitment to "request the Low Pay Commission to examine universal basic income, informed by a review of previous international pilots, and resulting in a universal basic income pilot in the lifetime of the Government". Earlier this year, I formally requested that the Low Pay Commission examine this issue. To inform its considerations, the Low Pay Commission asked the ESRI to conduct background technical research on a universal basic income under the t…

It is entirely reasonable for the Deputy to table a question in November about something she asked about in September. Two months is a long time and it is important that we are held to account in that regard and that progress is made. I have always been clear that the proposal for a basic income for artists and the universal basic income were not the same thing. I did not like the fact that they got confused from time to time. Universal basic income is universal, meaning for everyone. Any basic income pilot that wa…

I would hope to have a report by the end of the year and will be happy to publish it once I have seen it. I would certainly like to commission the pilot under the term of this Government. Perhaps this is just semantics and just people using terminology differently, as can happen sometimes. The task force proposes universal basic income for artists, which to me is a contradiction in terms. Universal cannot be for just one particular group. Universal means universal. By definition something that is universal cannot b…

It is hard to hear anyone in Sinn Féin accusing anyone in the Government of misrepresentation. Misrepresentation, misquotes, telling us what we think and believe, and then criticising us for what it says we think and believe, is a classic Sinn Féin tactic. There is misrepresentation all the time. It is what Sinn Féin thrives on. I think it is beneath Deputy Ó Broin because-----

-----he is an intelligent person. He is one of the brighter people in his party and to engage in a personalised attack on me is beneath him.

It is wrong. It is classic of the left-wing populism which Sinn Féin stands for. It is about creating ideas of masses against the elites, simple solutions to complex problems, and demonising opponents. It is not just about disagreeing with people but saying that the people that Sinn Féin disagrees with are lesser people and do not care as much. That is pure left-wing populism. That kind of populism has destroyed politics in many other democracies. Sinn Féin represents that in this country. I hope that will become m…

-----which is about people renting for life. It might be the case that rents would be lower. It might be the case that people would have more secure tenancies and that they are renting from a public landlord rather than a private landlord, but ultimately, the model that Sinn Féin proposes is about keeping people renting for life, whereas we propose to help people buy their own home. That is why we are retaining the help to buy grant, of €20,000 to €30,000 in tax back, when Sinn Féin would take that away. A person w…