Hear, hear.

In the short time I have available I want to raise two issues around citizens' assemblies. I agree with the concept, but the real citizens' assembly is those of us in this House. We cannot dodge stuff that is difficult; we need to deal with that ourselves. The first issue I wish to raise is Irish unity and the Border poll we look forward to in a couple of years. We have to prepare for that properly so that we are ready and do not mess up the referendum as happened with the Brexit referendum in the UK. A lot of peop…

I thank the Minister. I listened carefully to what he said and do not agree with a lot of it. Hard choices will have to be made; we all agree with that. This generation faces a climate emergency and we all have a role to play in addressing it. However, guilting those who earn the least is not the approach to take. Oxfam tells us the world's richest 1% cause double the CO2 emissions of the poorest 50%, yet in this country we propose additional carbon taxes that will disproportionately affect those on low to middle i…

The average rent in my home city of Limerick is €1,407 per month, that is if one is lucky enough to be able to find a property. Today there were nine properties available on daft.ie and two of those houses were for more than €4,000 per month. I do not know who can afford that in Limerick and there was only one house available for less than €2,000 per month so we have priced working families out of the market. They have nowhere to go because they earn too much to get social supports and the Government refused to inc…

My question is on the corporate enforcement agency, the authority that will be set up. I believe it will be a crucial tool in the fight against white-collar crime. I ask for an update on the number of staff who have been hired to date and on the scheduled commencement of the authority. Can we have an update on that? As chair of the Joint Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment, I appreciate I got a letter from the Tánaiste telling me the Garda has committed a staffing allocation for the new authority, increas…

I thank the Minister of State. We all are supportive of this legislation. Granting the new authority autonomy over the appointment of its resources is necessary, as we all argued for during the course of the passage of the Bill. The power to recruit its own staff according to the skills the authority envisages to be necessary is a key component of the independence of the CEA. The long-awaited new authority must demonstrate from the get-go that it has the strongest powers and can ensure those involved in white-colla…

As I previously mentioned, I am keen to see the authority established in the quickest possible timeframe. We in Sinn Féin believe the new authority with autonomy of action would best serve to tackle the concerns regarding corporate crime. The perception that corruption and so-called white-collar crime are not adequately detected and punished damage the economy and threaten our international reputation as a reliable place to do business. Therefore, it is welcome that we are dealing with it and setting up the new aut…

The Taoiseach's party in Limerick-----

With its abundance of renewables, in particular offshore wind, Ireland is uniquely positioned to harness the potential of green hydrogen. Despite this, we do not have a hydrogen strategy. By comparison, the European Commission published its strategy in July 2020 and our neighbours in Scotland published a strategy in 2015. The lack of a strategy jeopardises our ability to make the most of our abundant renewable resources through the creation of a complementary hydrogen network. It also limits our potential to secure…

In May 2019 the people of Limerick voted on the issue of a directly elected mayor. To date, despite efforts by me and others to find out a timeline for when we would see the legislation and, crucially, when the election will take place, we have no update on that. I raised this issue in November with the Minister for Finance, Deputy Paschal Donohoe, and he said he would come back to be, which he did not unfortunately. I was also concerned when I heard a response by the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, to a que…

Is there a date for any election process?

Regrettably, I must once again raise the issue of sale and supply of controlled substances in my city, Limerick. While inroads have been made with regard to sale and supply, the main drug supermarket and leading supplier of crack cocaine remains open on a near 24-7 basis. I raised this issue last year and, in fairness, the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, unlike her predecessor, listened to what we were saying and committed to take an action. Action duly followed with the initiation of the joint Garda-Limerick…

I would like to mention the work of gardaí in Limerick in respect of this matter. In fairness, they have responded and made arrests and seizures. I have no doubt that they share my frustration. I speak to them on an almost daily basis regarding the continued operation of the drug supermarket. They, in the main, have responded whenever I have raised concerns directly with them. I thank them for this. The focus of our discussion is the Department of Justice's response to the issue in Limerick. This is a very importan…

First, I wish to acknowledge that the lifting of many of the Covid restrictions has been welcome news for citizens. People are beginning to return to their pre-Covid activities and this should be welcomed. The vast majority of people have been terrific. We looked after our neighbours and we followed the health advice which was asked of us. We all together have saved many lives. We should be proud of that. Well done to everybody. The last two years have been a very difficult time for most of our people. We missed fa…

There can be no denying that there are significant problems with the CAMHS system and that these need to be fixed. The recent review of south Kerry CAMHS uncovered widespread failings in the service. While the effects on some of these children were horrific, the fact that there were failings is no surprise to anybody. If we really want to cherish all the children of the nation equally, we can start by ensuring that children and adolescents have access to the vital services they need around mental health. This is no…

Now that we are exiting the period of restrictions related to the Covid-19 pandemic, I fear we could soon face a deluge of people seeking assistance for issues related to mental health. The period of the pandemic has challenged us all but, as we are all aware, has been particularly keenly felt by our young people. With such long periods of isolation and remote learning, it is really a credit to the youth of the State how well they coped with restricted living over the past two years. The pandemic placed huge pressu…

Gender-based violence is an issue that effects every socioeconomic group in the country. It is an abuse that can manifest itself in many different ways, be it through physical violence or coercive control, and is not reserved for any particular age category. In 20% of detected sexual violence incidents, both the victims and the offenders are under 18 years of age. Unfortunately, we are not witnessing the dying embers of a misguided misogyny of a bygone era. Gender violence is as prevalent now as it ever was. Some o…

The Covid-19 pandemic has affected us all. Our students and our teachers have to be creative in their learning. They faced massive disruption throughout the senior cycle, from remote learning to long school absences due to Covid or being identified as a close contact. It has been an incredibly disruptive senior cycle, I am sure the Minister will agree, for our current batch of leaving certificate students. Some have been unfortunate enough to have to isolate more than once; others not at all. The learning experienc…

The Cahill Duffy report was presented to the then Minister in March 2016 following concerns about redundancies of the former Clerys employees. The authors made a number of proposals to enhance the statutory protections and entitlements of employees made redundant in a situation where the assets of a business are separated from the operating company. What steps is the Department taking on the implementation of the recommendations made in that report in 2016?

I thank the Minister of State for his response. I appreciate the fact the Act will come into law this week and it will be important. There are real concerns that once the employer support schemes introduced during the pandemic end there may be many business closures throughout the State. Everyone has this concern. Unfortunately, in many cases employees will be made redundant when businesses collapse. Would it not be more prudent to have the recommendations in the Cahill Duffy report implemented in advance of this p…