I support the Sinn Féin amendment tabled by my colleague, Deputy Doherty. It is a vital amendment and it addresses the people who have not been able to avail of this scheme. The continuation and adjustment of the Covid support scheme is vital work that we must complete and I echo the comments of my colleagues regarding the necessity of sustaining and amending it. Businesses have operated, or not operated unfortunately, for close to a year in the Covid-19 environment. Regrettably, I have no doubt that many smaller b…

I am happy to speak on this matter. We may be a bit late in transposing the directive but it is important that the Bill is passed. Last week at the Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment, members heard from Ian Drennan, director of the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement, regarding the establishment of the new corporate enforcement agency. Our discussion at the committee related to domestic efforts to combat so-called white-collar crime. I am pleased to be able to continue this theme, albeit refe…

This motion is about fairness and respect for student nurses and midwives. We have systemic understaffing in the health service. This predates Covid, but Covid has exacerbated the difficulty. Nowhere is this problem more evident than in my local hospital, University Hospital Limerick, UHL, in the constituency of Limerick City. Twice so far in 2021 we have had 66 patients being treated on hospital trolleys and at no stage this year has the trolley number fallen below 35. The pre-existing staffing and capacity issues…

The programme for Government states, "We will continue to invest in new roads infrastructure to ensure that all parts of Ireland are connected to each other." I do not expect the Taoiseach to know about every single road across the State, but in my constituency of Limerick there is a road of which he should be aware of, namely, the Coonagh to Knockalisheen road. I ask the Taoiseach to intervene personally in this matter. The road is partially built and we have spent €17 million on it already. It was supposed to rec…

I have raised the issue of University Hospital Limerick with the Minister on a number of occasions. I raised it in the previous Dáil at every opportunity. Unfortunately, there is an ongoing trolley crisis at the hospital, with 66 patients on trolleys there as we speak. In light of the alarming rise in Covid cases in my home city of Limerick, I am again really concerned about University Hospital Limerick. I am eager to hear from the Minister about the plans he and his Department have to manage the Covid and overcrow…

The Companies (Corporate Enforcement Authority) Bill 2018 is important legislation. We met a couple of months ago and we discussed it briefly. If it is delivered, it could have a real impact on the issue of so-called white collar crime, or more aptly, economic crime. I look forward to the Bill coming before the Joint Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment in the new year. A fully functioning and fit-for-purpose Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement, ODCE, will play a key role as the Bill seeks to e…

I thank the Minister of State for the reply and his comments. I am delighted he has met the director of the ODCE. I am pleased that it was a constructive meeting. I take this opportunity to advise the Minister of State that I have invited the Tánaiste and the director to attend the first possible meeting of the joint committee in January. I hope that will happen. We want to meet the director first and we will then meet the Tánaiste, as Minister, in the next available opportunity, hopefully in January. Those invitat…

I would like to put on the record my thanks for the work done by the former Chairman of the committee, Deputy Butler, now Minister of State at the Department of Health, to try to progress this Bill. There were a number of legal and other reasons that did not happen. Hopefully, it will happen next year. We are in broad agreement on the need for structural change to the ODCE. We all agree on the need to tackle white-collar crime. White-collar economic crime is something citizens have been more exposed to during the C…

In part of the Ceann Comhairle's review of 2020 he told us how bizarre the world was. Bizarre was having the all-Ireland final in December. I congratulate the Limerick team on winning. It gave joy to everybody in Limerick and our diaspora across the world and, because of the amazing team it was, to all hurling fans everywhere. I want to raise the issue of the Coonagh to Knockalisheen road in Limerick city. Yesterday, among other contributions he made, the Taoiseach stated he is not expected to know about every roun…

I reiterate that Sinn Féin will be supporting this Bill and I thank the Rural Independent Group for bringing forward this legislation. In a Dáil debate on 13 December 1977, the then Deputy from Limerick, the late Mick Lipper, raised the issue of wandering horses in Limerick and asked what actions the then Minister for Justice would take, if he proposed to take any action, regarding the serious problem created by wandering horses in Limerick city. Here we are some 43 years later talking about the same problems. At l…

Last December, with my party leader, Deputy McDonald, I was proud to introduce the Organisation of Working Time (Domestic Violence Leave) Bill 2019. Today, we can progress this issue much further. I strongly believe we must advance this much further. Therefore, I very much welcome Deputy O'Reilly and Deputy McDonald's Bill. Covid-19 has cruelly exposed the issue of domestic abuse as a real problem that needs addressing. Domestic violence is a problem that has always been with us. It is not a problem for one socioec…

When the Tánaiste was Taoiseach in July 2019, he made a welcome apology to the victims of child sex abuse in day schools. It was appreciated. This is now December 2020. The Tánaiste will be aware that the ex gratia scheme at the time was not fit for purpose. Thanks to the good work done by Mr. Justice Iarfhlaith O'Neill, the requirement for a prior complaint was seen to be nonsense, and due to the failure to address a number of people's issues, it was removed. My understanding is that the ex gratia scheme is still …

I thank my colleagues for bringing forward this motion. My colleagues, Deputies Ellis and Munster, brought a similar motion forward during the previous Dáil as well. This has been an ongoing issue in my constituency for years. I have spoken on this issue on a number of occasions, the last of which was on a Fianna Fáil Bill. At the time, the then Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport had no interest in solving the issue. I raised the concern I had that the reason he had no interest, and Deputy Ó Broin made the s…

I thank the Independent Group for introducing this important motion. Since I was elected to the House in February, I have been raising the issue of Shannon Airport. In light of Covid, I have been raising it as often as possible. I have met employees, trade union representatives, stakeholders and the Shannon Group. There have been debates and questions in the Dáil and we feel like we are in a loop. Specific answers must be given on what is to be done with Shannon Airport. I cannot stress enough to the Minister of St…

In the Minister of State's contribution, he said that a single authority would not stop one extra litre from going into a house. The Minister of State is from the same county as me. He remembers the flood last year which destroyed a few houses in Coonagh and Na Piarsaigh GAA club. If we had one statutory authority, that would not have happened. In December 2015, there was a flood in Richmond Park, Corbally, in which 14 houses were destroyed. If we had one statutory authority, that would not have happened either. Bo…

This is not historical, unfortunately. I have friends and neighbours who were in mother and baby homes. It is an issue of which I am keenly aware and I know they are watching. One survivor speaking to the Clann project about conditions in the mother and baby homes stated: My birth mother was allowed to see me just once a day for an hour each day after my birth when the babies were brought in to be fed. The mothers were actively prevented from bonding with their babies. On infant deaths, a survivor stated: "I do not…

I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak on this Bill. What my party colleague, Deputy Ó Broin, has proposed is as timely as it is necessary. Our Bill on co-living is clear in its ambition, namely, to ban this type of building scheme. This is a type of living arrangement that when he was in opposition, the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, called "bonkers", as Deputy Ó Broin said. When he became Minister, he could have initiated a ban but rather, he announced a review. This neither here nor there response has embolden…

The question is about the establishment of an Irish enterprise agency. Will the Government consider the establishment of an Industrial Development Authority or similar body specifically to focus on microbusinesses, workers' co-operatives, and small and medium-sized enterprises?

I thank the Tánaiste for that response. As he said himself, almost 70% of people employed in Ireland are employed in small or medium enterprises. When speaking to those in these businesses, they often say they feel left behind and that successive Governments have preferred to focus on foreign direct investment instead of helping indigenous industry. Foreign direct investment has been a crucial component of Irish industrial strategy and has been really important for my own area, the mid-west. Almost 90% of all the S…

As the Tánaiste said, some of the local enterprise agencies are quite good but some of them are not so good. That is why we see a specific focus being needed on local SMEs and small companies. We believe the greatest potential for growth in the next few years is within our SME sector. SMEs are the priority when it comes to fostering indigenous industries and ensuring job creation. With that in mind, I again ask whether the Tánaiste and his Department will consider the establishment of an Industrial Development Auth…