I thank Deputy Smith for raising this issue. The Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly, is aware of the specific issue the Deputy has raised. The Department and the HSE are very anxious to make progress there and ensure access to a GP service is made available to the local community. As the Deputy is aware more broadly a strategic review of general practice is under way at the moment, which is looking at issues affecting general practice. The Minister for Health is expecting a report on that issue. In the budget of …

As Deputy Griffin will be aware the Government does not instigate criminal investigations. Where evidence is provided of alleged criminality to An Garda Síochána it will make the decision as to whether to instigate an investigation. It is important that employment rules are fully adhered to by all organisations. The issue of the difference between a contract of service and for service is one on which employers need to be very clear and can get advice on if they need it. The rules are there and they need to be fully…

I understand Cork County Council has now submitted its assessment of the damage that came from this exceptional weather event. It is not the expectation of the Government that a local authority would, out of its normal funds, be in a position to repair or reinstate roads that were very damaged by a storm. I will take up the issue with my Government colleagues. The practice has been that where public roads are damaged by an exceptional weather event, there would be an additional allocation made to the local authorit…

I am very sorry to hear that properties in Ballinspittle were flooded as a result of the heavy rainfall. As the Deputy knows, the Government set up and activated two schemes in the past when there were similar flood events, namely, the Irish Red Cross scheme and the humanitarian scheme through the Department of Social Protection. I will liaise with my Government colleagues and ask that the Deputy be responded to directly, setting out the supports available for people who have experienced flooding following a weathe…

This situation is one of the reasons the Government and I made the case for investment in the rental sector in the budget last October. Our proposals did not meet with great support across the House. The view seems to be that we do not need investment and we do not need property owners willing to make their properties available for tenants. However, that measure has been legislated for and is now in place. We should not rely entirely on advertised listings in the rental sector. There are some off-market transaction…

The Government's position on what is happening in the Middle East is very clear. We have continued to call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, the release of all hostages unconditionally and full and unhindered humanitarian access so the people of Gaza get the essential supplies they need. The Government does not interfere in decisions that are appropriately made by relevant sporting organisations when it comes to fulfilling fixtures. Were the Government to get into that space, it would be completely wrong and…

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I am familiar with it, as he is aware. I visited Northside Community Enterprises on the old foreign affairs campus a few weeks ago, and the Deputy was there. We discussed the issue with members of the organisation in question. We are anxious to help because we recognise how important a role the service played when it was in place. We will work collectively as a Government and with the public bodies to do all we can to support the Northside Community Enterprises to get that…

I thank the three Deputies. I know that the issue raised by Deputy Durkan around family law and parental alienation is one that he has raised consistently. I will mention it to the Minister for Justice again.

She will not be surprised, but I am sure she will come back to the Deputy. I thank Deputy Munster for raising the issue of the driving centre in Drogheda. I will ask the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, or the Minister of State, Deputy Chambers, to revert back to her on the issue of the specific site. We are making progress overall on the average waiting times for tests. It was 30 weeks in August of last year; it is now less than 20. That is still too long, but 41 additional testers have joined the RSA. A lot of extra …

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I welcome the opportunity to engage today on the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman (Amendment) Bill 2023. As Deputies are aware, the Government published the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman (Amendment) Bill 2023 on 19 December 2023. Today's Second Stage debate on the general principles of the Bill is an important step in the progress of this legislation. The Bill will ensure the Office of the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman, FSPO, can co…

On behalf of the Tánaiste and my Fianna Fáil Party colleagues, I extend our deepest condolences on the passing of former Taoiseach, John Bruton, to his wife, Finola, his son, Matthew, his daughters Juliana, Emily and Mary-Elizabeth, his grandchildren, our parliamentary colleague Richard, John's sister, Mary, and indeed the Fine Gael Party. John Bruton was, by any measure, a towering figure in the development of modern Ireland. He was deeply involved in issues that have been fundamental to the advancing of peace and…

I thank the Deputy. If I may briefly respond to the first point he made, I am satisfied that the Revenue Commissioners will apply the law without fear or favour. I do not direct them on operational matters but they have all of the powers they need and they will fully discharge their responsibilities. They will engage directly with RTÉ and any other relevant parties to ensure all taxation obligations have been fully met in this regard. As the Deputy will be aware, the overall Government response on the problems asso…

The Government position on this is clear. It is our understanding and expectation that once a home is certified and remediated under the scheme, it will be treated for mortgage purposes in the same manner as any other home. This specific issue is being dealt with by the subgroup to which I referred. It met on 11 January. The focus was on the ability of the homes to be mortgaged. The Deputy will be aware of the membership of the group and it includes homeowners in the affected counties, including Donegal, Clare and …

I am very much across the issues involved that are relevant to the work of the Department and the bodies that come under its aegis. The Department is part of the implementation steering group and the subgroup where these issues are being actively discussed. The ability of the homes to be mortgaged was the focus of the first meeting last month and there will be another meeting this month. I have remained directly involved and kept abreast of the situation. I have also spoken directly with the BPFI on these issues. I…

I thank the Deputy for the question. The tax debt warehousing scheme has offered valuable and practical liquidity support to businesses during the Covid pandemic and continues to support businesses as they recover from the impacts of the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis. It has assisted businesses with their cash flow during difficult trading periods, preventing business failure. Introduced in May 2020, the scheme allowed businesses to temporarily defer VAT and employer PAYE, certain self-assessed income tax …

It is important to emphasise a number of points. One is that the requirement on businesses is to engage with Revenue now and to enter into an agreement by 1 May 2024. I have seen reports that they must have repaid their tax warehouse debt by 1 May but that is not the case. It is not even necessarily the case that there has to be a downpayment by that date but they must have entered into an agreement, which will then be implemented over a period. A strict condition of the flexibilities that are currently in place, a…

-----and to monthly repayments. I will perhaps put on record the breakdown in a moment when I get a chance.

First, the tax debt warehousing scheme is a really good scheme when compared to the interest rates that apply, for example, to other tax debt. Non-warehoused tax debt has a general interest rate of 10% or 8% in the case of income tax underpayments. That just puts in context that this is a really good scheme. We do have to be fair to all of those who did not avail of tax debt warehousing. More than €30 billion in taxes could have come within the scope of the warehousing scheme and approximately 10% of those responsi…

So hospitality is not among the top sectors benefiting from this scheme.

I thank the Deputy very much. Landlords are an essential feature of a functioning housing market. Rising rents are driven by a shortage of supply, so stabilising and increasing the supply of rental properties should ease upward pressure on rental prices and make it easier for prospective tenants to find affordable homes. The new residential premises rental income relief is a tax relief at the standard rate of 20% against private rented residential income. The purpose of this relief is to provide an incentive for la…