I thank the Senator for introducing this extremely important topic as a Commencement matter. I am pleased to take it on behalf of my senior colleague, the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Humphreys. As the Senator will be aware, the Civil Registration (Amendment) Act principally amends and extends the Civil Registration Act 2004 and the Act itself was signed into law on 4 December 2014. Sections referring to the law relating to marriage contained under Part 6 of the Civil Registration Act 2004 were commenced …

The commencement of section 6 will provide an opportunity for all fathers' names to be recorded on the register of births. While this anomaly affects a small number of people, I do not for a second underestimate how important it is, not just to fathers but also to mothers and indeed children. It is the Government's view that where possible, all children should have the right to know the details of both their parents. The commencement of section 6 will also complete the commencement of all sections of the Civil Regi…

I will outline my absolute support for the Act. I am not just saying that as a politician. In my daily life, we talk a lot about being at effective full employment. It is a nice thing to say and it shows the power of the economy but for employers that means a very tight labour market. One thing I was boosted by in the first half of this year was that when the unemployment figures again went down, we saw that 75% of those who returned to work were women. We do not need to go into the details but women still remain t…

I take an element of the Senator's criticism as fair but I have to reject some of it because this has to be got right. We have tasked the relevant people in the WRC, and people who are trusted both within the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and IBEC and who have experience to make sure that code of conduct is done correctly. I am not just going to put a set date on it because if we set a deadline, we are just setting a target to be missed. I want this to be got right. We all agree about what the end destination need…

I thank the Acting Chair and Senator O'Loughlin. It is always great to spend time with them and in the Seanad more generally. I was going to list out some of the Enterprise Ireland and IDA numbers for Kildare but the Senator has already jumped the gun on that so I will not repeat them. However, it is worth noting how sizeable and important they are first and foremost for the local economy but also for Ireland Inc. as a whole. The Senator rightly mentioned our small and medium-sized enterprises and our new enterpris…

I thank the Senator and Acting Chairperson for their very warm welcome. I am more familiar with the southern end of the Senator's county because my late father was employed by an Athy-based company for 35 years. The southern end is much closer to the Senator's own home but I will take on board what she said about the area around Rathangan and Carbury, leading into the Offaly area.

And, of course, Edenderry, where my mother-in-law is from. How could I forget that? I will raise the matter with Kildare and Wicklow ETB and do so also when talking to the LEOs, Enterprise Ireland and indeed IDA Ireland about the opportunities for investment in the area. Capital is an issue that comes up in every engagement I have with businesses of all sizes that wish to scale up. We certainly believe the new abilities given by the Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, to the cre…

I greatly welcome this opportunity to respond to a salient and timely Topical Issue from Deputy MacSharry. I am grateful to the Deputy for giving me this opportunity to lay out a few things on my mind and, indeed, on the Government's mind as we approach the budget next Tuesday. As the Deputy will be aware, I tour the country every week visiting businesses in every county, and these are the concerns that are raised in businesses of all sizes. It can be the retail sector, which is the largest private sector employer …

I fundamentally agree with the Deputy. The Deputy and I know better than most that there are an awful lot of promises made in this House in relation to the support needed for families and individuals in the cost-of-living crisis, but we also know that while we can make all the promises we want, if we do not have a thriving functioning economy, it is all for naught. We need the businesses and the economic powerhouses to produce the tax returns to allow us take the necessary measures that will be announced next week …

The specific matter the Deputy raised is under consideration. We are also considering potential grant schemes for employers and retailers to ensure that their premises are more readily accessible for those with disabilities, not only to visit, shop or do business but, crucially, also to work there. There is quite a bit happening. The recommendation is under consideration.

I thank Deputy O'Callaghan for raising this issue with me as a follow-up to our discussion last week, which included Deputy O'Reilly. Constant engagement on this is necessary from all sides in the House. My thoughts are with the employees of Iceland in all of their stores as well as those mentioned by the Deputy. I completely understand that this year has brought a great deal of uncertainty for the workers, their families and friends. As we previously discussed, I met representatives from Iceland prior to the food …

As I laid out, two issues are widely in operation in the context of this discussion, namely, the examinership process as well as cases before the WRC and the ability of employees to bring further cases to the WRC. They are the two most important structures through which the company may be able to ensure it has a viable future and, equally, through which employees and their rights are protected and their wages paid in a fair and timely manner. I listened intently to the Taoiseach's comments regarding how the law mig…

It is important to stress we are dealing specifically with a unique case relating to one employer, albeit a large one with a presence in much of the country. Moreover, the case is going through two distinct processes, namely, examinership and the WRC, that we as legislators should not intervene in or directly comment on. The Government is always open to reflecting on legislation that can be improved. I do not necessarily provide any concessions, but the events that are ongoing certainly provide a challenge to the G…

Following constructive engagement with the home care sector on 16 December 2022, my predecessor announced changes to the employment permits system to allow home carers and care workers to become eligible for general employment permits. We know there is a lack of carers in Ireland and I am pleased that the employment permit system is able to help in this regard. This shows how responsive the work permit system can be in reacting to the needs of employers and, more importantly, people across the country. Thorough eng…

We are starting to stray beyond the remit of this Department. The request made to us, and the advice received, was to make sure we could provide enough permits for people outside the European Economic Area to fill those roles and complete those hours. Let us be frank here. Some 1,000 permits were made available, but only 138 have been drawn down. That is disappointing when there are people who need 6,000 hours of care across the country. We can all agree that these are the most vulnerable people in our society. The…

It was 138 approvals.

There are a couple of good ideas there. I say to Deputy Ó Murchú that the Department would be more than happy to support foreign recruitment drives in any sector where we have a massive gap of talent, but in particular in this one. It has been done in the past, in the wider healthcare sector. We should all be supportive of bringing good, talented people into this country to provide vital services. On the 50:50 rule mentioned by Deputy O'Sullivan, it is important to stress that it does not refer to domestic-based wo…

The intra-company transfer permit system is designed to facilitate the transfer of senior management, key personnel or trainees of a foreign employer to its Irish branch. At present, spouses of intra-company transfer employment permit holders can move to Ireland immediately with the permit holder; however, they are not entitled to access the labour market automatically. Instead, they too must apply for a separate employment permit if offered a job that is eligible for a work permit. I am aware that there have been …

I will reply to Deputy Stanton directly in that regard. In relation to any changes that may arise - I do not want to pre-empt that - I believe I can do so through a statutory instrument. On the situation in Canada, I attended a meeting of the OECD in Paris yesterday. I sat beside the Canadian minister responsible for small business and employment for two days and we discussed the matter at length. Trying to secure talent in the western world is extremely difficult for all countries. It is not only a European Union …

The priority of the section at the moment is the overall review of the critical skills list, which has just started. I have asked officials to ensure that the moment it finishes, by the end of August, we will be able to work on this. I would like to be able to come back to the Deputy in the first week after Dáil recess with a definitive answer one way or another.