I thank all three Deputies for submitting this timely matter. I underline from the get-go to those Deputies who have spoken outside this Chamber and repeatedly in it on this issue that I very much hope we can work as collectively as possible. First and foremost, I am concerned about the Iceland workers who are facing into this serious period of instability. I share their concerns and fears. I hope we can work together as best as possible to allay those concerns and fears and, indeed, to save jobs, where possible. T…

I thank the Deputies for both their supplementary questions and their initial questions. Again, I will answer them to the best of my ability. I do so cognisant of the relatively tight framework in which I need to operate. On the issue of saving jobs, if a company enters examinership, there is the 100-day period to which I referred to look at restructuring and to make sure jobs can be saved. The Government is quite clear that while it is not involved in that process, it stands ready to assist in any way as per the f…

I am very grateful to the Deputy for raising this matter. I share his desire to see these workers added to the critical skills list as soon as possible. The Department and the Government propose to carry out, in late August or September, a full evaluation of the eligible list, the ineligible list, and crucially the critical skills list for work permits for the first time in two years. It has been done on an ad hoc basis over the past two years, and when that review is done, I will be sure to take Deputy Griffin's p…

I move amendment No. 1: To delete all words after "That" and substitute the following: "Dáil Éireann resolves that the National Minimum Wage (Equal Pay for Young Workers) Bill 2022 be deemed to be read a second time this day twelve months, in order to allow for further consideration of the Bill.". I wish to start off by sharing my sympathies with the family, friends and many fans of Christy Dignam. I admit to being a fan of his music and much else. Deputy Boyd Barrett is right that his music will live long past man…

I welcome the opportunity to outline the position on this matter on behalf of the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan. I will lay out a few background points before dealing with the specifics raised by the Deputy. The Minister has responsibility for the postal sector, including the governance of An Post to ensure that the company is fully compliant with the Code of Practice for the Governance of State Bodies and the governance functions included in the statutory framework und…

I thank the Deputy for his engagement. The Minister asked me to underline that he cannot intervene to prevent An Post doing what the Oireachtas has given it a statutory responsibility to do. An Post has an independent board with a clear mandate. It would be inappropriate for me to go into any more details than we have this morning. The Deputy's concerns are valid. While nothing has been concluded yet, I will be sure to relay those concerns to the Minister. Where appropriate, the Deputy might also write directly to …

I thank the Deputy for raising this. She said this was her seventh time bringing it up. I did not quite get to seven. I think I hit five times raising the issue of public health nurses in south Dublin. This is an issue that regularly crosses our desks. Both the Deputy and I represent suburban Dublin constituencies. She certainly does not need to convince me of the importance of public health nurses or the vital role they play. I fully agree with it. However, I am taking this matter on behalf of the Minister for Hea…

On behalf of the Minister for Health, I thank the Deputy. He fully acknowledges the concerns of the Deputy and the wider staff about the impacts these shortages are having. As the Deputy and I laid out, there are recruitment challenges generally across several sectors, not only the health sector, but they are in the health sector. This is posing a particular challenge for the public health nursing service at present. Some 40% of posts are vacant in the Dublin west region, which covers the Deputy's constituency. In …

I thank the Senator for raising this important matter. I welcome the opportunity to update the House on the issue, which affects many families throughout the country. It is of great importance for a large number of students taking examinations at both second and third level. The State Examinations Commission has responsibility for the operation, delivery and development of the State examinations. Before I address the Senator's points regarding the RACE scheme, I take the opportunity to welcome the recent confirmati…

I thank Deputy Feighan for raising this issue. The Deputy will forgive me for saying this is not the first time I have heard him raise this issue although, admittedly, it is the first time I have taken it as a receiving Minister of State in the Dáil Chamber. He is a real champion for his county and for the counties affected by the N17. I have heard him speak many times at our own parliamentary party and I believe he raised it also just in the past week with the Taoiseach. As the Deputy is aware, the Minister for Tr…

The review provides the opportunity to do that. The case made by the Senator to move away from the previous expert report and to look at a third level example, is a valid one. The difference between now and 20 years ago is light years when it comes to providing education for everyone in the State. This is particularly true of the advances for those with dyslexia and others in a similar position. I encourage full engagement with the review by the Senator but also by the stakeholders and bodies he mentioned. There is…

I believe the Leas-Cheann Comhairle would agree with me that when it comes to Deputies in the Dáil, Deputy Feighan is one who would be consistently pushing matters at every available angle. For him to bring something to the Dáil Chamber is a signal not just of his intent but of the seriousness of the matters to him and to his local community. The N17 Knock to Collooney scheme has been identified in the national development plan and TII has been working to progress the scheme through planning, design and constructio…

I sincerely thank Senator Martin for raising this matter. It provides me with an opportunity to update the House on the proposed transfer of land to Scoil Mochua, Celbridge, County Kildare. In the first instance, I assure the Senator that the provision of accommodation for children with special educational needs is a priority for the Government and the Department of Education. The NCSE has a statutory function to plan and co-ordinate the provision of education and support services for children with special educatio…

I greatly appreciate the Senator's keen advocacy on behalf of this school in his locality. It is a familiar tale in every constituency and county in the country, particularly when it refers directly to the need for special needs provision. That strikes all of us to the core. While we know the issues are complicated by the ownership of the land by the diocesan trust, I will bring back to the Department of Education and the other State bodies involved the need to respond and react to this matter as quickly and as urg…

I am pleased to take this Commencement matter on behalf of my senior colleague in the Department of Social Protection, Deputy Heather Humphreys. As the Senator knows, to apply for a PPSN an adult must generally provide valid proof of identity, address and reason for applying. The easiest way to apply for a PPSN is online at mywelfare.ie . To directly answer the Senator's question, as of 28 May 2023 the national wait time for PPSN allocation using mywelfare.ie is 1.3 weeks. While the PPSN application process is rela…

I want to conclude by giving the Senator a sense of the scale of the PPSN operation in the Department of Social Protection. In 2022, more than 236,000 PPSNs were allocated. Between January and April this year alone, more than 67,000 PPSNs have been allocated. These figures do not include the PPSNs automatically allocated when a child's birth is registered. As I mentioned, that is 67,000 adults with an average wait time of 1.3 weeks. I do not have a breakdown per county. It should be remembered that the whole idea i…

I appreciate the Deputy's work on this matter and thank her for bringing it up. This is a live issue under the concern of the Department. We would first and foremost encourage everyone to engage with the WRC. There are a number of issues going on in the stores, as the Deputy mentioned, in relation to salaries and rent. I am due to meet the new head of Iceland in the coming weeks. To talk more widely about the Deputy's point, we have a strong practice of voluntary trade unionism and engagement here and it has delive…

Regional development is at the centre of the Government's enterprise policy, as set out in the White Paper on enterprise, and it is the key focus of our Department's leadership of the regional enterprise plans. Similarly, the IDA’s strategy, Driving Recovery and Sustainability 2021-2024, has an ambitious target of 800 investments over the lifetime of its current strategy, and it will target half of all investments to regional locations. The foreign direct investment, FDI, performance in the mid-east, which comprise…

The Deputy is right. There has been an increase in the level of early warning reports and we all accept that a lot of that is due in part to a global restructuring, in particular in the tech sector, to which the Deputy referred in particular regarding PayPal. The one silver lining is that the global average has not impacted Ireland as much as the rest of the world. We have seen it being at a much lower scale in Ireland. Crucially, within the tech sector we are seeing net job increases across Ireland and the regions…

When the Deputy was elected to the Dáil in 2011, unemployment was 15.6% nationally. It is now at 3.9%. Much of that is down to the fact that people like the Minister, Deputy Coveney, visited ten large multinationals in California at the start of the year to talk about Ireland not only as a place to maintain investment but also to look for new FDI, in particular in places like County Louth and the Xerox campus in Dundalk. There are huge opportunities there. There will be consistent efforts from the Government to pro…