I propose to take Questions Nos. 42 and 61 together. The 2020 programme for Government contains several commitments related to working from home, the responsibility for which falls to my Department. There is also a commitment to the development of a "national remote working strategy", and to that end a remote working strategy group has been established. A number of issues are being considered as relevant to these commitments, the results of which will be made public in due course. In terms of the current tax treatm…

It sounds from the way the Deputy introduced the question that there is already much demand in the homes that he referred to and the Deputy has that work well under way already. How could I not be aware of so many more people now working from home? Of course, they are making the choice regarding where that home will be located. There are supports available within the tax code for this already. Of course, in the context of the budget, this is something that we will re-examine. I would make the point though that we n…

I am not privately concerned about the prospects of offices being empty for the foreseeable future. I am publicly concerned about it. Looking at where we are now across September and October, a time in which many new employees are starting work in new employers throughout the country, for example, for them not to have the opportunity to be able to go into an office to sit with peers and learn from them and for them not to have the opportunity of the normal ways of developing skills and developing their careers is s…

I take the Deputy's point. That is the kind of balance we need to try to move to, where we have offices being used in a way that is different from how they were used in the past but have people in them who are learning, who are healthy and who are safe. The most important priority is to try to keep people safe and try to reduce the spread of this disease. That is why our public health efforts are so important. As we move through our battle with this disease, I hope we will come up with ways in which it will be safe…

That work is under way. An updated report has been published. It is an action plan towards a capital markets union which looks at the different steps member states may be able to take to accelerate progress in how we can arrive at new ways of funding investment and delivering lending, particularly to smaller companies across the EU. I will work in particular with Commissioner Dombrovskis and hopefully, if she is successful in her hearing on Friday, Commissioner McGuinness, to examine how we can re-energise the agen…

It is about jobs, how we can use people's savings to fund within Europe investment that can create more jobs and better income in future. That is the purpose of capital markets union. We have not made the progress on it in the EU in recent years that we had planned and wanted. I believe the kind of context the Deputy referred to will be cause for more ambition and energy in this area. It is about how we come up with new ways of funding jobs and investment and delivering better living standards in the future. That i…

The best way we can begin to do that work is in our schools. The curriculums in business studies and economics and how the basics of mathematical literacy are taught in secondary school, using real-life examples in relation to finances and work, are the foundation towards beginning that. In future, the products that will be available to families and businesses may be safer in many ways, in their regulation and where the funding comes from to enable the products, but as we know too well, financial risk is always the…

I move: "That Second Stage be taken now."

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I am pleased to have the opportunity to introduce the Financial Provisions (Covid-19) (No. 2) Bill 2020 to the House this morning. This Bill provides the legislative basis to introduce the tax measures that the Government announced as part of the €7.2 billion July jobs plan last week. This plan is the next stage in our response to the Covid-19 crisis and aims to get businesses back on their feet, ensuring as many people as possible can return to work in accordance …

The Deputy should read the Bill.

Will I make a comment on each section as we move through the Bill? I am happy to do so.

Section 1 is a definitions section.

I am glad I-----

With regard to Deputy Boyd Barrett's intervention, I was very willing to respond to the points raised on Second Stage. I was here for all of the Second Stage debate, as I should be when legislation of this importance is discussed. I listened to every Deputy and took note of what they said. I would have been in a position to respond. I want to put on the record of the House that I did not respond to the Second Stage debate because I was not permitted to rather than because I did not want to. Before I address some of…

In responding to the issues raised in respect of this section, it is important to put these matters in context during this debate. Many issues have been raised with regard to the temporary wage subsidy scheme and the role of the pandemic unemployment payment. As we begin this debate about the temporary wage subsidy scheme, we should anchor any discussion about the perceived limitations of the scheme in the fact that, as of today, 410,000 of our citizens are benefiting from it. They depend on the scheme for either t…

-----on behalf of his constituents.

I will keep going.

Thank you very much, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle. Yes, I referred to what Deputy Mattie McGrath said. If he is going to engage in the kind of debate he attempted to engage in earlier, he needs to be prepared for those who are willing to respond, and I am willing to do so. The issues the Deputy attempted to raise about artists and those who give such soul to our country are also the very reason the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, put in place such an imaginative and broad package to try to support the sector which th…

I will deal with the issues raised by the Deputies. On Deputy Boyd Barrett's point about the need for a roadmap and the need for artists, especially performing artists, to be clear regarding what their future prospects can be, insofar as that guidance can be given to many at present given the current uncertain times, I will follow up with the Arts Council and the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, on this matter. If Deputy Boyd Barrett was going to raise such a specific issue relating to an individual and a concert…

At that particular point, the Government was trying to revise the public health guidance that was available to the country. We were trying to prioritise the public health of our country. Again, the suggestion that the Government had in mind anything but the well-being and health of the constituents Deputy Mattie McGrath mentions belittles the seriousness of this issue. I absolutely understand that there are citizens who are deeply worried about their health and are feeling the consequences on their mental health of…