We have all been out in our communities in hubs that have been provided for our Ukrainian refugees and we have seen the incredible volunteerism in the country. Part of that is the great role the community employment, CE, schemes are beginning to play to provide services in community settings. Community employment schemes and volunteering cannot be sustained at the levels we are asking in the medium and long terms. I have been told by a number of CE managers - the Leader will know this from her previous brief - that…

Does the Minister want to make a brief remark at this stage?

When is it proposed to take Committee Stage?

Is that agreed? Agreed.

Now.

I also thank the Minister of State.

Next Tuesday at 2.30 p.m.

I welcome the Minister of State to the House.

I welcome the Minister of State back to the House for another important piece of legislation. Just to put on record, Fianna Fáil will be supporting this Bill. Its primary purpose is to provide that any person or firm carrying on the business of providing credit, hire purchase or consumer hire agreements to consumers or other relevant persons will fall within the authorisation and regulatory remit of the Central Bank of Ireland. This will give the Central Bank the necessary legislative basis to apply its consumer pr…

Next Tuesday.

At 2.30 p.m. on Tuesday, 29 March 2022.

I thank the Minister of State for her comprehensive reply. I was going to intervene, but I decided I would not be the one to step in her way or step on her toes. God love the Departments and Ministers she will take on in the future. As normal, she shows her passion for her brief and that means a lot.

When is it proposed to take Committee Stage?

Is that agreed? Agreed.

I welcome the Minister of State. As stated by Senator Ahearn, everybody in the House is supportive of the Bill. As it progressed through the Dáil, equally there was support for it there. It is logical, common-sense legislation that is to be welcomed. However, I want to speak a little about the pandemic and the Government's approach to it. The Government has tried to facilitate everybody, from the employer down to the employee. It sought to ensure that those who lost their jobs were looked after through the PUP and …

I welcome the Minister to the House. The debate has moved on from mink farming and it is about what happens as a result of the closure of a business. Senator Higgins alluded to it. We do not know where we are going. We do not know what sector might be closed in another 15 or 20 years. I want to speak about people in family businesses and who have spent the past 30 years building up those business. If I were in their shoes, how would I feel? I would have serious concerns about my own viability. I would be more conce…

I will briefly focus on the verifiable evidence. I will go back to my own situation. If the Minister was to come to me and say that he was going to base my compensation on the past five years of my business, but 40% of that time was two years of the worst years experienced in my business, I would not accept it. If it was five normal years of business I might have a better understanding of it. If the Minister was shutting me down tomorrow morning, and going through what my industry went through the in past two years…

I welcome the Minister of State to the Chamber. As he has pointed out, we are again discussing a favourite topic of ours, namely, credit unions. We all have some history with the credit unions. I might sound a bit nostalgic when I say that my first savings account was with the credit union and the first few bob that I borrowed was from my local credit union. During my lifetime credit unions have been an integral part of every community in Ireland and it is important that they remain an integral part as we move forw…

I welcome to the Chamber our guest, John Fitzgerald, who I know for a long time and who has been at the heart of the community first responder scheme since 2004. I was first introduced to it at a public meeting in Bray in 2003 and my own community in Laragh and Glendalough was one of the first within Wicklow to get up and running in 2004. I also welcome Celine and Jason who are not from my neck of the woods, one is from Cork and the other is from Dublin so we have a broad range. To come all the way from Cork to thi…

The Minister of State has the last word.