First, I congratulate the Minister of State, Deputy Calleary, on his appointment, which is a great appointment. He has served in that Department before, so he will hit the ground running. I wish him every success. I welcome this Bill. However, I would like to add some context. The record of foreign direct investment, FDI, in Ireland has been exemplary. That is something we should also stress in bringing in this sort of regulation. The professionalism of the Industrial Development Authority, IDA, is second to none. …

I thank Deputy Alan Dillon for putting in this question, which I am taking on his behalf. Everyone knows that the vacancy and dereliction of community buildings in our towns and villages are a blight not only on those towns, but they are a missed opportunity to deliver an asset that can be really valuable, not to mention the impact they can have on better climate policy. I urge the Minister to take this very seriously.

While I absolutely agree that the integrated approach in Town Centre First is the correct approach, I urge the Minister to consider a cross-government strategy involving all Ministers to look at how we address refurbishment of derelict buildings, not just for community use but the potential for homes and other uses. The reality is that, in climate terms, it takes one tonne for every metre squared for a new build, but just half of that if we bring a previously occupied building into use. Therefore, not only is this …

I completely agree that this is the right thing to do but we should be honest with ourselves. The CPO process has been dogged by slowness in moving. There is only one county that I know of that really takes it seriously, and only one, County Waterford, takes the repair and renewal scheme seriously. If we want to have a strategy on bringing derelict property into use, we have to get a national focus and not rely on overstretched local authorities, which do not seem to have the capacity to use some of the instruments…

The Ceann Comhairle knows we are facing a climate crisis as well as the energy crisis. Does the Taoiseach agree that we now need a national energy resilience campaign to reduce our reliance on imported energy? The Taoiseach will know that other member states are proposing such a campaign to cut 10% of their energy use and up to 25% at peak times. I would suggest seven S's: shallow retrofits; smart controls and meters; switching providers and modes; sharing platforms; storage capacity; solar; and saving on waste. We…

I look forward to the Opposition listening carefully to what I have to say.

I think the shoe is on both sides.

Members should listen to one another. It is a debate. I think it is extraordinary that we have come to the stage in this House that terms such as big companies in the food sector, big companies in the ICT sector or big companies in the energy sector should become terms of abuse. This is how we sometimes regard these companies, which have created between them the economic success we have enjoyed over the past decade, having come from a difficult position. They are now regarded as pariahs in this country. The truth i…

Yesterday the Taoiseach will have seen that the futures price of natural gas hit its highest, at €175 per megawatt hour, since the start of the war in Ukraine. Germany is talking about potential rationing and emergency gas storage. France is talking about a massive efficiency drive. Where is our energy security review, which is now long overdue? Will we address some of these challenges now clearly emerging in the rest of Europe?

Everyone realises we are in the grips of a series of crises that have rocked the world. Anyone who went to the photographic exhibition the Ceann Comhairle put on today of the damage being done to lives in Ukraine would not doubt this is the reality. Mercifully, we are far from that reality but we are feeling the brunt of it. The evidence shows the Government has been caring and innovative in its response to the crisis. It is undertaking deep-seated reform in many areas that had been left untouched for many years. I…

I begin by commending all involved in getting us close to 80 apprenticeships either approved or in the pipeline. How many posts on apprenticeships are actually being advertised on the website? The real problem for people is finding a sponsor. Has the backing of associations been sought to up that number?

When we have an all-time shortage of staff, to hear just 66 apprenticeship posts are being advertised on apprenticeship.ie is bizarre. We have scarcities in most of the sectors, including hospitality, finance, engineering, logistics, ICT and biopharma. All these sectors are crying out for new talent. All of them have representatives of significant weight. Why are those bodies not being leaned upon to recognise that the learn-as-you-earn model offers a way to attract young people into these sectors with huge growth …

I ask that the public sector lead by example here. Apart from the ESB, which has traditionally been a pioneer in this area, there are no public sector bodies that are really putting their shoulders to the wheel. If the first central pooling place for apprentices to apply to came from the public sector as a single effort to put up on apprenticeship.ie a range of opportunities, that would be a loud signal to others to follow suit.

I think the Minister will appreciate the desperation of many parents who are looking for childcare for under-twos and, in a constrained supply framework, how prohibitive the costs can be. At the same time, local authorities, with their childcare committees, often see the standard of 20 childcare places per 75 new housing units developed not being properly enforced. I am anxious to see the Minister develop the capacity of local authorities to address this serious deficiency in Dublin.

I do not wish to dispute the findings of a survey, but I could bring the Minister to areas in Dublin Bay North where there is not 6% or 14% availability. I suppose it is always the case that there will be areas of acute shortage. A couple of childcare centres in my area closed down, which has provoked this question. There does not seem to be ready capacity to respond to that. What are the policy tools the Minister envisages to address a deficiency that is identified in a particular area? What are the tools we will …

Finally, how will the allocation of capital be structured? For areas of the city where acute shortages arise, will it be through the county childcare committees or through Pobal? We have a mixed system, so there are some community providers and some private sector providers, but the capital element has been missing for quite a number of years now. I am just trying to see how we will see this evolve in a practical way for people in the sector.

I welcome the opportunity to discuss this Bill, which is part of a major suite of changes we need to undertake. There is no doubt that we are living at a time of extraordinary transition in the way our economy works. We are in the aftermath of a financial crisis that shook people's faith in the regulators that had responsibility for keeping us safe financially. We have passed through the Covid period, which rocked to the core many of our assumptions about how we can protect ourselves. We are now in the midst of a d…

I congratulate Deputy Higgins for the work she has done and the many people she has consulted to make sure that this is a rounded and balanced proposal. We had a discussion earlier in the House about changes in regard to other aspects of how enterprise interacts with people in the community, whether in terms of precarious working, protection of employees, and looking at the environmental impact of actions. This is just another example of how modern, progressive enterprise has to adjust to the expectations of societ…

I am grateful for this opportunity. Will the Tánaiste consider introducing a programme of emergency measures for businesses and households to make them more resilient in the face of rising fuel prices? I have in mind switching to shallow refits; heat controls, which could cut energy by 25%; smart meters, which 750,000 households have not exploited; initiating measures on food waste and refurbishment; better sharing platforms to allow more efficient use; and better use of our stock of homes by addressing vacancy and…

Everyone in the House is acutely conscious of the vulnerability of many African economies in the face of the fallout from the massive increases in the cost of energy and other commodities. What initiatives are Ireland and the EU taking to strengthen the capacity of those countries to withstand this pressure?