As a country that has fairly recently developed from a relatively basic level, the role of foreign direct investment and joint ventures in the Irish domestic market has been absolutely crucial. Is there an effort to build that sort of investment and joint venture with Africa in a way that facilitates the development of its economies? Is the EU conscious of the threat to open trading, and the democratic values that go with it, in the context of the actions of other regimes that are currently taking advantage of diff…

I was struck by the Tánaiste's comments on the slow evolution of our thinking around children's rights since Austin Currie first took up that cause in 1994. Last week Members received a wake-up call that we need a similar change of culture in respect of safeguarding adults from abuse. We still have a culture which is often dismissive of such concerns and unwilling to intrude in some of the affairs involved. It points to only one twentieth of the actual cases of abuse of prevalence being reported due to fear of repo…

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate. As others said, insurance costs are a vital concern of businesses, families and communities. Between them they must come up with €2.8 billion to fund motor insurance, employer's liability and public liability. These are often huge burdens on businesses and families that are already hard-pressed. For families, insurance typically runs to about 5% of household spending. That gives an idea of how important insurance is. It ranks ahead of clothing and footwear whe…

One of our key challenges as we try to take a more sustainable approach is to build compact communities, which will bring less travel in cars and require fewer parking places, lead to more sustainable public transport and allow us to right-size buildings more easily. In many areas in constituencies such as mine, however, and I am sure in that of the Minister of State's constituency in Cork, there are long stretches where the only amenities are takeaways, bookmakers and barbers. We need to see a front-loading of inv…

Will the Minister consider that he has responsibility not just for the cash spent but also for the overall coherence of the investment? If our goal is sustainable communities, it is not adequate that the Department of Education, for example, will typically not build a school until ten years after children have been there, following many years in prefabricated buildings. Similarly, the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media will not provide sports grants to these communities if they do not …

The Land Development Agency now has 56 ha, most of which is located well outside the city boundaries and does not have established facilities, schools and so on. Surely the Minister recognises that if we are to develop that land into sustainable communities, the Department of Education will have to change its policy whereby it will not build until five or ten years after the need has been clearly established. That is too late if we are to allow them to become strong communities. Likewise, we cannot wait to roll out…

I have two brief questions. First, I commend the Minister on his efforts to get a deal. How does he estimate the impact in percentage terms on pay of the existing concessions he has provided - VAT, excise, transport, fuel scheme and medication - to give us an idea of how that is relieving pressure on families? Second, how does he factor in the fact that we all cannot be compensated for external cost increases that arise from world energy and commodity prices? We do not produce them so we have to pay for them. In ne…

I am grateful for the opportunity to address this. These annual transition statements, as an exercise in assessing the impact of policy, comprise a very poor instrument. I know it is a legacy from the previous legislation but it is dealing with the matter too late. In the middle of 2022, we are dealing with figures from 2019. When trying to look to the road ahead, looking so far out the back window is of little benefit. It gives no insight into how individual policy measures are impacting the targets in various sec…

I acknowledge the changes the Minister is making. In committee we did quite a bit of work on the circular economy and there is no doubt that a lot of the gains of the circular economy will be achieved by rethinking the design of markets, products and services. It is very important that the Minister has acknowledged that. I might have gone a bit further to acknowledge the way we need to look at things differently. I will give a brief example in the motoring area. There is no doubt that if we moved gradually from sel…

I warmly welcome these changes. The Minister has been very responsive to the discussions we had on Committee Stage. It is important that we recognise that every sector is different and each one needs to start to think fundamentally about the way it does its business. In order to achieve prosperous and competitive enterprises in ten, 15 or 20 years, sectors must start to meet targets. They may do so voluntarily in the first place, as the Minister recognises would be valuable, but over time there will be greater pres…

I welcome the amendment, given the review will be integral if we are to have a successful programme. I again urge that the reporting under this be integrated with the climate reporting, which is overseen by the Department of the Taoiseach. This would give an additional impetus to not only the reporting process but also meeting the targets set out for the reporting. I refer the Minister back to the approach in section 10, whereby the measures to be adopted under the circular economy are to be developed by the EPA. T…

I share the concern in this area and recognise that under any regulatory impact assessment approach, there has to be a reasonable consultation, an assessment of the facts and an opportunity for people to plan and change their method of production. Even so, it seems we have a problem with certain materials being used routinely in the Irish supply chain. Some of them are simply not recyclable, while PFAS have more toxic elements to them. We should be able to move fairly swiftly to removing such elements and that is a…

At a time when our nearest neighbour is experiencing economic stagnation, it is worth emphasising the importance of good political and economic leadership that has delivered, as of today, 2.5 million people at work. That is an increase of 700,000 since the economic crash and an increase of 150,000 since the onset of Covid. Will the Tánaiste indicate the progress being made on the development of a living wage to ensure quality work is enshrined in this strong growth? Is there a commitment that upskilling will become…

I welcome this debate. We have made huge progress in apprenticeships in recent years. Back in 2015, there were just 8,000 people in apprenticeships. By 2019, this had risen to 16,000 and today the figure is 23,000. This is a dramatic transformation. Contrary to what the two Deputies now leaving the Chamber have just said, the quality of the apprenticeships is increasingly being improved and strengthened as we go. Over 12 of the 60 apprenticeships are at level 7 or higher, with some at levels 8, 9 and 10. These are …

I welcome the opportunity to raise this matter. There was a debate on it in the immediate aftermath of the great surge in prices. I expected that there was going to be a set of proposals from the Government to help people to respond quickly to the challenges they faced. I will point towards a number of things that could be done immediately. I would like to see the Minister of State, Deputy Joe O'Brien, take these up with his colleagues. The first relates to the 1.5 million homes that will not be reached by the retr…

I am disappointed by the Minister of State's lack of urgency. With regard to EVs, he is saying work is under way to look at the needs of estates that do not have driveways and multiple units that do not have charging points beside their car parking areas. This has been an obvious defect. We have had a grant in place for three years for the councils to put them into lamp poles or onto the side of the road, but not one council has taken it up. There needs to be a sense of urgency that councils have a responsibility f…

Like other Members, I am delighted to have the opportunity to say a few words on this important issue. The killings of Shireen Abu Akleh, Lyra McKee, Pierre Zakrzewski and many others remind us just how important journalism is to the freedoms that we are fortunate enough to have in our society. The safety of journalists is one of the cornerstones of freedom of expression. The killings of those journalists remind us of the extraordinary risks that people reporting from conflict zones have to face daily. Many journal…

I sometimes wonder if the sponsors of the motion represent the same city that I do. The core problem in my constituency is that new high-density compact development is simply too expensive for first-time buyers. The old model, whereby modest builders sold to homeowners, is not able to mobilise these sites. As a result of that, what we have seen in recent times is that the REITs have moved in to purchase, for example, at Griffith Avenue and the Shieling development, and it is not only the REITs as the housing bodies…

Every day, we read evidence that our planet is burning up. Today we see that four previous records were broken last year, namely, those relating to CO2 concentrations, sea levels, heat and acidity of our oceans. The fact is that global action is not matching what is needed. I welcome today's debate on just transition. However, an integral part of just transition has to be climate action. When will we see the sectoral allocations relating to the climate budget? It is these allocations that will trigger a decisive sh…

I am glad to have initiated the structures, provisional as they are, for just transition. Important principles have been already established, such as the hypothecation of carbon tax, the just transition commissioner, the dialogue that has been at the heart of the process in the midlands, the local authority-centred partnership that has been so important in driving programmes and the various programme calls in all sorts of areas of human need. I hope the experience of that interim approach will inform the Bill and o…