A regional plan has been launched. It will be driven by Mr. Patsy Carney, the programme director, to ensure that the aspirations of the plan are realised. The Tánaiste, the Minister of State, Deputy English, and I were determined, before we launched the plan, that we wanted to have a funding stream in place to ensure that the objectives could be delivered, which is key. We have secured that funding stream. It is €180 million over the lifetime of the plan. A new fund of €5 million was launched last week. It is a pri…

-----to work with the promoters of projects within her county that would be of regional benefit to the south east in order that they come forward to avail of this €5 million in funding and to ensure that they are ready to access the higher funding later in the year.

The primary responsibility for the roll-out of rural hubs falls under the remit of the Department of the Minister Rural and Community Development, Deputy Humphreys. However, the previous regional enterprise development fund has supported rural hubs in other areas throughout Ireland. This new €5 million priming fund is an opportunity. If one had a specific idea in Carlow that may come forward for a regional hub, one could avail of this €5 million fund to come forward, carry out the feasibility study and be ready to …

The programme for Government contains a commitment to enhance and reform the role of PIAB. This commitment is being given effect under action 19 of the Government's action plan for insurance reform. In 2022, I intend to enhance and strengthen the agency to facilitate an increase in the number of personal injury claims PIAB resolves. On 9 February, I published the general scheme of the personal injuries resolution board Bill 2022. The policy objective of this general scheme is to facilitate an increase in the number…

While there was some support for this type of approach in reforming PIAB, strong arguments against it come from the Attorney General. This is because such an approach might impinge on the constitutional right of access to justice delivered by the courts, as well as the primacy of the courts regarding the administration of justice, particularly in respect of a body of common law. Personal injury claims may be resolved by direct settlement between the parties, a PIAB assessment or litigation. Court decisions ultimate…

PIAB is actively engaged in that process and it wants to ensure that it wins its court cases and that the courts are sticking to the judicial guidelines. We will have to wait to see how this aspect turns out. Hopefully, however, it will remain the case. Regarding Deputy Lawless's comments, I thank him for his support regarding mediation. Broadly speaking, there has been general support during pre-legislative scrutiny and even during public consultation. I share his view of PIAB as a quasi-judicial body. This has be…

I move: That, pursuant to Standing Order 187, it be an instruction to the Select Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment on the Competition (Amendment) Bill 2022, that the Committee has the power to make amendments to the Bill which are outside the scope of the existing provisions of the Bill, in relation to the National Standards Authority of Ireland Act, 1996 in order to make a technical amendment to the wording of Section 12 of that Act relating to the charging of fees and to make other consequential amend…

My colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy English, could not be here. On his behalf I thank the Senators for their time today and in their deliberation of the Bill on Second Stage. I also thank my colleagues in the Dáil. This Bill has broad support and is welcome legislation. It ensures employees can be protected where through no fault of their own they were laid off temporarily because of Covid-19, and they will now have financial compensation if subsequently made redundant. This is a recognition that it came as…

The Government will not oppose this motion today. I welcome this opportunity to discuss the important matters of flexible and remote work and thank the Deputies for bringing forward this Private Member's Motion on same. I welcome the opportunity to speak on it myself and, more importantly, to hear the views of Members of this House. The Government wants remote and flexible models of working to be a much broader part of life post Covid. It is a key consideration in Government policies such as the national economic p…

I thank Senator Boyhan for raising this important issue. I am taking this matter on behalf of the Minister for Transport, who has responsibility for the overall policy and Exchequer funding for the national roads programme, which includes the motorway network along with national primary and secondary roads. As the Senator may be aware, once funding arrangements have been put in place with Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, under the Roads Acts 1993 to 2015, and in line with the national development plan, NDP, t…

The Senator is right. There has been disappointment. Nobody likes to see a road project on schedule moving backwards. We want to see these projects continue to move forwards. Funding of €5.1 billion has been allocated to the roads programme up to 2030, and in that context the bare minimum required is certainty regarding when these projects can move to the next stage. The local authorities need to know, as do the impacted landowners and road users. Some of these roads are very dangerous. They have a high frequency o…

I am responding on behalf of the Minister of State with responsibility for business, employment and retail, Deputy English, who sends his apologies for not being able to be here. I thank the Senator for raising this important matter. Everybody knows she is a very strong advocate for this sector and has worked tirelessly in this area. This debate gives us an opportunity to reaffirm to those working in early learning and childcare services the recognition they deserve for the very important work they do and the benef…

As the Senator knows, the establishment of the JLC for the sector is fulfilling a programme for Government commitment. It is a significant and welcome development. It is an independent process and I encourage bodies representing both employers and employees to engage with the JLC process because it can yield significant positive benefits for both parties. An agreement on a new set of terms and conditions for employment will help to maintain and grow the talented pool of people working in the sector, as well as prov…

As the Deputy will be aware, last year I brought the Companies (Corporate Enforcement Authority) Bill through the Houses of the Oireachtas, and for which we received cross-party support for which I am thankful. On 22 December 2021, it was signed by the President into law. This landmark legislation will transform the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement, ODCE, into a statutory and independent agency to be known as the corporate enforcement authority, CEA, which will have additional resources to investigat…

We all abhor white-collar crime and that is why we prioritised this legislation in the previous session. As I said, I am thankful for the support we received from the committee, of which the Deputy is Chairman, and indeed all Members of this House, to progress the necessary legislation. Deputy Quinlivan is correct; one of the key aspects is to ensure that the authority is adequately resourced and that it has autonomy to recruit the expertise that is needed. We have committed to that. The budget has increased by app…

We are very much in unison on this. Everybody in the Oireachtas wants to ensure that the authority is up and running as quickly as possible but we want to ensure that it is up and running correctly from the very first day. That is why we need to ensure that the drafting error that was discovered in the amendment Bill is addressed. We have a mechanism to do so in regard to the Bill the Minister of State, Deputy English, is bringing forward. We must also ensure that the arrangement between An Garda Síochána and the O…

I thank Deputy Lahart for taking this question. PIAB was established in 2004 to assess personal injuries compensation in a timely and cost-efficient manner. The board has delivered major benefits by providing a low-cost, quick and fair option in injury compensation. It annually saves tens of millions of euro that would otherwise be paid in costs by parties, and ultimately be a cost borne by policyholders. The work of the board in 2021 will be set out in its annual report, which will be published later this year. In…

In the context of drafting this legislation, it was not just PIAB that we engaged with. We engaged extensively with key stakeholders, including the Alliance for Insurance Reform and community groups. We had a public consultation to which 240 people made submissions and that informed the drafting of this legislation. Some of the provisions we are making are due to requests and suggestions that have been made, including on cases of a wholly psychological nature. At the moment those cases cannot be assessed by PIAB so…

The insurance issue will not be resolved by PIAB alone. We have embarked on a cross-government approach that has been led by the Minister and we have made some good inroads in this area. For example, an office to promote competition has been established, because we need competition in the market for venues such as the one the Deputy alluded to in his constituency. The scope of the national claims information database has been widened so that we have the key information on employer and public liability and a fraud u…

Regional enterprise development and sustainable local job creation continues to be a key policy priority of mine and this Government. Throughout 2021, my Department has overseen the development of nine new regional enterprise plans to 2024, including for the west, which covers counties Galway, Mayo and Roscommon. These plans are developed by regional stakeholders who are keenly aware of the growth opportunities and vulnerabilities in their region. The west regional steering committee continues to be chaired by Ms E…