Higher and further education plays a pivotal role in driving economic development, as we all know. The link between the financial circumstances of children and young people can be statistically verified, with those growing up with good financial circumstances more likely to have a third level education compared to those who experience bad financial circumstances in childhood. This is 64.1% compared to 38.7%. Therefore, we can say there is a direct correlation between government intervention and the outcomes. At thi…

I want to talk to the Minister about the importance of Ireland West Airport, or Knock Airport. I am sure that will be no surprise to the Minister or Ministers of State. I raise the importance of it in terms of the development of the Atlantic economic corridor, particularly the SDZ scheme there. If that is built to its full capacity, it could deliver more than 95,000 sq. m of commercial business and enterprise space and create 4,200 jobs. In the whole geopolitical climate and challenges we are facing at the moment, …

Today, as we mark Europe Day, it is fitting that we reflect on the huge positives that the European Union has brought to our island. I see every day, first hand, how Ireland has benefited from membership of the EU through infrastructure projects. That is not to say that we should not have critical analysis. We would not be doing our job properly if we benignly accepted every aspect of it. We need to be acutely aware of what European law is during its transposition to this country. We need to have a grown-up convers…

I wrote to the Minister in March following the announcement of 300 job losses in TikTok to ask whether he would commission an audit of job volatility in the technological sector. As it stands today, almost 5,000 staff at Intel are in limbo following the company's announcement of global cuts of 20% to its workforce. I hope, like the Minister, that all of those jobs will be retained. Has he commissioned an audit of jobs in this sector?

The threat to jobs in Intel and the job losses in TikTok come on the back of job cuts in Meta. There are reports of 300 jobs at risk at Carelon Global Solutions Ireland in Limerick. This company, as the Minister will know, provides digital integrated solutions for the healthcare industry. It has talked about its decision to consider its future in Ireland, which comes after a review of its business operations and an examination of the changing healthcare landscape globally. Is the Minister working with the staff and…

There is a real urgency around this. The Minister did not address Carelon Global Solutions and what is being done there. I take it he is in there, talking to staff, and that he has SkillNet Ireland in there as well to work with these companies and to examine available alternatives in the immediate term. The question the Government must answer is where the next decade of jobs is coming from. We need a calm, strategic response in this regard. What we do not need, in this period of economic instability, is to row back…

The Government made commitments on introducing the living wage, on enhancing paid sick leave entitlements, on abolishing the subminimum rates of youth pay, on increasing the minimum annual remuneration for employment permits and on pension auto-enrolment. The Government has reneged on all of these progressive measures. I know the Minister will say that these are just delayed but the word used is "postponement". Without concrete timeframes, workers fear that "delay" really means "deny".

What I wanted was a firm commitment that the onslaught on ordinary workers would be ended. The Minister of State has not provided me with that. Workers on the minimum wage are looking forward to the living wage, as was committed to. When they hear, in the past week, a wage of €430,000 talked about for a housing tsar to replace the housing Minister, it just does not sit right with people who are in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis. The workers here did not cause the global uncertainty and they cannot be made sca…

Going after workers in these sectors will not address our international competitiveness, nor will it help sectors on the front line to deal with the impact of tariffs. All it will do is leave ordinary workers worse off in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis. We have one of the highest rates of low pay in the EU, with one in five workers being low paid. This figure has remained relatively unchanged after decades of broken promises from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. Yesterday, the ESRI published research it undertook …

Will the Minister provide an update on the cost of business forum, in particular why so many grants have not been drawn down by small and medium businesses at a time where they are struggling with costs in terms of VAT, rates - including water rates - energy costs, rent and refuse collection costs? The Minister's favourite word is "evidence". There is evidence that at the close of applications for his Department's power up grant in November last year, €12 million was left unclaimed by hospitality and retail busines…

I thank the Minister of State. When he speaks of simplicity and reducing regulation, I want him to look inside Government at the bureaucracy that is stopping businesses which desperately need support from accessing the supports that have been advertised. The increased cost of business, ICOB, and power up grants have been plagued with anomalies in their terms and conditions making it impossible for businesses to access the schemes. Will the cost of business forum, cited in the programme for Government, engage with b…

We need to learn lessons from the design of a lot of these schemes. I recently met the Alliance for Insurance Reform. Its members are extremely concerned by the recommendations of the Judicial Council that awards be increased by 17%. Could the Minister of State confirm whether the Minister for Justice will enable the Dáil to discuss this? I also want to raise with the Minister of State the issue of Enterprise Ireland being precluded from working with businesses with fewer than ten employees. Many smaller businesses…

I am glad that the Department is seeing sense with this because it obviously needed to be addressed. We have been doing grants for long enough and should not be in a situation where these anomalies arise. It concerns me that the Minister of State says he is engaging with the Department of public expenditure, as that can take a long time. I heard it mentioned that we would have the appeals process by autumn but it needs to be much sooner than that. I would contrast this situation with that of businesses that are try…

I am glad this is being discussed in terms of rural poverty. The Minister will completely understand this. I commend Irish Rural Link on the great work it has done in Mayo. It needs to be resourced to do an awful lot more. I will give the Minister an example of a woman I spoke to in Castlebar the other day. She has an appointment in Galway hospital next week. All of her income and benefit for the week will be wiped out because she has to pay for that taxi. She cannot get public transport. We discussed the ins and o…

I welcome the opportunity to say a couple of words on the rural social scheme. I welcome the flexibility the Minister has introduced. I want him to look in particular at meals on wheels. Yesterday, Lorraine from Claremorris, Martina and Peter from Louisburgh and Deirdre from Castlebar were in Leinster House. One of the issues that were raised regarding the RSS was the need to allow two people to get onto the scheme rather than just the herd owner. It is vital. They find that they cannot continue their meals on whee…

Today is a day to celebrate the workers of the world. There are two issues I want to raise initially, given the day that is in it. The first concerns the treatment of whistleblowers. Earlier today, we discussed the absolute horror of the Grace case. I acknowledge all whistleblowers and the service they have done to this country. I call for extra protection for whistleblowers. Many people I know who have come forward with goings on about which they were really concerned suffered a personal cost for doing so. That is…

Today, the Minister of State is presenting the national planning framework and it is the blueprint for how the State will manage strategic planning and sustainable development out to 2040. It is essential that the framework deals strategically and systematically with the major issues of our time: housing, climate change, energy security and the prosperity of everyone living on the island. These issues can only be dealt with on an all-island basis. As we prepare for constitutional change and a referendum on Irish un…

As a Mayo TD, I wholeheartedly endorse naming the new children's hospital "Ospidéal Náisiúnta Kathleen Lynn do Leanaí". Imagine what it took for a woman to become a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons back in 1909. Kathleen Lynn was a republican, a pioneer, a feminist and, above all, a Mayo woman and a Killala woman. She is a huge personal inspiration to me and many others. Dr. Lynn was a member of the executive committee of the Irish Women’s Suffrage and Local Government Association in 1903. She assisted in so…

Did the Cabinet sign off on the €430,000 salary associated with the strategic housing activation office today? People in County Mayo and across the country who cannot access housing or who are paying exorbitant rates want to know that. This is almost €500,000 in salary for a role that should not be necessary if the Government stuck to its housing projections and implemented the recommendations of the Housing Commission report. Earlier this month, I wrote to Mayo County Council to seek information about a number of …

Central Statistics Office, CSO, data shows that in 2023, AI was used by 8% of Irish enterprises with ten or more employees. The benefits of AI are well-rehearsed and no doubt it will revolutionise the way in which businesses operate in this country and in the global market. It is a very exciting time of innovation but it also carries risks and it has the potential to significantly impact both human rights and equality and the national security of the State. Why, therefore, has the Government not listed the regulati…