We now know that 142 staff are to be laid off by the Irish branch of the global HR and payroll processing company, Workday. When was the Department notified of these job losses? What contact has the Department had with the company and the workers? What is being done for those workers? Has IDA Ireland been involved and how can these workers be helped to find alternative employment and supported? This morning I want to send solidarity from this House to those workers and their families.

Last month we learned that Meta is to cut 5% of its staff globally and last year Intel and TikTok notified staff of impending job losses. As the Minister rightly said, there is a significant contraction and it is very important we have a plan in place as this is likely to happen again in the future. Last night we talked with the Minister of State, Deputy Smyth, about AI and the implications for the Irish economy. While there are many positive applications of AI and it will continue to be a growth area, significant …

I thank the Minister and I agree with a lot of what he said. Within these strategies, it is always in the implementation and how quickly the implementation can be done. There are opportunities there for self-employment as well. When people find themselves in a situation where they lose their jobs, we should be coming in there to support them. What I am finding in some areas is that when the brightest and best young people are coming up with ideas, whether it be the development of apps or whatever, and I spoke to a …

I welcome the commitment in the programme for Government to develop strategic development zones, SDZs. What will this look like for Ireland West Airport Knock? What timescales will be on that? There is huge untapped potential in our region, which has 95,000 sq. m of commercial enterprise space that can be used for economic development. I welcome the appointment of a manager specifically for this, but we need to know what it will look like. Will the Minister drive it and make it a priority?

Comhghairdeas to the Minister of State on his new role. We share an interest in Knock Airport and its development. We have talked about it for decades since Monsignor Horan was brave enough, against all the odds, to build the airport. It is obvious that it has not fulfilled its potential. In 2022, the EU downgraded the north and west as a lagging region with a GDP of only 71% of the EU average. Last year, the Northern and Western Regional Assembly published research showing that since 2016, the north and west regio…

It is important that people's expectations are not raised. Before elections, there are nonsensical announcements and all that. It is a ten-year period before this will be done with utilities and all of that which needs to be done to develop this zone. Things can be done in the meantime but people's expectations need to be managed. There is a critical opportunity here. In 2021, Sinn Féin wrote to the European Commission seeking a total exemption from state aid rules for regional airports such as Ireland West Airport…

I thank the Minister of State for the debate yesterday as well. Specifically, how many AI experts are employed in Government now? What efforts are being made in this regard on an all-island basis? We must very much have congruence between North and South in terms of regulation and how we go about maximising the potential of AI technology and where we are now.

Comhghairdeas, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle. You will be sadly missed as Cathaoirleach of the finance committee. I wish you well in your new role. I welcome the opportunity to talk about the agrifood industry. It is a sector that is vital to sustaining rural communities. I again ask the Minister about the damage suffered by farmers during Storm Éowyn, particularly to their infrastructure such as sheds, and by fishermen who did not have insurance. I spoke to the Minister about the seafood sector and the oyster farmers, i…

Comhghairdeas to the Minister of State. I wish her the best of luck in her new role. I also congratulate the Minister, Deputy Calleary, for the work he has done in this area. I know the Minister of State will acknowledge that we are still behind the curve. I welcome some of the initiatives she has put forward and made us aware of today. I would also like a copy of her speech. It is very important that we all work together on this. It is a huge challenge but also a huge opportunity for us. In respect of the Oireacht…

It was about the Irish Council for Civil Liberties and the board that was recommended.

There is cross-party agreement in this House on the necessity to repeal the legacy Act. The Taoiseach will be representing us all when he ensures that happens. The issue I wish to raise with the Taoiseach relates to Frank Stagg. The 50th anniversary of his death will be marked in 2026. The Taoiseach will be aware that Frank Stagg was a hunger striker from Mayo. An academic work on his case is under way, but it transpires that the British have locked away his files in Kew until 2089. I raised this issue with Hilary …

I welcome the programme for Government's commitment to implementing the Good Friday Agreement in all its parts. Obviously that includes provision for a referendum on Irish unity. I welcome the enhancement of the shared island unit and wish to say how important it is, in light of the geopolitical turbulence we have seen, that the investment in the initiatives and projects must be to secure or increase our competitiveness and productivity. I welcome the departmental targets. How will those targets pan out and be meas…

Alas, there are roads in Mayo that have been waiting for 30 years. Renters in Mayo are deeply concerned about the rising cost of rents and the continued increase in homelessness in the county. The county of Michael Davitt, the founder of the Land League in 1879, is now one in which so many families are petrified of not having a home to call their own. However, the Taoiseach and his Government see no cause to implement a no-fault eviction ban. The great, improper declaration that 40,000 new homes would be built last…

I move: That Dáil Éireann: - commends the voluntary and community efforts of everyone who stepped up to assist individuals, families, communities, businesses, sporting groups and voluntary organisations following the havoc caused by Storm Éowyn; - recognises the vital communication role played by local, community and regional radio stations; - recognises the outstanding workers from local authorities, the Electricity Supply Board (ESB), Úisce Éireann and phone companies who have been out day and night in miserable …

I congratulate Deputy Currie as well. I look forward to working with her again in her capacity as a Teachta Dála. I worked with her before on North-South matters of peace and reconciliation. That is very important to both of us. I look forward to working in that vein with Deputy Currie. I congratulate the Minister, Deputy Heydon, on his new role. The first challenge for him to tackle is the need to sort out the ACRES debacle. I spoke to him about it yesterday. Honest to God, I have never seen anything like the situ…

That is okay. We probably need four hours or four months on ACRES. Throughout last year, the processing of 3,000 outstanding cases for the 2023 payments was moving very slowly. After the general election was called, the then Minister insisted that ACRES payments were on track for a late November payment. On 5 September, it was suggested on the website of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine that 95% of farmers could expect to be paid their ACRES balancing payments by the end of September. That did not…

The Minister is aware that issues - I refer to probate or other matters - are normally sorted out by the planner, or by the farmer having access to talk to somebody in the Department who can explain why this parcel received a certain designation, or what is happening in relation to it. When one cannot talk to anybody, though, it cannot be sorted out, and therein lies the problem. Untold damage is being done in the relationship between the Government and the Department and farmers and in bringing farmers on board in…

The programme for Government commits the Government to work with the voluntary sector through industrial relations mechanisms and other processes to progress pay issues that affect the delivery of disability services and the long-term viability of organisations within the sector. We know that SIPTU is due to begin a ballot for strike action by up to 5,000 members working across 21 section 39 organisations. I raised this matter with the former Minister of State, Anne Rabbitte, last October, a year on from the pay ag…

As we make statements in the House on the programme for Government, I am acutely aware of the people throughout the State who have been failed since the Government took office. We know this has not happened today or yesterday. It has been happening for years, as we can see in the infrastructural deficits, particularly in the west. Mar a dúirt mé inné the response to the disaster of Storm Éowyn has demonstrated what another five years of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael will mean for them. Today, the ESB has confirmed that…

Tréaslaím leis an Aire on his new role. I wish him the best of luck. What a baptism of fire. Coming from Mayo, the same county as myself, the Minister, Deputy Calleary, will know how much we have suffered over the last two weeks. The Minister will also know it is absolutely unacceptable that 13 days after the storm people have no light and no water. I know the Minister will also have got all of the cases that have come across my desk in the last two weeks of the real hardship people have suffered with this storm. I…