Recent announcements regarding job cuts at Meta and possibly at one of the outsourcing firms, Covalen, serves as another wake-up call for Government that we need to diversify the economy and build a new economic model to attract new strands of foreign direct investment, FDI. Many of these job cuts have been attributed to AI and automation but the Government cannot allow this to be catalyst for further job losses across the sector. We must ensure that Ireland remains competitive and an attractive destination for FDI…

As someone who comes from Erris in County Mayo, I have witnessed the Corrib Gas project and how little we have benefited from it in the local area or in County Mayo and beyond. We advocated many years ago for that project to be in public ownership and to do it that way instead. We have an opportunity here with wind energy, but we should have progressed it much further by now. We have an opportunity to look at a public ownership model as well. There is an onus and a responsibility on us to do that.

I wanted it in public ownership.

No, it is not-----

No, but there has to be-----

The Taoiseach will end up making the tea for them.

I move: That Dáil Éireann: recognises that the ongoing cost-of-living crisis is putting significant pressure on workers and their families as inflation continues to increase, eroding living standards and affordability for workers; notes that: — overall employment figures mask that one quarter of jobs in Ireland are considered "poor quality", characterised by low pay, insecurity, and poor working conditions; — the findings of the 2026 Ireland Thinks poll, commissioned by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU), fo…

I thank all my colleagues for their contributions. I have to say I am dismayed to see the lack of Government speakers on this important issue tonight. It does not bode well. It sends a message out to workers that there is nothing more to see here. I am really disappointed. I thank all of the Opposition for their contributions. I acknowledge the work of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and the engagement we had earlier today. Its contribution reflected the lived reality of workers across the State and their voices…

Towns and villages up and down the country are suffering from dereliction. Vacant and boarded up shops are all too common now in once vibrant communities and towns. Once thriving businesses, which employed local people have been replaced by empty units, a visible reminder that the Government is failing our SME sector. What new initiatives does the Minister plan to introduce to tackle this escalating problem given current solutions are not working?

The Minister's policies are not hitting the ground because towns and villages are hollowing out, with visible increases in vacancy and dereliction and declining footfall. Small and independent retailers, particularly in rural and regional areas, are facing unsustainable cost pressures. We know that rising costs in energy, insurance, rents and commercial rates are disproportionately impacting small businesses compared to the larger multinationals. The Minister of State, Deputy Dillon, who is beside the Minister will…

What the Government is doing is not working because vacancy rates in many towns are persistently high or rising, particularly outside the major urban areas. According to the GeoDirectory commercial buildings report prepared by EY in February, the national commercial vacancy rate in Ireland increased to 14.6% by the end of 2025. This is the highest rate recorded by GeoDirectory since it began tracking commercial vacancy data in 2013. In total, there were 30,687 vacant commercial units across the country in the fourt…

I should not need to tell the Minister that businesses up and down this country are really suffering from an energy crisis that the Tánaiste and the Minister's party leader have acknowledged is the worst the world has ever seen. Yet, in the eyes of business owners, the scale of the supports from the Government do not match the scale of the crisis. What additional new measures will the Government put in place to support all businesses facing increased operating costs arising from the ongoing fuel crisis caused by th…

Business owners are begging for supports. Many of them joined the recent fuel protests as a last resort, just to have their voices heard. This comes in the context of the Government's spring economic statement, which predicts a surplus of €9.2 billion for this year, up from the €5.1 billion predicted on budget day. Many of the businesses we are talking about have contributed substantially to that figure. Small- and medium-sized enterprises are the backbone of our economy. They sustain local communities, especially …

The Minister of State may thank the protestors for anything that has been put in place. The proposals I presented to the Minister of State earlier would encourage greater uptake of the grants and secure the futures of many SMEs, but he has refused to take those on board. I want to talk about it in the context of tourism. Tourism is the heartbeat of many Irish communities, especially in rural communities that depend on visitors to sustain local economies and jobs. As a rural TD, I can tell the Minister of State that…

We are constantly dealing with the growing challenge of improving Ireland's competitiveness. While our economy, on paper, seems strong, there are clear and persistent structural weaknesses that are undermining our ability to sustain growth to attract investment and support our people. Last September, we received the Government's Action Plan on Competitiveness and Productivity, which contains 85 actions. Since the publication of this action plan, can the Minister report any measurable improvements to our national co…

Across many metrics, the Government is failing to address the challenges to our competitiveness and what we are hearing back from businesses. The housing crisis has worsened, with record rents and with homelessness at a record high. Employers are asking us where their workers will live. They have nowhere to live. I am a member of the Joint Committee on Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, which has been dealing extensively with the cost of doing business. We have heard at first hand from various chambers, ISME, the …

That is why we proposed in our alternative budget that we would have a PRSI rebate for businesses as well to enable them to meet the cost. I know that the Minister would not be suggesting a race to the bottom in relation to workers and workers' rights. Our motion earlier was about collective bargaining and the right that workers have in other jurisdictions to access to a union. I know the Minister wants good, sustainable jobs and I am sure he has looked at the good jobs legislation that my colleague, Caoimhe Archib…

Budget 2026 unforgivably made some people in receipt of disability payments up to €1,400 worse off. People with disabilities want to contribute to society and want jobs in their communities. They have the same ambitions in life as everybody else. Ireland has one of the lowest disability employment rates in the EU, at between 32% and 33%. That is nearly 20 percentage points below the EU average. The wage subsidy scheme, which financially supports employers who employ people with disabilities, has facilitated the par…

I certainly welcome that question and would welcome answers even more. Deputy Currie will know what I am talking about when I talk about what was agreed at the Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement. That was cross-party. It involved perspectives on constitutional change concentrating on finance and economics. We have a number of agreed recommendations that really need to be implemented. We heard it was reckless not to prepare. It is reckless not to do this work, regardless of one's cons…

The existence of any school place is not the same as the existence of an appropriate placement. For autistic pupils, placements must be based on assessment of need, sensory profile, communication supports and the capacity of the receiving setting to provide a structured, autism-informed environment. Placing a child in an unsuitable setting can, as the Minister will know, lead to severe anxiety, regression in learning and school refusal. I have had many pieces of correspondence over the past week or so when people k…