The cost of doing business in this State for small and medium-sized enterprises, SMEs; family-owned businesses; and the self-employed is running out of control. In the programme for Government, it is listed that the Government will conduct a comprehensive review to assess the cost structures for SMEs and family-owned businesses to identify areas where costs can be reduced. Will the Minister provide an update on this review? Will he tell businesses the areas he has identified where costs will be cut?

Go raibh maith agat, Minister, for that update. The important thing is that it makes a difference on the ground and makes a difference to businesses because the situation facing SMEs with regard to costs is increasingly more unsustainable. We saw 848 insolvencies last year. I fear for what the number will be in 2026. At the end of 2025, 80% of businesses from across all sectors that participated in the SME business sentiment survey by Chartered Accountants Ireland and GRID Finance reported an increase in their cost…

The question that must be asked is this: what is happening here at home? When we look globally, the Minister has named all of the initiatives he is doing but why are Irish business leaders growing even more pessimistic about the future? Confidence in projected revenue growth dropped dramatically at the end of last year, from 79% to 59% in just three months. When businesses were asked about increasing head count in 2026, the figure dropped from 59% to 46%. These figures are not abstract statistics; they signal the s…

We wanted a PRSI rebate in the budget to help businesses with their costs, including additional labour costs. We need good, quality jobs. We do not need a race to the bottom but we will have that discussion on another day. I wish to ask the Minister if he is concerned about the levels of youth employment. What initiatives is he putting in place to tackle it? I am deeply concerned with the consistently high level of youth unemployment here. The latest figures for January show that it stands at 12%; it wavers between…

The Minister of State rightly says that this is not unique to Ireland but I do not think that is a reason for saying that everything is okay. If you look at the EU average, yes, it is 15%. In Britain it is 15.3%. However, there are actions that need to be taken here. For unemployment in general, we have nearly three times that rate for youth unemployment. Young people who complete their education are struggling to find well-paid work. They deserve to have career prospects after completing their studies or training …

My view of the world is different from that of the Minister of State. When you look at our own county, you see that Youthreach is a really good programme in regard to addressing disadvantage and social exclusion. We have waiting lists to get onto those programmes in Ballina and Kiltimagh. We do not have either the physical space to be able to do the training with them or the personnel. I ask the Minister of State to look at that in particular. We cannot leave so many young people behind. There are real social and e…

I thank the Labour Party for bringing this Bill to the House this morning. I listened to the Minister of State's speech. He and the Government really need to wake up to the fact that remote working can benefit not only workers and their families, but local businesses and communities as well. The Minister of State knows that coming from a county like Mayo. He also knows that if people with disabilities - really capable people - were given the opportunity to work remotely, they could live in their own communities and…

We are seeing the devastating consequences of a deepening climate crisis and persistently high youth unemployment at the same time. It is time to recognise the enormous employment potential associated with the ambitious climate action plan and capitalise on this huge economic opportunity. Investment in renewable energy and retrofitting in sustainable agriculture, public transport and green technology can create thousands of secure, well-paid jobs across the island. Successful projects like the Skillnet Offshore Win…

The Taoiseach is missing the youth unemployment crisis.

There is 14% young unemployment.

The message is very clear here. We need the Minister to ban investment funds from buying family homes. There are many things that investment funds can invest in and buy, but not family homes. The Minister has the power to change that. Young people and working families are being forced out of the market by vulture funds with unlimited reserves that are outbidding them not just of homes, but of their futures. My colleagues and I on these benches have been highlighting this scandal for years. I remember doing it when …

I am glad to have the opportunity to speak about flooding today. The Minister of State, Deputy Moran, will understand because he has been to County Mayo many times himself. I welcome that, after ten years, the Crossmolina scheme is going to be done. I ask that that project be expedited as quickly as possible as well as the project in Ballina. Many other smaller schemes, though, need to be done in the county, not least in Charlestown and other places. I would ask that there is a better join-up between the OPW and th…

While we welcome that the basic income for artists pilot scheme is extended until February, we are now in February and just a week away from the scheme coming to an end and we are still none the wiser as to when the promised follow-up scheme will be up and running, who will be able to apply and how they will be selected. Forty-seven out of the 174 artists in my county of Mayo who applied were successful and benefited hugely from this scheme but when will the new scheme be opened for applicants and when will it star…

This Bill must be called out for what it is. It is a Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael rip-off rent hike Bill and it must be stopped. I will tell the Minister the reasons why. The Government should be cutting rents, not facilitating them to rise even further. Rents are already out of control and renters are drowning in a cost-of-living crisis. Yet, the Government's response is to tear up what little protection remains and hand a gift to big institutional investors. At the centre of this Bill is the so-called market reset a…

I want to speak on behalf of the fishermen of this island who are warning that 2026 will be the worst year the sector has ever faced after drastic reductions to fish quotas and cuts to the key stocks. The industry is facing an imminent existential threat. The Government recently announced the establishment of a task force to support the industry and coastal communities. I certainly welcome that. I ask the Taoiseach that the regional inshore fisheries forums, RIFFs, are directly represented on the new fisheries seaf…

I will give the Minister an example of how out of touch the Government is. He stated that €102.4 billion is being allocated over the five-year period from 2026 to 2030. Zip-a-dee-doo-dah. At the same time, I am being contacted by people in Carrowteige who are being told that they will have to pay €2,359 by Friday or they will not get clean water. How can we be spending billions when we have people in rural Ireland being asked to pay that amount by Friday? We are talking about pensioners who are absolutely distraugh…

I welcome Margaret Loftus to the Public Gallery. The Taoiseach will know she is a courageous and brave former garda, a survivor of horrific domestic violence whose traumatic experience in seeking justice highlights the urgent need for systemic legislative reform in this country. I want to ask the Taoiseach about the nature and substance of his engagements at the G20 summit specifically in relation to gender-based violence and domestic violence. Were these issues discussed at leader or ministerial level? Can the Tao…

This motion is about real people in real crisis right now and a system that is failing them in plain sight. I will begin with the case of a woman from County Mayo who has been in an adult mental health unit since June of last year. She was admitted in acute distress but was otherwise physically well. Today after repeated incidents in what is meant to be a secure unit, she has suffered a choking episode, a broken hip and most recently a broken wrist requiring surgery. Her family now describe her as frail, traumatise…

The legal challenge initiated by Sinn Féin MEPs Lynn Boylan and Kathleen Funchion, and The Left group which includes Luke Ming Flanagan, to refer the Mercosur trade deal to the European Court of Justice was narrowly but thankfully won in the European Parliament yesterday. I commend them, and Deputy Kenny here, on their months and years of hard work. I stand here as a rural TD where farming matters, where food security matters and where environmental protection matters. The thing about rural people is that they say …

They voted.