I thank the Deputy for his question. This is a big good news story in Ireland. The Irish economy and the manufacturing and export sectors are stronger than they have ever been. Of course, there will be international disruptions at different times, but the strength, employment and tax revenue that has been created by this sector is in a very good place right now. The Irish manufacturing and services sectors, both FDI and Irish-owned, have performed strongly and have successfully weathered a number of shocks in recen…

We are constantly talking to multinational companies both at home and abroad. That is why I have been to the US twice this year. We went early in the year to try to get a handle on what is happening in the technology sector globally where we had seen quite a number of large tech-based multinationals in Ireland make decisions globally to reduce headcount, and that, of course, has had an impact on Ireland. More recently I have been to the east coast of America, to New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts, which had a b…

It is important that we emphasise the point that the Irish economic growth story is not based just on attracting large multinational companies and helping them to grow global businesses out of Ireland. This is a very important part of the Irish economy but the mainstay of employment in Ireland is Irish SMEs and family companies across the country. We must ensure that we support them and that there is a strong enterprise-based policy coming out of Government which allows them to grow and thrive. That is the core of …

That is a fair point.

The Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, might want to come back on this. A proposal was approved by the Cabinet recently to try to introduce much more flexibility to that process. If someone comes to Ireland on a work permit and then looks to transfer to another company, after a certain period - there are certain thresholds and so on - they should be facilitated to do that in a much more seamless way than has been the case to date. I can send the details of that to the Deputy if it is helpful.

I am glad I have time to put facts on the record on this issue. It is a good news story. We are moving it forward. The cost of energy is a major factor, as people will be aware, in the operation of most businesses. The impact of the significant price increases experienced by businesses in 2022 and 2023, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, was mitigated by the introduction of the temporary business energy support scheme, TBESS, to support companies dealing with increases in the price of metered electricity an…

The Deputy and I had an opportunity to discuss this earlier. I recognise the constructive role the union leadership has played in what has been a difficult few weeks for people employed at Tara Mines. They made a genuine, pragmatic intervention by proposing cost reductions to try to improve the viability of the plant. I have spoken to the management and to workers' representatives. We spoke again yesterday to senior management to get an update. The financial pressures on the company and the predicted losses this ye…

As the Deputy will be aware, a court-appointed examiner is working through the examinership process at the moment. Workers have rights in that process and we need to ensure they are respected. A complaints procedure under the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, can also be activated. I am limited in what I can say due to the ongoing court process. However, I am obviously concerned about how the Iceland workers have been treated. We are following that closely, as is the Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, who has b…

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. I express concern and support for the many Iceland workers and their families who are being impacted today and over the last number of days. The courts have appointed an examiner to assess the future viability of the company and put in place a support and rescue package for the company, if it is possible to do so. There are legal obligations on employers towards workers, which need to be applied here. If they are not being applied, the workers have the right to go to the Wo…

-----from a retail perspective, to make sure workers are given their full protections and entitlements under the law.

It is not another Debenhams.

We had some discussion of this issue yesterday in a committee. I am aware, of course, of views expressed by European agencies and organisations that corporate profits are a contributing factor to inflation. The European Central Bank, ECB, examined the degree to which inflation is being driven by increases in wages compared with profits. It established there has been a significant increase in corporate profits throughout 2022 across multiple sectors and that this contributed to more than half of European domestic pr…

I acknowledge the ECB reports that have come out. The Government, of course, acknowledges the pressures families are under. This is why we have been proactive in limiting the fallout from higher rates of inflation. A total of €12 billion, some 4.5% of national income, has now been provided in direct relief to absorb some of the impacts and ease the burden of inflation on households and families. The Government believes, especially for vital products such as staple foods, where reduced input costs come through to pr…

That is exactly why we held the meeting of the retail forum yesterday and it is also why I took advice from the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, CCPC, regarding options. I would like to get more advice from it concerning the options available to us in the context of delivering more transparency in the food supply chain to ensure consumers are paying reasonable prices. I hope to get this advice in the coming weeks. Additionally, we completed the passage of legislation in this House last night to progr…

In spite of challenging headwinds for the global economy in recent years, including the far-reaching impacts of Brexit, the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, Ireland has continued to perform extremely well in both employment and trade. Reaching 2.57 million in quarter 4 of last year, we now have more people employed than ever before. Female participation in the workplace is at an all-time high and youth unemployment remains low. Irish trade continues to perform well, with goods exports totalling €16.5 billion in Feb…

Later this month I will bring the first implementation plan for the new enterprise strategy to the Government for approval. That will focus on the kinds of things the Deputy raised, which is ensuring that our enterprise strategy delivers balance across multiple sectors, including food, agrifood, construction, the tech sector, medical devices, the pharmaceutical sector and manufacturing. The Irish economy is probably more balanced than it has ever been in terms of the spread of employment opportunities for people. T…

The Government has already acted to put a reserve fund in place. We have contributed to that for some years. The Government will ensure that we do not make the mistakes made in the past of relying on a revenue stream that turns out not to be consistent over time. We will ensure that we invest for the future but there are also many pressures on families today and we also need to respond to that. The Deputy saw that in last year's budget. Since then, we have spent almost €12 billion supporting families and businesses…

On a point of information, is Deputy O'Reilly allowed to take questions from her colleagues in their absence?

Deputy Gould had a question.

It is good delivery for Cork. That is why-----