There are currently 11 staff within my Department who are working with the European Union in Brussels.  *In addition to these 11, there is 1 staff member - a seconded national expert - seconded to the European Commission, in Washington D.C. I can also confirm there are currently no vacant posts. The tables below set out the number of staff, their present roles, and responsibilities and also the corresponding figures on 23 June 2016. Table 1 - Officers seconded to the Department of Foreign Affairs to work on behalf …

The 2023 St Patrick's Day programme saw the Taoiseach, Tánaiste and Government Ministers take part in an extensive international programme to promote Ireland and Irish interests around the world.  These visits provided an opportunity for Ministers to promote Irish trade and meet business leaders, to engage with political counterparts and to meet the Irish diaspora in different locations. As part of this St Patrick’s Day programme, I visited Australia and carried out a wide-ranging programme of community, business a…

My Department is committed to providing efficient and well-managed services and achieves this by striking a satisfactory balance between the delivery of the business needs and high quality service to the public and the need to allow civil servants to address their health and safety needs during periods of illness.  The Department manages absences on health grounds in line with relevant legislation and civil service circulars, policies and guidelines.  All civil servants have a responsibility to the organisation of …

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue of housing again, as she does most weeks. The Government is more than aware of the pressures on many families across the country. We made a decision that extending the ban on evictions would make the problem worse, not better, and I believe that was the right decision to make. We are putting billions of euro into ensuring we provide the housing supply that is needed for families who need to find sustainable, secure accommodation, whether that is to purchase affordably or to …

She could also be a bit more honest in respect of her party’s performance when it has been in government and held housing ministries. In Northern Ireland, the figure of fewer than 900 social houses for last year is a decrease on the previous year of 36%. The number of building starts last year was just over 1,700, a decrease of 29%. Northern Ireland, where Sinn Féin has some sway, is seeing a reduction of approximately 30% in the delivery of social housing year on year, while we in this jurisdiction are seeing an i…

-----is the British Government.

Clearly.

We have, along with the decisions of recent months, made a decision to increase the number of social housing acquisitions by 1,500 this year and supply an additional 1,000 homes through targeted leasing initiatives this year and next. We have amended the capital advance leasing facility used by approved housing bodies so they can provide more homes faster. There is a long list after that. The Deputy talks about a generation who cannot put a roof over their heads but yesterday her party introduced a motion to this H…

We believe in both.

We believe people who want to buy their own homes need a leg up from the State to do that. The Deputy does not believe that. We believe in affordable, cost-rental and social housing. We added over 10,000 properties to the social housing stock last year, unlike Sinn Féin’s performance in Northern Ireland.

The first thing I want to address is the Deputy’s statement that multinationals do not believe us any more. The relationship between this Government and companies providing foreign direct investment in Ireland has never been stronger. That is why we are seeing the kind of corporation tax revenue streams we see this year and which are predicted for next year and the year after. Ireland is a country in which multinationals have extraordinary confidence. The faith they have in what this Government is doing around ente…

These projects are getting under way and being accelerated. Through a combination of social housing, affordable housing, affordable rental, cost rental, supported rental accommodation and private housing delivery, we need to get to between 40,000 and 50,000 housing units per year. We know that. We need to be above 10,000 social houses per year and there needs to be a significant mix of affordable housing, but the statement Deputy Cairns makes that nobody can afford to buy a house, when she knows the stats show 38,0…

Businesses are voting with their feet on Ireland and are coming here in bigger numbers than ever before. What is the Deputy talking about?

Of course they are concerned about housing and so are we.

No. I am saying they have faith in this Government, and the proof of that is in the numbers. Of course they have a concern around housing. So do we and so does the Deputy. The question is how we respond to that. The Deputy casually forgets when my party came into government and where the country was at that point: under IMF control in terms of finances. We had a completely broken property market, where virtually no houses, except the odd one-off house, were being built around the country. Over a decade and slightly…

-----and social housing. Deputies selectively quote targets that are not being reached, but what about the target of close to 30,000 houses, which is significantly above the target that was set of just over 24,000 for last year, which was the expectation? On the biggest target of all, namely the overall delivery of housing, we are way ahead of schedule and we need to be. Let us look at this in the round and quote all of the statistics rather than hand-picking individual ones.

I agree with an awful lot of what Deputy Naughten has said, although I think a cheap shot at Deputy Ryan is beneath the Deputy. I have huge time for the Deputy, as he knows. The ambition this country has for offshore renewable is in large part due to Deputy Eamon Ryan's relentless pursuit of this agenda for a long time in politics and long before this Government, and his vision in this regard in wanting to make Ireland Europe's capital of offshore renewable generation. We will achieve this. I agree with Deputy Naug…

In terms of onshore wind, this country's record is not bad. We are one of the best performing countries in Europe. We provide approximately 30% of our electricity needs from onshore renewable wind farms currently and we will do a lot more. Now we are moving into solar also. I take some of the criticism but I also want to put on the record the delivery we have seen in recent years in terms of onshore wind. In terms of a plan-led system, we are moving ahead on the remainder of the development of offshore renewable in…

First of all, I have huge sympathy for the O’Donovan family and businesspeople who find themselves in the kind of financial pressure they are clearly feeling at the moment. Every bank in Ireland has an obligation, in my view, to behave fairly towards its clients. When we hear slogans like "We're backing brave" and all the rest of them coming from advertisements for banking in Ireland, it is not unreasonable that questions are raised as to whether they are supporting enterprise in an appropriate way. It is not appro…

I am the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment. I have responsibility to try to ensure that businesses are treated fairly and that enterprise has an opportunity to thrive and grow. That includes the relationship, obviously, with the banking sector. I will be happy to get more detail. I do not recall getting the details of this. Maybe that correspondence came into my constituency office. I certainly have not seen it. I was given only a few days' notice that I was doing Leaders' Questions today. I did not kno…