It is sickening to hear this reverberated

It is unbelievable.

The report how are you? I have read four reports since 2002, none of which was actioned. Has the Minister of State read it?

Will the Minister of State present to the Dáil the report that gave Robert Watt €80,000 at the stroke of a pen and that was not subject to anyone's agreement?

I have just come from a meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts at which officials from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage were before us. I am not impressed. Before the country is bankrupted, the Minister needs to have a discussion with his Secretary General and insist on a cost-benefit analysis for any of the schemes being brought forward. If he cares to look at the record of the meeting this morning, he will see that Deputy McAuliffe has joined me in calling for a cost-benefit analysis.…

I thank the Deputy. That concludes what was a very important debate. I thank the committee for bringing forward its report on behalf of Oireachtas Members.

I thank the Deputy. We move now-----

No. Your time is up.

I thank the Deputy. We are moving on to People Before Profit-Solidarity and Deputy Paul Murphy.

Is Deputy Paul Murphy sharing his time with Deputy Gino Kenny?

Retained firefighters are due to take industrial action next month. The Government has been accused of failing to address a worsening recruitment and retention crises in the service. The action will commence on 6 June and will see members engaging in a campaign of non-co-operation with work outside of responding to emergency calls. Retained firefights who make up the vast majority of personnel in this service, outside of the larger urban areas, are part-time workers who must abide by strict conditions including hav…

I reiterate Deputy Howlin's calls in the House today to invest in Rosslare Europort. This is the eighth time I have spoken on this topic in the Dáil since my election in 2020. On the first of those occasions, during Topical Issues, I highlighted that Rosslare Europort was the most suitable of all our ports for a wind energy base to be established. I asked the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, to unlock the potential for Ireland to be the first to commit to developing Rosslare for the good of the country and our f…

That is all right, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle. The former Minister for Justice, Senator McDowell, spoke at length in the Seanad debate on this Bill. He said we need dangerous people off our streets as soon as possible. He also spoke about the extension of the retirement age for judges to 72 rather than 70, which it currently is. Allowing judges the option of working for an extra couple of years could be one way of helping to make the court system more efficient and to speed up the whole process and deal with the backl…

There has been a reduction in the availability of accommodation in most tourist attraction areas, mainly due to the accommodation being provided as refuges to our Ukrainian visitors. This has caused many small local indigenous businesses to see a stark reduction in their patronage. What provisions is the Minister's Department making to provide financial recompense and support to the tourism sector for the development of sustainable policies?

I know that there is somewhat of a crossover and I appreciate there may be confusion regarding the question, but the reality is fewer accommodation places for tourists means fewer customers for other tourism-related businesses in those areas. Every euro spent, as the Minister said, has the impact of withdrawing, in effect, €2.50 from the local economy. We have restaurants, bars and activity centres in County Wexford, such as the International Outdoor Adventure Centre in Rosslare, Courtown Adventure and Leisure Cent…

I thank the Minister. I do not wish to be parochial but, in the case of rural Ireland and a rural county like Wexford where I come from, we have to join the dots. The protest that is occurring in County Clare is due to a build-up of anxiety in communities regarding the impact of housing our refugees and asylum seekers, without a doubt. Everybody is wondering whether there will be a job for students coming home from college who cannot drive because they have not been able to get a driving test to get a full licence …

My apologies for the delay but I wish to ask the Minister what discussions her Department is currently engaged in regarding extending the special 9% VAT rate for the hospitality sector beyond September 2023 with the Departments of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform and Finance?

I thank the Minister. I absolutely appreciate all of the supports that were quite necessary during Covid, and which every other country instituted in their sectors. While I appreciate that the Minister does not have the full say, certainly I hope that as the Minister with responsibility for tourism the Minister would be a great advocate to retain this rate, particularly for rural Ireland. Many cities across Europe have a city tax for hotels. The reduction in accommodation that we have seen means we will be far more…

It is not unrecognised that there were significant but inadequate supports for instance the temporary business energy support scheme, TBESS. I heard a quote from a colleague of mine in New Ross, who was a former colleague of the House, Mr. Seán Connick, who is the CEO of the Dunbrody Famine Ship experience in new Ross. At the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media during a debate in which they were discussing the development of tourism, the TBESS, for which he had applied on a bill th…

The 30% reduction in accommodation will equate to €300,000, just for the Dunbrody facility.