Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for their questions.

Deputy Dillon raised the important issue of mental health and deficits in CAMHS. We have real difficulties there, as Deputies will know, in securing skilled and qualified staff for those teams, but I assure the Deputy and the House that the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, is committed to making all the reforms necessary and possible to improve the situation.

Deputy Barry raised the issue of redundancies at Broadcom. I am not up to date on the particular issues there but I will speak to the Minister, Deputy Coveney, about it. I know he will want to take a particular interest in it, it being in Ballincollig, not too far from him.

Deputy Tóibín asked about animal welfare. I will have to come back to the Deputy with an update on the timeline for the Government's legislative plans on that.

Deputy O'Sullivan once again raised the issue of rare diseases and mentioned that 80 new medicines have been approved. We are examining the matter of setting aside some dedicated funding for new medicines next year. That will have to be dealt with in the context of the service plan. The same would apply to medical genetics. We are keen to make sure that the progress that has been made in recent years does not stall in 2024.

Deputy Smith asked about help for SMEs that are facing increased energy and labour costs. The Minister, Deputy Coveney, received approval at Cabinet today for his €250 million scheme to help businesses with rising costs. Roughly 90% of businesses in Ireland will receive a grant to help with rising costs. We appreciate that the cost of energy is very high for business, as is the cost of labour. One thing of particular interest in the Border region was a decision of the UK Government in many ways to follow our lead in announcing a big increase in the national minimum wage. Actually, on current exchange rates, the national minimum wage north of the Border will be slightly higher than it is south of the Border in 2024, although that will depend on how exchange rates fluctuate over the period ahead. Of course, north of the Border, auto-enrolment already exists, as does sick pay, albeit at a lower rate. We always keep an eye on that because we do not want to disadvantage businesses south of the Border. The fact that those changes have been announced by the British Government helps to prove that we were right to make the changes we have made to improve pay and terms and conditions.

On access to credit, I understand the point Deputy Smith makes about the loss of Ulster Bank, which is a real loss in terms of access to credit. How can we help?

We have a lot of State-backed lending now, through the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland, Microfinance Ireland which is being moved properly into the Government sector, and particularly by encouraging more and more credit unions to offer business loans. The Minister of State, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, is very much leading the charge on this.

Deputy Troy asked about ending direct provision. To say very clearly, that remains our policy as a Government but, of course, it is not currently achievable given the large numbers of people who have come to the country in the past two years. There are more than 100,000 from Ukraine and elsewhere, 70,000 of whom need accommodation from the State. Yes it is our plan to align the supports we offer to people coming here from Ukraine and people seeking international protection with other western European states. We will not turn anyone away, and nor can we either under international law or the basic practicalities of doing so, but we want to avoid what are called secondary movements of people who have sought international protection in another European country or stayed in another European country for some time before moving to Ireland to seek international protection here.

With regard to the optional protocol in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which was mentioned by Deputies Moynihan and Boyd Barrett, it is the position of the State that with regard to honouring international agreements we do not enter into binding international treaties until we are confident that obligations set out in them can be complied with. As such, a robust scoping exercise is procedurally necessary. This is currently being undertaken in conjunction with legal counsel by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. Until ratification, we will continue to fully implement the convention and we look forward to engaging with the UN committee when a review of Ireland's first state report is scheduled. That should be quite soon.

Deputy McDonald asked about our renewable electricity target, which is 80% for 2030. I believe we will meet that. If we do not, we will not be far off it. With regard to the reforms we are making to make it possible, we have had a number of successful auctions and there are more to come. MARA has been set up for marine consent and it is up and running. The new planning and environment division of the High Court will sit for the first time next week. This will mean that judicial reviews will be heard and ruled on more quickly. An Bord Pleanála is being staffed up. The 15 board member complement is now there and there are additional staff. We have the planning and development Bill that will set statutory timelines for decisions to be made. I appeal to Sinn Féin to support this and not to oppose it. It cannot say that it is in favour of more home building and in favour of climate action if it votes against the Bill because it is the Bill that will help us to make these decisions happen more quickly.

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