Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge that the IDA will publish its new plan in the new year and will outline what it wants to do. We all meet representatives of the agency in our constituencies and they often give the same reason for their inability to make important investments. I refer, for example, to Mullingar, where an IDA park lies almost empty. If the €2.1 million was invested there for an advanced manufacturing factory or a hub ready for future investment, it would be most welcome. The issue needs to be examined. In fairness to the Minister, she stated it is a matter for the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform but it is up to her to push that Department to try to change the direction. It would be beneficial for the IDA in future.

Health and safety in the workplace is critical. Will the Minister confirm that the savings at the Health and Safety Authority will have no impact on the work it does and that it will not compromise the health and safety of any employees?

The Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement has undergone many hours of discussion by the committee in respect of critical legislation and of the essential information the committee needs to advance that legislation. The office has to do a great deal of work.

Anybody looking at the Football Association of Ireland at present would wonder how, in the name of God, €1 million can be diverted from an office that has so much important work to do. The reason is the lack of progress in key legislation. I know the Minister is not holding it up but we should use this opportunity to highlight the need for the information required by this committee to advance the legislation.

There are savings of €8 million with Enterprise Ireland. Will the Minister outline to us a little further where Enterprise Ireland generates its own resources? Why is there a slowing down in drawing down supports that Enterprise Ireland makes available at a time when so many of our businesses are facing the Brexit challenge? One would expect an increase in the demand needed for Enterprise Ireland supports.

There are savings of €500,000 with the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, CCPC. This is the agency to which the Minister has referred matters relating to the insurance industry and requested an in-depth audit into practices. That agency's representatives have come before this Oireachtas committee in the past quarter and have indicated the commission does not have sufficient powers and particularly sanctioning powers. When will we consider giving this body the powers it requires, particularly at a time it is conducting invaluable work in the consumer interest? How can we justify taking €500,000 from its resources at this time?