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

I am very much aware of the issue of the CT scanner in WIT. The Deputy raised the matter with me on a few occasions and I know he will not give up until it is purchased. I spoke to the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science about it. The way I understand it works is that there is an approved list of things Science Foundation Ireland has but it must work down that list. It is working down the list but the item is still a bit of a way down the list.

I would be supportive of an IDA Ireland office in the south east but these are decisions for the CEO and board of IDA Ireland. It is not really my role to say where offices should be located and who is in them but I would be supportive of IDA Ireland doing that if it can as its staff complement increases. Our real focus for the south east is the regional economic plan for the south east. The south east has been one of the better regions in that regard. The local authorities have come together, are very much behind it and have appointed a programme manager to make sure it is implemented. The Deputy will have seen the kinds of things that were done during the period of the last strategy such as an advanced building solution in Waterford; an upgrade of the business and technology parks in Kilkenny, Wexford and Waterford; and investment in Belview, which we hope will turn out to be very useful if the Glanbia-Royal A-ware project goes ahead. Over the next three years, we plan to have a third advanced building solution in Waterford so that will facilitate a further significant FDI investment there along with a new one in Carlow. Obviously, we are working with Wexford County Council to get planning permission for an advanced technology building in Wexford. What we find is that when it comes to getting FDI into all regions of Ireland, which is the objective, the most successful aspect so far in getting it to go places other than the big cities is having an advanced building solution into which companies can get quickly. Seven of the 11 buildings we built are occupied. We need to build more, including in the south east.

I appointed somebody from ISME to the National Competitiveness and Productivity Council. I took that decision because I thought it was important to have somebody from the small business sector that would focus on the cost of regulation and cost competitiveness, which is an important aspect of competitiveness that we might have drifted away too much from. Small business is represented on the Labour Employer Economic Forum through IBEC and the Small Firms Association. The difficulty with adding more and more bodies is the question of where one stops. At the moment, Chambers Ireland and IBEC are there as the umbrella bodies for all business organisations.

I am concerned about the issue of post-traumatic stress disorder and I think it is something we will have to monitor. There always seems to be a new frontier when it comes to tort law and compensation. We have significantly reduced awards for physical injuries. We see that coming through with average awards in PIAB in the past while down 50%, which is what we hoped would happen. Of course, when that happens, some people and some lawyers will look for new angles. Psychological injuries may be the new angle when it comes to compensation and we need to monitor this very closely.

I am keeping an open mind on the testing question. I am very aware that other European countries which operate a green pass or Covid pass system allow for vaccinated, recovered and recently tested. NPHET is not recommending the third one. It is recommending the first two but I think Government must keep an open mind on whether we extend the pass to people who have recently tested negative for all sorts of reasons that the Deputy will understand, particularly around non-discrimination, which appears to be done in European countries that operate these passes like Germany, Denmark and Austria. We did not plan to do this so we are starting to work out what we can do over the next while. I look forward to meeting with the hospitality sector this afternoon to discuss all that.