Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Like other speakers, I welcome the performance of IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland in particular. I have been engaging with Mr. Martin Shanahan and we are very happy in Waterford about the announcement of the advanced factory. The contract has been signed to build that so that is good news. The Minister highlighted in his presentation that there was an €80 million carryover from last year in unused capital appropriation. A capital support fund was opened up late in the year for Enterprise Ireland where the window of opportunity was only three months. Somebody had to procure, spend and have it all invoiced and done within a three-month window. I will get the Minister the name of the fund; I cannot think of it offhand. It is something that needs to be looked at. It is not feasible to ask business to engage in that way. We all know the difficulties involved in even trying to get builders at the moment, and that was something I wanted to highlight.

The Minister referred to the climate action fund, climate investment fund and, hopefully, new climate and digital loan products. We have a significant problem, as does Europe and the rest of the world, namely, the increasing use of plastics. We are doing very little to mitigate plastic production. The idea that all plastic is recyclable is not true. We need a strategy. It is not enough to say, "Reduce and reuse". We need a strategy to get other packaging into the supply chain. A significant volume of plastic nanoparticles is entering the organic biosphere and will poison us all over the next 50 years, notwithstanding global warming. This is something the Department could lead on.

Another issue I would like to touch on is public procurement, which I have raised previously. We have public procurement policies that are not helping SMEs to get on that public procurement pathway, particularly smaller businesses. An issue I must raise directly with the Minister relates to some health procurement. The HSE is trying to change certain contracts and derogate what it agreed to in contract terms. This needs to be flagged. A number of businesses are in this space and are suffering very badly.

The last issue I wish to raise involves insurance and occupier's liability. I know the Minister heads up the Cabinet subgroup. The duty of care legislation was promised in September 2021. The spring legislative programme made no reference to that. Can he outline what obstacles are holding that up and when we can expect some reform and legislation to be presented on duty of care? Owner's and occupier's liability is so important now. It is a significant headwind in respect of insurance costs for business going into this year and beyond.