Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will not address all of them but I will respond out of courtesy. I thank Deputy Healy-Rae for coming in and making that contribution. The measures that we will announce the week after next will be meaningful. I am sure they will not satisfy everybody and that we will not be able to meet every need and ambition. We will try to focus on what really matters in the budget, which is the basics and looking after people to make sure that they can get by and can meet unavoidable day-to-day costs.

The Deputy raised a number of issues relating to businesses. A number of colleagues raised those issues over the course of the meeting. Both the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, and I are in close contact with businesses, both representative bodies and individual business owners in our constituency and nationally. Our colleagues in our respective parties and across the House come to us all the time and share the kinds of example that Deputy Healy-Rae highlighted from his personal circumstances. We are aware of the issue and the worry. It is not just about the bills that have been received but what is to come. Nobody can predict with any degree of certainty how long this is going to last or how much worse it might get. The Government has to calibrate its response with incomplete information. It has to do so based on the facts that it has at this time, while also trying to safeguard the bigger picture of public finances and making sure that we keep them in safe territory. The economic environment has changed, as I am sure the Deputy is well aware.

Deputy Healy-Rae raised a few issues about rateable valuation, which I will pass on to the Minister, Deputy O'Brien.

There are two levers relating to the rates bill. One is the rates struck by the local authority, and then there is the valuation which is set. Deputy Healy-Rae raised an issue about revaluation. We will take on board the points the Deputy made about grant schemes for retrofitting. A lot of money has been made available for retrofitting to support businesses and households. We would like to see the support rolled out more quickly. There is a capacity issue with the number of contractors available in the sector. We are addressing that through the provision of more apprenticeships, skills, training and so on to try to build up that capacity, because there is significant work ahead of us. Even when we get through the current point in the energy price cycle, this phase of work will last for many years.

The Deputy raised the issue of solar energy. We have work to do in that area. We should acknowledge that we in Ireland, along with Denmark, are among the world leaders in onshore wind energy. There will be more offshore wind in future. I take the point about solar energy.

Deputy Healy-Rae concluded on the matter of older people. They get particularly concerned when they see the bills coming their way. Many have extra needs and need to be looked after. We will do our best on budget day to respond to that level of need, while acknowledging and being honest and straight with people that we will not be able to do everything. We can help a lot. We will do that in two weeks.