David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for being late. I was speaking in the Dáil and I missed the opening remarks. I congratulate Mr. Hughes on his appointment. I thank his team, some members of it have been here before us and they have always been very helpful, enlightening and supportive.

For some time, I have been raising the issue of the unified patent court by way of parliamentary questions. I have had meetings with people about it. Has there been any slippage on that? I understand Denmark had a referendum on it in 2014. Are the witnesses confident that we will have it established here in time, because if we do not and we are not at the table, then we will not be influencing the culture of the court, which is quite important. I would welcome Mr. Hughes's thoughts on that.

I have also been raising the issue of inter-company transfers. It is a small issue that relates to the spouses and partners of people who take part in the scheme who are not allowed to work. The spouses and partners of people with critical skills are, and I have been told by some people in business that they have missed out on some fairly high powered individuals, for want of a better way of putting it. Highly skilled individuals have refused to come here because their partners or spouses would be sitting at home with nothing to do all day, which is not good for anybody. I understand a statutory instrument, SI, is required to make that change, but Mr. Hughes might clarify that. I know there is a review at the moment of the work permits, but this is something that could be done very quickly. I was surprised at the number of people who avail of this scheme every year and it would help that small number.

Has the Department carried out any investigation into unemployment black spots around the country? In my constituency, in Youghal for instance, nothing is happening. The place is dying on its feet. Has the Department or Enterprise Ireland identified any strategies with respect to identifying areas like that and then assisting and supporting them in order to get business and employment going? Otherwise, everyone just leaves in the morning and they travel long distances, which is not good for climate reasons either. Then they come back in the evening. Towns like that can die. I am sure there are other towns around the country in a similar position. It might be something that the Department has taken up.

We have had a number of meetings on the corporate sustainability due diligence directive and it has been put to us that there is a need for more information and support for businesses. A lot of businesses do not know about it and some of those that do are frightened by it. It might be something that Mr. Hughes could comment on.

I also want to commend the Department on the work being done on the Balance for Better Business initiative. This is something I was involved in previously. I understand there has been some little slippage there. Maybe we might revisit that again in another meeting. It is an important one.

Is there anything in the strategy with respect to cutting down on red tape and bureaucracy for businesses? Many businesses tell us that there is still a lot of red tape to be negotiated. Is there any way of reducing that? I want to express my thanks for the work done on the Open Doors initiative. We have already mentioned the issue of people with disabilities and even the report today says that we are way behind other countries regarding the number of people with disabilities who are at work. We need to do a lot more in that area. We have the reasonable accommodation fund, the disability awareness training scheme and the wage subsidy scheme. Is the Department doing anything to make employers aware of those schemes in order to increase take-up? I know that it is administered by the Department of Social Protection. Are there links between that Department and this one with respect to getting more employers to take up those schemes? That would help more people with disabilities to gain employment.

I have been contacted by a constituent who completed a GWO course which is a requirement for a job as a wind turbine technician. He had to pay for accommodation while doing the course. He is now required to do an unpaid work placement away from home, at his own expense. Skillnet is administering the scheme. I wrote to them last week but have received no reply yet. Hopefully I will hear from them this week. We need a lot of people in this industry. However, if it is the case that people have to undergo training at their own expense, with no support at all, perhaps we need to look at the kinds of supports and training that are available for people. I might be wrong in my assumptions but perhaps the Department could check with Skillnet. My constituent has certainly raised red flags for me if what he says is correct.

I want to bring up the issue of the old Amgen site in east Cork. It has been sitting there for decades and nothing is happening with it. I know the interconnector is going in there now. I am not sure how much ground has been taken by that. Perhaps the witnesses could get back to me with that information. It is scandalous that a fully serviced 64 ha site has been sitting there unused for decades. It has a rail link at one end and a dual carriageway at the other and the IDA cannot use it despite the authority running short of such sites. The site is flat and has water, waste water and electricity. It will now also have the interconnector with a very powerful Internet connection as well.