Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I know from my trips to Midleton that the former Amgen site is a great site, and I am sure we will get an investor into it at some point in the not-too-distant future. I agree with the Deputy on the road issue, which we are working on. My Department and IDA Ireland are engaging with the Department of Transport and I hope funding will be available in 2023 to bring it to the next stage. I hear what the Deputy is saying about people whose homes and properties are affected. There is nothing worse than to have one's land or home sterilised. Not knowing whether the project will go ahead is unfair on people.

On CETA, there is still an active court case on that. We will wait until the conclusion of that before proceeding to ratification. We expect a judgment in the coming weeks. We will not press ratification until that judgment is handed down from the courts. There was an issue in Germany that has now resulted in a further clarification instrument from the European Commission and needs to be signed off by Canada. It is designed to reassure some of the people who had concerns about aspects of the agreement.

Balance for Better Business is going really well. When the Deputy established the group, women constituted only about 13% of executive company board members. That has now increased to about 34% or 40%. We are getting there without any quotas. It was done through persuasion and soft engagement, with hard engagement sometimes. It really was business talking to business. We are making good progress there. However, I am conscious that there are only a small number of ISEQ companies. Legislation is on the way from Deputy Higgins and the European Union that could bring in quotas for corporate boards, which is the direction of travel. Would it not be great if we achieved it anyway and quotas became unnecessary because we had already achieved gender equality or parity.

I will come back to the Deputy in writing on the interest rates. The rates are different for the different products as well as for different businesses because banks have to factor risk into the price. Therefore, I cannot provide a straightforward answer and will get back to the Deputy in writing.

On microgeneration, I will take up that issue with the Ministers, Deputy McConalogue and Deputy Eamon Ryan. Any time I inquire about it I am told it is sorted, or almost sorted, and that farmers and businesspeople will be able to sell into the grid. There are issues about how much can be sold and issues with grid connections. I thought that was almost sorted through the microgeneration scheme but, obviously, it is not. I will follow up on that with both Ministers to see what we can do.