Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 27 May 2025

Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade

Business of Joint Committee

2:00 am

Photo of Neale RichmondNeale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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Rather than focus on the macro issues that the Deputy rightly referred to, I will focus on what work we are actually doing. I chair an interdepartmental committee where we bring together stakeholders from all Departments to address the very issues the Deputy raised. He mentioned motor insurance. One of the last responsibilities I had when I was in the Department of Finance was to launch a new insurance company that specifically targets returning emigrants and new Irish who do not have that claims basis. It has been up and running for nearly 12 months now and is quoting quite a number of people every week. There is ongoing work on reform of the PPS system. I know there has been much discussion of teachers and looking at the increments basis. I am married to a primary school teacher. It is very difficult for someone who has been abroad for 15 years to come back in at the bottom rung. That is a wider discussion for other Departments.

The Deputy mentioned a system of incentivisation. This is something that our friends in New Zealand were doing ten or 15 years ago with a cash incentive. My priority is to work first and foremost in easing out those structural and administrative difficulties that the Deputy highlighted. If we can remove those barriers, including driving licences, motor insurance, credit ratings, and social welfare, let us start there and see how we can move thereafter.