Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I will comment on each brief individually. We had a good meeting with the new Tánaiste in respect of Brexit. I will reiterate a call that was made at that meeting. We need a meeting of all political leaders early next week, not later, on what is happening in respect of Brexit so that we can maintain a common position and get the best outcome for our country. Perhaps the Tánaiste might be able to join the Taoiseach at such a meeting. It is urgently required because developments are happening at a certain speed.

I wish the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, well in her new portfolio, but her appointment has to signal a dramatic change in how the State sees the whole issue of sustainability. Since that morning meeting, I have had three meetings with three or four businesspeople and they have all been saying the exact same thing. This Government is atrocious when it comes to promoting the new agenda of sustainability and the associated opportunities for business and enterprise. It has to change. This new appointment should be used as an opportunity to change track completely from what this Government has been doing.

I wish the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Deputy Madigan, the very best of luck. I recommend that her first action is to turn to her colleague, Deputy Hildegarde Naughton, and ask for help in the implementation of the report made by the Joint Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment earlier this week that would provide the funding for orchestras and journalism into the future. This funding must be provided. The Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Deputy Madigan, should work with the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Naughten, to turn that report into a reality. It was an example of how this House can and still does work. Let us use that work. The Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Deputy Madigan, should make her first action a defence of the creative communities and our media world. She should take the report and implement it with the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Naughten, early in the new year so that we can fund the orchestras and our media and content creation industries.

See this speech in context