Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank all of the Members who have contributed to the debate, which has been largely positive. As quickly as I can, I will go through some of the issues raised and there are other issues that I will leave and go through on Committee Stage because there might be a better opportunity then to tease them out with the Deputies.

A number of Deputies noted that the Tánaiste and Minister, Deputy Varadkar, was not here for the debate. Very frequently, people are critical of the roles of Ministers of State and their role in a given Department. For my part, I am the Minister of State with delegated responsibility for company law so it is important, when company law is being debated, that the person with that responsibility be here to go through it and engage with Members. In fairness to Deputy O'Reilly, at least she stayed around to participate in the debate.

Remote working from home is not always a good thing. Deputies were right to say that people who are working from home now are not doing so out of choice. They are doing so out of necessity. I agree with what Deputy Ó Ríordáin said about the lack of proper infrastructure and lack of access to proper equipment. It is for this reason that it is welcome the Department has launched a consultation process for people to feed into what needs to be done so we can have a proper system of working remotely, in which we will have the proper infrastructure, broadband and office infrastructure so people no longer need to leave Mullingar, Portlaoise or any of the commuter towns at 6 a.m. or 6.30 a.m. to go to work in Dublin. This is something we need to look at. We also have to be conscious that the mass exodus of people who normally work in Dublin has posed challenges to many of our service industries in the capital city. We cannot forget about that.

The Bill provides for meetings to be conducted by electronic means. The Government will use this interim period as a trial run for measures to see whether they should be enacted permanently. A number of people have said they welcome these changes but they would like to see them on a more permanent basis. We can see how they work out over the next four to five months and, if necessary, we will put them on a permanent basis.

Much has been said about the speed at which the legislation has been brought through. I would point out it is necessary and there are times when we have to act and respond quickly. Although there was no pre-legislative scrutiny, there was consultation with the trade unions through the Company Law Review Group. They fed into this legislation and welcome it. This is not about big business. I am tired listening to certain Deputies say that when a measure is introduced or a proposal is made to help and support business it is because it is for big business. The vast majority of businesses are small and medium enterprises. The vast majority of our businesses are run by people who employ local people and create opportunities and jobs. I do not think just because a measure is introduced that is pro-business or pro-enterprise it means we are against employees' rights or against employees for one reason or another. What we want to see is good businesses bringing forward opportunities for employees. We want to ensure businesses are supported because without businesses there is no work for employees. We need to remember that.

The July stimulus was raised numerous times in the debate. The stimulus is the greatest and largest injection in the history of the State. While there are people who would like to see more being done, we have to look at this in the round. We have to look at the level of grant aid that is being made available. The grants have increased from a minimum of €2,000 to €4,000 and from a minimum of €10,000 to €25,000. Perhaps one of the biggest daily overheads any business has is the cost of labour. We have provided certainty to our business community that until April next year there will be a subsidy and a grant of €204 per employee.

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