Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for their contributions. Deputy McDonald raised the issue of the Ivy Exchange residents and the general issue of poor building and defective blocks. Those builders have responsibilities. Councils have responsibilities. Authorities also have responsibilities and insurance should have a role in all of this. In a unique response the Government has decided in respect of mica, because of the humanitarian crisis with people having their houses effectively destroyed in many cases and compromised and undermined in others, to provide well over €2 million to deal with the issue. There are clearly knock-on effects. There was an earlier scheme for pyrite. There is a report coming to the Minister in respect of the defective building of apartments. It is a huge challenge for the Exchequer overall. It is an issue on which I will come back to the Deputy. I will speak to the Minister with responsibility for housing to get the most up-to-date position.

To respond to Deputy Bacik, there are several issues with regard to the cost of living. We should not lose sight of the economic recovery that has occurred. I am concerned about what may happen in 2023 with Russian gas and the energy crisis. There has been an incredible bounceback in the economy since Covid-19. There are 2.5 million people now working in the economy. We now have the highest participation rate ever in our economy. It is substantially higher than it was last year or pre-pandemic. All of this is positive. In respect of cost-of-living measures, approximately €2.5 billion has been allocated to date. We took measures last week that will increase the back-to-school allowance, deal with transport costs and provide school meals for those in DEIS schools. There will be some once-off measures, as the Deputy identified. I do not have the specific sum total yet of how much will be involved but it will be comprehensive. We are looking at the issue of a windfall tax. We will keep it under review. There are pluses and minuses. The ESB is a State company and we take a dividend from it.

We will look at welfare increases and pensions. We will look at families and children, targeting children in particular because families have higher costs. This is why we have already taken measures to reduce healthcare costs for families with children. The back-to-school allowance will help low-income families with children. Transport measures will help families. We will keep this theme going in the once-off cost-of-living package and budgetary measures. Childcare is an issue that has been identified by many in the House. It is something we would like to do more on compared with what we did last year.

Deputy Boyd Barrett raised the issue of Uber. I read the articles and I commend The Irish Timesand all of the media concerned on the articles and revelations. They are important for public discourse. What is also important to keep in mind when we read it is that lobbying is a fact of life. It happens in all shapes. It does not have to be done by corporations. It can be done by NGOs or individuals. It can relate to anything in life from sport to economics. Very often companies feel the need to employ people to gain access to the political system.

Many of us have had clinics for years and people walked in the door to see us. The system is robust on this one, which is kind of important. People can lobby. It does not mean they get their way or that policy changes. The National Transport Authority, NTA, did not move. The Government of the day did not take a decision to grant access to Uber. That is an important point. There should always be full transparency. If people are lobbying, they should register the fact that they are lobbying. That is an important point with regard to the issue.

The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform is bringing in new legislation to update our lobbying laws and register in terms of garden leave and so on. There should be a reasonable distance between people being in very senior positions and going into a lobbying role, immediately after their role in such senior positions. There are competing rights and so on in terms of the individual and the right to earn a livelihood. It is not simple but transparency is a very important way of dealing with it. The system proved itself robust if not in resisting, then at least in not acceding to the requests made by those who were doing the lobbying. That should be acknowledged as well. There was not a corporate capture of politics, as Deputy Murphy called it, in terms of-----

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