Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to be able to comment on this Bill. I do not know if I have ever addressed the Minister, Deputy Michael McGrath, in this format discussing legislation. I wish him well as an Aire Rialtais and thank him for his co-operation and courtesy. Any time I contact him, or whenever anyone in my group does so, we get a reasonable response. That is very much appreciated by us and by all Members of the House. I wish him, agus a clann go léir, well.

This legislation is very important. I have been very critical. I have been in the Chair for the last while. I listened to the last two contributions and there was a diverse range of views. That is very important and that is why we are here. We are duly elected, thankfully, for the time being, to make our feelings known, but we need some reform. Like my colleague, I am a man who likes to get up in the morning and do a day's work. If it goes into the evening or the night, so be it. You get up the morning after, field out again and work hard. I must declare that I am self-employed, like the previous Deputy. Those types of people are very important to our country, especially now above all times when such huge pressures are coming on.

Like Deputy Michael Healy-Rae, I welcomed representatives of the stuttering association of Ireland here this morning.

It is a wonderful group that came to meet us today. So many groups make presentations in the audiovisual room. Yesterday, for instance, we met groups talking about maternity care, breastfeeding and forestry. A vast range of people come in to meet us. I do not call them lobbyists. They are just trying to improve people's lives hourly, daily, weekly, monthly and yearly. They are great people. Many of them are volunteers.

A member of the group we met today is a former town councillor from Templemore, Mr. Michael Ryan. The group's members are all volunteers and do not get a shilling from anyone. The work they have done in their year and a half must be noted. The group has gone Europe-wide, and it is going international on Saturday at 2 p.m. on Zoom. This is because stuttering is an impediment and has not been understood. I have a far better understanding of it from listening to the gentleman today in the audiovisual room. One member of the group was a teacher from the Minister's county who has been teaching for 25 or 30 years. It is a question of the quiet boy in the class. We now have so many special needs assistants because daoine óga are now diagnosed with different learning impediments. It is important that the representatives come here to meet us and that they have a forum for doing so. I thank the ushers, the secretariat and the other staff here for always facilitating them.

The groups that come here are diverse. Before this year's budget, they were all cut off the hook. It is natural for groups, whether they represent the motor industry, pharmacists or GPs, to approach us. As there are so many of them, we were running around nearly meeting them all together when the budget came early. I include the IFA and many others. Their job is to represent their members. We should remember that the salaries of their paid employees, if there are such employees, are paid for by their members, who pay their taxes, VAT and everything else. They provide valuable employment up and down the country, especially in rural areas. Therefore, we must not brand them all as vagabonds and people who try to twist people's arms. It is a democratic process that they are involved in, and they have a democratic right to meet elected members of all parties and none and explain their difficulties and issues, including with the tax code and the current restrictions. They have had a very tough time with Brexit and now with imports, exports and everything else.

Those of us with clinics meet people every day of the week. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae holds clinics in Kerry that go on until nearly midnight. It suits certain people to visit at certain times. That must never be taken away.

I would not like this Bill to have unintended consequences. I have been very strong recently on the unintended consequences of legislation. We have been passing Bills, especially in the past two years but also before that, that have a very punitive impact on the self-employed, on job creators and on those who run businesses, be they one-man or one-woman shows, enterprises with five, ten, 15 or 20 staff, the likes of Liebherr outside Killarney or the many industries in my area.

The Minister will know that due to the savage increases in the costs of electricity and gas, supermarkets, butchers' shops, hairdressers and others are lobbying us. I refer to every business that uses electricity. They just cannot cope with the prices. The Government has brought in the new temporary business energy support scheme, TBESS, which will help but will not cover all the costs. Unfortunately, many businesses will fall through the cracks. Have they no right, according to Teachtaí eile, to meet us to make their case and lobby? They have, of course. Therefore, we must make sure this legislation is robust.

Transparency International is obviously not happy with the proposed legislation, saying it is mainly technical. I missed the debate on the previous Bill we discussed because it ran so fast and I was at meetings. When I came into the House, I had intended to speak on it. I am very disappointed I did not get to do so. Will the Chair allow me-----

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