Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for their contributions.

Deputy McDonald spoke about her visit to Letterkenny and her engagement with the chamber of commerce there. I have had the chance to visit the county on many occasions, including in recent months. I visited Tata Consultancy Services, TCS, a multinational company employing over 1,000 people now in Letterkenny, which is great to see. I visited the hospital. I met with families and have been in homes affected by mica. I want to acknowledge some of the real problems that the county faces, whether it is economic development or housing, or the cost of living or mica, but I have to say things are not as bleak as the Deputy made out. I know there are companies thinking of investing in Donegal and investing in the north-west and I hope they are not brought to meet Deputy McDonald because they would probably be put off investing in the region and might choose to invest in another country instead. Far from there being mass emigration, the population of Donegal increased. We know that from the most recent census. It had declined in previous censuses. It is actually now going up again. That is positive. Unemployment is close to, if not at, an all-time low. I am disappointed that the Deputy had nothing good to say about Donegal in her remarks.

In terms of investment in the north-west, to answer the Deputy's question, I will visit the west region tomorrow opening the new road between Castlebar and Westport. I am really looking forward to that. It is the biggest State investment ever in County Mayo. I am very keen to get the A5 up and running, and under construction, which would benefit north Donegal and Letterkenny. The national broadband plan is now a reality. The previous Government, which I led, chose to go ahead with that against official advice. Opposed by Sinn Féin and all the other parties, I do not think anyone now seriously thinks that was the wrong decision because it is allowing remote working to become a real possibility in rural Ireland, allowing new businesses to be established and helping us to get investment into rural counties. There is also the rural fund, which is administered by the Minister, Deputy Humphreys. That Department of Rural and Community Development, established on the day I first became Taoiseach in 2017, is really making a difference now. It took years but it is making a real difference. There is the IDA Ireland regional property programme building advanced factories and advanced building solutions around the country, including one we are working on in Castlebar which Deputy Dillon raises with me all the time. There are the new technological universities, again, making a big difference, established by the previous Government in law and made a reality by this Government. There is also regional aid and cross-Border programmes.

Deputy Hourigan asked about the site valuation tax. When it comes to residential properties, we have decided to stick with the local property tax, LPT, but we are going to give consideration to a site valuation tax with respect to commercial properties because the commercial rates system does not work. It belongs to a different age and there are lots of problems with it which all Deputies will be aware of. Changing to a new system, although a new tax, is never straightforward. There will be winners and losers. People may not like the changes that are being made but certainly as part of that review of commercial rates, a site valuation tax is very much on the agenda and definitely has some merit.

Deputy Brendan Smith raised the issue of additional funding for road maintenance and road restoration. It is something that the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, and I are engaging with the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, on at present. By the way, we do not actually know if there will be an underspend at the Department of Transport. I read some newspaper coverage to the effect that there was. There was in the first quarter of the year but we are now well into the second quarter of the year. It is not clear that there will be an underspend but if evidence of an underspend emerges, I certainly believe that we should reallocate funding to local and regional road maintenance and restoration and perhaps also to the local improvement schemes. That is something that we are working on at present. I appreciate that a decision on that has to be made sooner rather than later because this work has to be done in the summer and autumn.

Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan raised the issue of apprentices. I am glad to say that we now have approximately 9,000 apprentices signing up every year, which is a big increase, with two thirds in the traditional craft apprenticeships and one third in the new modern apprenticeships. The Minister, Deputy Harris, has set the target of 10,000 and I think we will meet that.

On cost rental income limits, that matter is under review. I will certainly make sure that the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, is aware of what Deputy Boyd Barrett said here today.

Certainly, when it comes to Tara Mines, my understanding is that when the staff are on temporary redundancy they remain on the payroll but they do not get paid by the company. They are able to trigger their redundancy rights at a certain point - not at this point but three-to-six months later. I can absolutely guarantee that the Government will be working with the company to get the mine up and running again as soon as possible and also to secure the future of the mine into future decades through the Tara Deep project.

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