Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I do not know how to follow that tour of the Ring of Kerry and the capital of hospitality in Killarney. Déanfaidh mé mo dhícheall. I was here for the Minister's speech. I welcome the legislation. I welcome the fact that research, innovation and science will be upgraded and amalgamated and that we will have a new, hopefully fit-for-purpose, dynamic, modern, outward-looking and all-encompassing agency that will stimulate and bring out the best in our young people. It will also have young people educated in many skills and areas, and entrepreneurs and investors from abroad will say they want to come here. With the roll-out of universities to rural areas, including the campus in Clonmel, which is under the Limerick campus, I want to remember the VEC of decades ago and, in particular, John Slattery, Luke Murtagh in north Tipperary and others who were visionaries. They got the campuses going in Clonmel and Thurles as TRBDI, which has evolved into a university campus. We welcome that in Clonmel and we also welcome the investment. It makes it easier on families, especially with the housing crisis, the cost of renting and the lack of rural transport, given that many people can do courses in their home towns and home areas in rural Ireland.

We need to recalibrate the system. The late Liam Simpson was a visionary in Tipperary and a member of Macra na Feirme and Macra na Tuaithe. He was a great friend of mine and múinteoir iontach a bhí ann. He often called me in to say that we have to get back to the trades. He started off with domestic science and bringing the young farmers to the VEC school in Cahir. He got people educated and got them into different farming courses, but also a wide range of other trades. We have to go back to the trades. I am glad that we have the Archerstown centre in Thurles under the auspices of Tipperary ETB. I have been there a number of times and it is fabulous to see it. It is what we need. It is a training centre for catering and for dressing and making beds and preparing rooms, right along to chefs and management - from driving a bulldozer to operating a van, and everything in between. It is an amazing complex, with plumbers, electricians and all the different trades.

It is great to see females involved in some of those trades now because the country is crying out for them. I saw recently that the Construction Industry Federation has stated that we could ramp up housing to 50,000 units a year from the projected 33,000 but the problem is the skills. I am talking about skills for the man on the shovel but also blocklayers, as referenced by Deputy O’Donoghue, plasterers, carpenters, electricians, plumbers, roofers and so on. There is also training with regard to electronic components.

Some trainees are with a great company that makes steel frame houses, which is based in Cahir but is from the constituency of the Minister of State at Kilbehenny. It is very successful but it took nearly three years of fighting to get the ISO brand in Ireland whereas it got it in England in six months. There is too much red tape here with regard to these issues. We have young people with the vision, passion and courage to make investments, although, as Deputies Danny and Michael Healy-Rae said, they might not have third level or even second level education. They are great people but they cannot be smothered with red tape.

The Minister of State is proclaiming about how great the Government is with the minimum wage increase, the sick pay increase to five days for employers, with five extra days for domestic violence issues and the extra bank holidays. It is all patent nonsense because it is killing employers. As an employer myself, I know it full well. Most employers want to look after their workers and they do, and there is a good relationship, but there are all of these regulations and panels of people going around with folders, enforcing this and enforcing that. We have become a bloody battalion of enforcers going around with stuff under their oxters, telling people what they cannot do, instead of being out there to support people, especially given the crisis that we have - ag cabhrú agus ag tabhairt aire dóibh. I mean that in terms of Revenue and everyone else. Revenue has gone very aggressive about taxes for waiters. We are at a very volatile stage in our economy and many businesses are closing gach lá and are under severe pressure. We need our agencies . I hope this new agency will have the spirit and vision, but will also encourage employers who are struggling so they will be able to innovate, take up new technologies and so on. We must cut off the heavy hand of the law because the weight of bureaucracy on people is enormous.

As I said, I am not anti-minimum wage but everybody in positions now wants a retrospective increase as well. Therefore, there are knock-on issues. There are also bank holidays, with an extra one coming up, Lá Fhéile Bríde. I love St. Brigid’s Day but it did not need a bank holiday because extra bank holidays put more pressure on existing companies, big and small, but especially the small.

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