Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)

We have had increased migration in the context of the numbers now applying which went from an average of 3,500 in 2019 to approximately 14,000 to 15,000 in the past two years. This has a serious impact on services and our system. We need to accelerate it and make it faster for both the application and appeals processes but the message must be there that there are rules in Ireland and they must be seen to be applied. That is the bottom line.

Deputy Moynihan raised the issue of the competitiveness agenda. The omnibus legislation has been significant, particularly for the car industry. The vast majority of small companies and industries have now been exempt from much of EU legislation to try to give greater flexibility and freedom and to make it more competitive. The savings and investments union has been progressed by the Commission and has taken soundings. We have a strong financial services sector in Ireland and we would have a clear interest in this. Luxembourg would be another example, with Germany, France and a few others but those would be the key countries in this respect. I will unleash a lot of capital for venture capital and the new start-up and entrepreneurial sectors. There is much to be gained from trying to bring that over the line in the coming year and I will be positive about that at EU Council level.

The issue of research is the other key part of the competitiveness agenda and is something I am very much focused on. The president of the Commission is hopeful and has made progress on the European Union trade negotiations. There will be a significant agreement. It is interesting to counter forces of protectionism in trade and tariffs on trade. There are other agreements being worked on energetically by the Commission that are counterintuitive to other pressures. The committee is very focused on that.

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