Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)

I thank the Minister for that update and welcome the work that has been done. What engagement has the Department had with the unions on the action plan? My fear is that workers' rights will be sacrificed on the altar of productivity. We need to be very careful in this space to bring workers and businesses together and ensure that there is not further division and polarisation between them. I am afraid that the threat of international trade tariffs will be used as fig leaf to guillotine employment rights, usher in bad trade deals like CETA and renege on our climate commitments.

We all want a strong economy but there must be balance. The business organisations I have engaged with are pointing to the lack of housing, pressures on services and the diabolical cost of living as presenting the biggest threat to business expansion. Have all these issues been taken into account in the action plan? It is really important that we have a sustainable plan that will address the cost of living and the cost of doing business as we go forward.

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