Go raibh maith agat a Aire Stáit. I appreciate the update and the work that is ongoing. A key area I want to highlight, and I know the Minister of State is hearing this regularly, is energy costs. Energy remains one of the largest overheads for SMEs, particular in the hospitality sector, the manufacturing sector and the agribusiness sector. Small businesses do not have the same purchasing power that larger entities or corporations might have. It might be feasible for a large entity to buy the energy coming from som…

The Government has to go further, in particular for small and medium enterprises that do not have the scale to acquire electricity at a discounted rate. This is who we have to consider and support. I want to move on to another cost of business issue which is constantly coming up for me, in particular in recent weeks. It is with regard to rates. Commercial rates are increasingly becoming a frustration for businesses. I understand that rates were not revalued for a long time but the revaluation has led to significant…

Artificial intelligence, AI, is one of the biggest economic opportunities facing Ireland over the next decade. It has the potential to transform productivity, innovation and competitiveness across every sector. What is the Government doing to position Ireland as a leader in AI adoption and development?

I am firmly of the opinion that the countries that adopt AI responsibly will yield the greatest benefits over the next generation. We can be economic leaders through AI and we can show what a society is capable of. A part of where this conversation has to be is about the societal benefits that can come from AI-gained efficiencies. With those efficiencies, however, come a lot of concerns. We have to address the challenges that there will be around job displacement and workforce skills and ensure that people can upsk…

I would say that we need to be careful. I welcome the Grow Digital vouchers, but this would lead to businesses depending on those vouchers to get the expertise and skills to be talented with AI. The whole idea of AI is that it is going to be usable by anybody for anybody with their own critical thinking and their own ability. It is going to be about allowing people to gain the skillsets and the critical thinking capacity to use AI. I would be careful not to fund so many vouchers that people become dependent on them…

FDI decisions are going to be driven by talent, innovation and, ultimately, infrastructure. When I say infrastructure, I am talking about public transport, housing and everything that goes into the quality of life of the employee because, ultimately, companies are going to locate where the talent wants to be. In Galway, as I have mentioned previously, we have a significant medtech sector. It is absolutely incredible what has happened there over the past 30 years. That does not just happen. We need to see a continue…

I welcome the Minister of State's mention of the next-generation sites. As he knows, outside Oranmore there is potential for one of the country's most strategic sites. It was reported in the Business Post over a year ago that the Minister, Deputy Burke, was to bring a memo to the Cabinet about potential investment in Galway to upgrade the infrastructure on Mutton Island and wastewater infrastructure, and to provide a new link off the motorway and a new rail stop at the site. Can I have an update? Where is that curr…

This is something that I am very passionate about. It is something that affects us all. It is about financial literacy: understanding how a mortgage works, understanding how contributions to a pension can compound, understanding how people can better manage their own financial situations individually and, ultimately, understanding how people can make the best possible lives for themselves. That comes back to financial literacy and financial awareness. In secondary school, there are courses on accounting, which teac…

I really appreciate the Minister of State's engagement on this issue. I welcome the response from the Minister, Deputy Naughton, and the financial literacy framework and directive that are in place. I know about that because I experienced it when I was in secondary school. I was really interested in commerce, economics and accounting and I went on to study accounting. I took those three subjects and did not do any science subjects. I was exposed to all those different elements and received a well-rounded learning i…

I am going to start off addressing the short-term lets. As the Minister knows, I am a member of the enterprise committee where we have been considering the legislation and considering the conversations around it. One of the main things that consistently comes across from people in the industry is that they are not really concerned with the register as such. However, they are very concerned with the implications that could follow on from the register if there is a planning obligation forced on so many of these rural…

I welcome the progression of the Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Bill. I am pleased the Government is now bringing forward legislation that reflects Ireland's long-held position on this issue. Ireland has consistently stood on the side of international law, human rights and the pursuit of peace. We have been among the strongest voices internationally in condemning the horrific loss of civilian life on Gaza, calling for an immediate ceasefire, demanding…

Will the Minister consider instructing Departments and bodies under his remit to include an additional column in their published purchase order reports to indicate the specific contract under which each payment is made? From a purchase order report, I can see who was paid, how much they were paid and when they were paid but I cannot see what they were paid for. The only way we can do that is by linking it back to the original contract.

I thank the Minister for his work in writing to all the State bodies to remind them of their obligation under the EU open data directive that they have to publish their purchase orders in machine-readable format. To give the Minister an example, Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, the children's hospital and the Arts Council were not publishing but once he wrote to them, this ensured that they did start publishing. We had written to them as well. The Minister will be aware of my work with my team in collating al…

The Office of Government Procurement stopped centrally collecting procurement spend data in 2019 citing general data protection regulation, GDPR, concerns and six years later, nothing has replaced it. The Department is estimating its procurement spend using estimated tender values on eTenders, not actual expenditure data. I believe this is a structural governance problem and a very practical step is adding one additional column to published purchase order reports identifying the relevant contract reference or contr…

An adult travelling daily from Athenry to Galway city currently pays approximately €5.10 each way by rail, despite the journey taking only around 20 minutes and the route increasingly functioning as a major commuter corridor for workers and students travelling into Galway. Meanwhile, a commuter travelling from Clonsilla to Connolly Station in Dublin, a journey of approximately 28 minutes, can travel for roughly €2.60 each way under the Dublin commuter fare structure and the Leap card system. This is wholly inequita…

It is really important to say that at any time a government needs to be both ready and able to respond to crises if and when they arise. We saw recently that when the Government was in a position where it could respond. It had the capital to deploy to help support people through the oil shock we are experiencing due to what is going on in the Middle East, and to the tune of €750 million. It is prudent financial management over the past few years that has got us into a position where we are able to respond should cr…

Something that we have to be cognisant of is that over the past few years many people have said that it is our corporate tax rate that has attracted so much investment. That is not the case any more. It is our people who are driving that investment. It is also down to our knowledge base, our skills base, our highly-educated workforce, our work ethic and, I guess, to a desire for better and to do more. That does not just happen, however. That will only happen with continuous investment, continuous learning, continuo…

In the past two weeks, we had some fantastic news for Galway. In our only model 4 hospital, the design team was appointed for a 300-bed block at University Hospital Galway. This is really welcome. However, as the Taoiseach knows, design teams get appointed, we go through the planning process and it can take an incredibly long time before we see a shovel in the ground. Would it be possible for the only model 4 hospital in the west to have the 300-bed block that it is seeking designated as a critical infrastructure p…

I speak regularly to sole traders, farmers, tradespeople and small business owners who are under immense pressure from rising costs, irregular income patterns and administrative burden. Many also remain concerned about the level of protection available to them if illness strikes or if business slows. Will the Taoiseach look seriously at strengthening supports for the self-employed, including areas such as simplified tax compliance, improved income protections and measures that recognise the reality of the risks the…

There is growing concern in the town of Athenry in east Galway that a service that was introduced - the 6.50 a.m. train service from Athenry to Galway city - will be lost. In October 2025, this service was added as a temporary service in light of the works that were ongoing at Ceannt Station and Oranmore Station. As the Minister of State can imagine, there are many people who now rely on and benefit from this service, as there was no earlier service going into Galway city from Athenry. There are currently about 50 …