I thank the Minister of State for her response but I do not think it will go down that well with the population in Castlebar. It seems the HSE will provide a bed anywhere except in Castlebar, which is the county town and which has a huge hinterland and a big population. All the routes lead in to Castlebar. It is much easier for people to visit a relative or a loved one in Castlebar. To be quite honest, I am very disappointed with the response. I had hoped the Minister of State would have had some good news but ther…

I raise an issue that I raised before on the OPW making submissions to planning authorities on floodplains. It has made several submissions related to areas where housing has been built and where planning permission may be required or due. This has consequences for both. It has consequences for people who have houses built because they will not get insurance if the OPW has said that they are on a floodplain or that their area is likely to flood. The householder will not get insurance, which has huge consequences fo…

I also wish to be associated with the vote of confidence to Deputy Michael McGrath. He will make an excellent Commissioner. I wish him the best of luck, as well as Deputy Jack Chambers, who will become Minister for Finance.

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I presume it is safe to say this Bill was quite a number of years in gestation. I hope that when it comes to fruition, it will do exactly what he said, namely, bring much confidence to the charitable organisations and the sector. People kindly give to many charities. As he said, there are 11,500 charities. This is a large number in a small country and it means a huge number of people employed in the sector and a large number of CEOs and charitable boards. These organisa…

Next Tuesday.

Tomorrow at 10.30 a.m.

Senator McDowell qualified what he said. Nobody said it is wrong, but it has not been tested, which is the problem. We are looking into the future. I agree with the Minister in this case. We need to get this up and running. It has been going on for 30 years. I hope, as Senator McDowell said, that the Minister will get on with this Bill immediately. In some cases, many people may have only five or ten years — I do not know what, but the minimum number of years a person has left — to get into the scheme. Is it five y…

I am disappointed with the contribution from Senator Higgins because the State makes a contribution to people's pensions. At the same time, the Senator is saying that we should remove the tax relief from small business owners and small self-employed people. These individuals are probably the biggest employers in the country. They are small employers but taken together, they represent one huge employer. Senator Higgins is advocating that we should take the tax relief away from those who employ people in circumstance…

I am sure common sense will come into play when the legislation is up and running. I am certain the questions posed by Senator Higgins will be answered. Section 33 makes provision for appearances by members of the board of the authority before the Committee of Public Accounts. I am sure the CEO, chairperson and whoever else will be brought in at several stages, either at the request of the committee itself or at the request of the Minister, to account for their stewardship. The committee members will be able to ask…

Section 36 is a section that gives to the authority the power to borrow. Under what circumstances would this authority be borrowing money? I did not think it would have a requirement for borrowing given that the Bill provides for the Oireachtas to make provision for setting up the whole structure. Under what circumstances would the authority be borrowing and why do we have to give it, in the Bill, the power to borrow?

On section 43, is there an age where it may not be suitable for a person to join the auto-enrolment scheme? If someone is due to retire at 66 or 70 years of age and he or she is 50 or 60 years of age is there an age where he or she should not join the auto-enrolment scheme or where it would not be advisable or worthwhile to invest in? If this is the start of the auto-enrolment scheme and the first time it is taking place, from what age should it not apply to people? It applies to everybody but if it may not be attr…

At what age does the scheme finish? Can a person go on until he or she is 70 years old? The Minister said people can join at the age of 66.

A person cannot join after the age of 66 but could join the scheme any year before that so would avail of the €1 for the pension pot from the Government and the employer. A person cannot join the scheme after the age of 66 but could join at the age of 65.

For my own information I want to inquire about casual workers in restaurant and bar businesses. With summer work for, say, students who are less than 23 years of age, where does automatic enrolment kick in? Can casual workers avail of AE? They might decide to join because they would get the top-up from the Government and the employer's contribution, and people can cash in after a year or whatever. Therefore, it would be of interest for casual workers to opt in on a summer job to help automatic enrolment. An employe…

So they do not get it back.

Section 70 prescribes the different risk levels. The Minister spoke about three risk levels. Unless I read it incorrectly, it states in one part that the Minister can set out the risk levels, or is it a board that sets out the risk levels as well? Who has the ultimate authority in deciding low-, medium- or high-risk levels? How low do you go or how high of a risk do you take? How will the risk levels be arrived at? I am sure there will be a strategy in place to do that and I presume there is previous experience in …

I would like to raise an issue in relation to the rail services. I compliment Iarnród Éireann on a tremendous service throughout the length and breadth of the country which is improving daily. I call for an extra service for the western line, from Heuston Station to Westport and Ballina, in the morning. There is no service, between 7 a.m. and 12.45 p.m., from Dublin to Westport or Ballina and we are looking for an extra service in that regard. We are also looking for extra carriages on some of the existing services…

I thank the Cathaoirleach and welcome Minister of State, Deputy Anne Rabbitte to the House. I raise this issue as it has been brought up with me on a number of occasions in the last couple of weeks. It relates to the permanency of primary school teachers the length and breadth of the country. I understand from a number of those teachers that the vast majority of them are employed on a five-year contract basis and if that is the case, this provides no great permanency to them. These teachers want to settle down, buy…

I acknowledge the response by the Minister of State. I agree that the pay increases in recent years have been quite significant. Despite that, there are enormous challenges facing those young people. As the Minister of State said, those in the last year of a contract in particular have no chance of getting a loan. We all know about the Central Bank rules on accessing finance and drawing down loans and mortgages. I appreciate that the Minister of State is au fait with the problem we have here and that she will bring…

I also welcome our visitor from Maine and hope she has a successful trip in Ireland. It will not be long until the preparations for budget 2025 have been made. I raise the issue of holding the VAT rate at 9% and having a distinction between food and accommodation. Small restaurants, bars and pubs provide a great service not just to our economy but also to the tourism industry. They provide a great service to this country and a lot of them are under pressure. We all know from our daily jobs and activities that they …