Thomas Byrne

We have dealt with many of the issues that were raised. The October European Council adopted certain conclusions on strengthening and protecting the digital ecosystem, including through reinforced international partnerships and close collaboration with trusted partner countries and international organisations on digital innovation and governance. Leaders stressed the need to address the risks rela…

Ba mhaith liom mo thacaíocht a thabhairt don Tánaiste, don Aire gnóthaí eachtracha agus Aire Cosanta, an Teachta Simon Harris, inniu. Ba mhaith liom vótáil ar son agus tacú le rún an Rialtais. There is a bit of a misnomer going around that the Government has manufactured this debate today. In fact, this has been standard practice for quite some time that the Government would table motions of conf…

For any Government to continue in office, any motion of confidence must be dealt with very quickly. Ireland and Europe stand at a very critical juncture. War is taking place on our Continent. As Minister of State in the Departments of Defence and Foreign Affairs and Trade, I am proud to work with the Tánaiste in making Ireland more secure and in securing our European future in delivering record bu…

I move amendment No. 1: To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following: "notes that: — the Government is acutely aware of the recent energy price increases and the impact it has on households and businesses; — the Government acknowledges the latest data for June shows that 13 per cent of households are in arrears on their electricity bills and 25 per cent on their gas bi…

I thank Deputy Currie for raising this important issue, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Burke. As the Deputy is aware, there has been a significant long-term shift in attitudes to remote and flexible working among both employers and workers throughout the country since the pandemic in particular. Acceptance of remote and flexible working is high and the evidence suggests that t…

The Minister has mentioned the upcoming Working in Ireland survey, which the Department has funded. About 5,000 people, north and south of the Border, have been surveyed. The Minister understands the survey has been completed and we can expect the research output in the coming months. We anticipate that there will be a lot of information on a range of labour market issues in this area, and this wi…

The Government does support Waterford Airport. I assure the Deputies that the Government is committed to working with all stakeholders to see the Waterford Airport project to lengthen and widen the runway progress. In line with this commitment and the requirements under the Government’s infrastructure guidelines, Waterford Airport was invited earlier this summer to submit a preliminary business ca…

If the Government broke the public spending code, or the infrastructure guidelines in this case, or decided to spend money without doing a proper analysis and proper business case, you guys would rightly be down at the public accounts committee castigating the Government. The Government is committed to working with all stakeholders to progress this project when the business case is received and re…

Today.

On 25 June, I met the EU Commissioner for Budget, Anti-Fraud and Public Administration, Piotr Serafin, in Brussels. The meeting was an important opportunity to set out Ireland’s preliminary views on the post-2027 multi-annual financial framework, MFF, in advance of the proposal of the Commission being published next Wednesday. During this meeting, I called on the Commissioner to ensure a robustly …

It is important to briefly set out the process. The Commission will publish the proposal next Wednesday. Ultimately, it is a matter for the leaders to agree this, in conjunction with the European Parliament. Over the next year and A half, starting on 18 July, governments will discuss the Commission's proposal and, in effect, negotiate it. Next Wednesday's proposal should be seen as the first outin…

During the Presidency Ireland will, in effect, be in charge of the negotiations. We will have to act as an honest broker. It is important that between now and then we get our spoke out, so to speak. That is why met Commissioner Serafin at a very early point and immediately after that meeting I met all of our MEPs, all of whom were invited to be briefed on our position. I am more than happy to do t…

This is just terrible stuff.

This is terrible stuff. This is shocking.

From this side.

On vaccines.

On vaccines.

He did not say that. He never said that.

There is always a bit of confusion about this slot. A range of questions have already been asked and I am more than happy to answer them now. However, the ruling from the Chair is that the questions should be fresh in coming forward. I am in the Chair's hands on this.

It is always the way.

The Deputy can ask me anything.

It might be easier if I just quickly answer Deputy Ó Laoghaire's question because it is likely there will be several questions. On tariffs, there were discussions about tariffs and this particular debate on the margins of the European Council meeting. Discussions between the EU and the US are ongoing. As the Taoiseach already said, President von der Leyen spoke to him on Monday. Commissioner Šefčo…

I will get the Deputy an exact answer on that. As I understand it, we are not part of that. The decision was taken by the Council, of which we are part, and our position is generally to facilitate what other member states want to do. As the Taoiseach has said, we are very clear that defence is a national competency. There is no EU army. If Deputy McDonald said what she said today in a presidential…

We are working very closely with the Commission. The Council has taken its own decision and that is the position we have taken on the matter. I do not accept what the Deputy has said, which is that we are funding arms manufacturers and research on how best to kill people. That is not happening. There is a country called Russia. Deputy Seán Crowe criticised us and told us not to use Russia as a bog…

I am raising the issues the Deputy raised when she spoke.