Rose Conway-Walsh

122. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment the additional measures he will put in place to support small and medium-sized enterprises facing increased operating costs arising from the ongoing fuel crisis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30925/26]

I should not need to tell the Minister that businesses up and down this country are really suffering from an energy crisis that the Tánaiste and the Minister's party leader have acknowledged is the worst the world has ever seen. Yet, in the eyes of business owners, the scale of the supports from the Government do not match the scale of the crisis. What additional new measures will the Government p…

Business owners are begging for supports. Many of them joined the recent fuel protests as a last resort, just to have their voices heard. This comes in the context of the Government's spring economic statement, which predicts a surplus of €9.2 billion for this year, up from the €5.1 billion predicted on budget day. Many of the businesses we are talking about have contributed substantially to that…

The Minister of State may thank the protestors for anything that has been put in place. The proposals I presented to the Minister of State earlier would encourage greater uptake of the grants and secure the futures of many SMEs, but he has refused to take those on board. I want to talk about it in the context of tourism. Tourism is the heartbeat of many Irish communities, especially in rural commu…

124. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment the measurable improvements in national competitiveness that have been achieved since the publication of the Government’s Action Plan on Competitiveness and Productivity; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30926/26]

We are constantly dealing with the growing challenge of improving Ireland's competitiveness. While our economy, on paper, seems strong, there are clear and persistent structural weaknesses that are undermining our ability to sustain growth to attract investment and support our people. Last September, we received the Government's Action Plan on Competitiveness and Productivity, which contains 85 ac…

Across many metrics, the Government is failing to address the challenges to our competitiveness and what we are hearing back from businesses. The housing crisis has worsened, with record rents and with homelessness at a record high. Employers are asking us where their workers will live. They have nowhere to live. I am a member of the Joint Committee on Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, which has…

That is why we proposed in our alternative budget that we would have a PRSI rebate for businesses as well to enable them to meet the cost. I know that the Minister would not be suggesting a race to the bottom in relation to workers and workers' rights. Our motion earlier was about collective bargaining and the right that workers have in other jurisdictions to access to a union. I know the Ministe…

11. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the progress his Department is making in tackling child poverty. [26755/26]

19. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Taoiseach for an overview of the Budget 2026: Spotlight on Disability report recently published by his Department. [26756/26]

Budget 2026 unforgivably made some people in receipt of disability payments up to €1,400 worse off. People with disabilities want to contribute to society and want jobs in their communities. They have the same ambitions in life as everybody else. Ireland has one of the lowest disability employment rates in the EU, at between 32% and 33%. That is nearly 20 percentage points below the EU average. Th…

I certainly welcome that question and would welcome answers even more. Deputy Currie will know what I am talking about when I talk about what was agreed at the Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement. That was cross-party. It involved perspectives on constitutional change concentrating on finance and economics. We have a number of agreed recommendations that really need …

The existence of any school place is not the same as the existence of an appropriate placement. For autistic pupils, placements must be based on assessment of need, sensory profile, communication supports and the capacity of the receiving setting to provide a structured, autism-informed environment. Placing a child in an unsuitable setting can, as the Minister will know, lead to severe anxiety, re…

I thank the Social Democrats for bringing forward the motion and allowing us the opportunity to speak about the people who have been left behind. The Minister is still not listening. He is certainly not listening to the people in rural Ireland. I will tell him about the plumber I met at the protest on Monday morning in Ballina. These are the same protests that the Government is trying to condemn, …

Hear, hear.

23. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on justice, migration and social affairs will next meet. [22091/26]

The recent case and indeed the resilience and courage of former Garda Margaret Loftus exposed the systematic and institutionalised failures in addressing domestic, sexual and gender-based violence in Ireland, particularly when the alleged perpetrators are members of An Garda Síochána. Reliance on self-disclosure leaves systematic blind spots, allowing potential perpetrators to maintain investigati…

I am conscious of how deeply disappointed many people across this country are that this do-nothing Government is still in place. These are people struggling to get by. They are people who cannot afford to heat their homes, families, people with disabilities, children pushed into poverty, people who cannot afford to put fuel in their cars, the carers, the home help and other workers and small busin…

I hope the Critical Infrastructure Bill will not represent yet another failure for rural Ireland, which for too long has been left behind with regard to investment in infrastructure. Nowhere is that more evident then in the state of our regional and local roads, which are in urgent need of investment, and also our wastewater treatment plants and water infrastructure. In Mayo, our roads are lifelin…

The recent drowning of Joachim McNulty from Belderrig in County Mayo when his vehicle slipped off a pier is a stark reminder of the urgent need to prioritise pier maintenance around the country. This happened on the anniversary of a similar drowning off a pier in County Donegal. I extend my thoughts and sympathies to Joachim's family. Along with Darren Forde, they are now starting a campaign for t…

Two cent per litre is €20 for a 1,000 litre fill when people are afraid to turn on their heating - this Government will be remembered as the Government of fuel poverty and energy poverty. It is pushing people into energy poverty. To add fuel to the fire, it is incredible that the Government still plans to proceed with the next carbon tax hike in May. At a time when people are already stretched to …

10. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his attendance at the most recent meeting of the coalition of the willing in support of Ukraine. [22089/26]

My question is also about Ukrainians living here and what we need to do. It has been brought to my attention that many Ukrainians who are living here are having major difficulties in renewing their Ukrainian passports. Those who fled the Russian invasion and sought refuge here now find themselves unable to renew their passports in Ireland. The Taoiseach will know that, when Ukrainian children reac…

For God's sake. The Taoiseach should not be obtuse.

We are either neutral or we are not.