Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South West, Fianna Fail)
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7. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the National Economic and Social Council, a statutory agency operating under the aegis of his Department. [25609/24]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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8. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the work of the National Economic and Social Council, a statutory agency operating under the aegis of his Department. [25611/24]

Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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9. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the National Economic and Social Council, a statutory agency operating under the aegis of his Department. [26826/24]

Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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10. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the National Economic and Social Council, a statutory agency operating under the aegis of his Department. [26971/24]

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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11. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the National Economic and Social Council, a statutory agency operating under the aegis of his Department. [27041/24]

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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12. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the National Economic and Social Council, a statutory agency operating under the aegis of his Department. [27044/24]

Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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13. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the National Economic and Social Council, a statutory agency operating under the aegis of his Department. [28140/24]

Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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14. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the National Economic and Social Council, a statutory agency operating under the aegis of his Department. [28179/24]

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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15. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the National Economic and Social Council, a statutory agency operating under the aegis of his Department. [28183/24]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 7 to 15, inclusive, together.

The National Economic and Social Council, NESC, advises me on strategic policy issues relating to sustainable economic, social and environmental development in Ireland. NESC is currently working in four main areas. Throughout 2023, NESC engaged in a programme of activities to mark its establishment in 1973.

This is an opportunity to look forward and to consider how the council can continue to find solutions to complex and challenging economic, social and environmental issues. The council will publish a book,NESC@50: Ireland at a Pivotal Moment, to mark the anniversary. The book will capture the voices and ideas of more than 40 people who participated in a major conference at Dublin Castle in November 2023. It is expected that the book will be published in early autumn.

The second area of focus is what NESC describes as "better work". The programme for Government outlines the need for a concerted policy focus on increasing the number of quality and sustainable jobs in the labour market, and the Government has introduced a series of measures designed to improve employees’ terms and conditions. The council’s work in this area focuses on evidence of the benefits for employees, employers, the wider economy more generally and social cohesion. It also examines potential cost implications for enterprises in the private sector and for our public services. It is expected that the report will be published in quarter 3 of this year.

The third area being worked on is housing. NESC is currently examining options that will help better realise affordable, integrated, and sustainable residential development. This includes considering emerging systems thinking within housing research, as well as a particular focus on the practicality of active land management and the advantages and challenges associated with modern methods of construction. It is expected that NESC will publish this work also in quarter 3 of this year.

The final area NESC is working on is energy, just transition and shared island. In the Government, we are working hard to ensure that Ireland captures the full potential associated with cleaner energy. Work by NESC will support us by considering the changes needed to eliminate fossil fuel use from Ireland and to meet our climate objectives. It will examine economic, trade, and enterprise opportunities and challenges associated with large-scale investment in clean energy infrastructure and what the transition means for households and communities, including the impact on energy poverty. It will help to inform and shape Ireland’s overall strategy and narrative for the transformation of the whole energy system on the island of Ireland. Work on this programme will be ongoing throughout the rest of 2024.

Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South West, Fianna Fail)
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Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in Ireland. Some 10,000 people per annum are diagnosed with skin cancer. Despite this, the use of sunbeds is still widespread. Using a sunbed increases the risk of developing skin cancer by 60%. That is only after just one session on a sunbed. More worryingly, 40% of people continue to use sunbeds despite knowing the risks involved for developing skin cancer. We need to do something about this. Australia has banned outright use of sunbeds and it is having an impact on health outcomes and costs to the state. I ask the Taoiseach to consider an outright ban on the use of sunbeds in Ireland because it will save money, but most importantly, it will save lives.

Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Councillor Pearse McGeough and I met representatives of Connect Credit Union in Blackrock this morning regarding the planned closure of the Kilsaran and Clogherhead branches on 30 August. This is not something we want to see. I spoke to the representatives and our biggest concern was about the vulnerable clients and that thing that makes the credit union different. We need to make sure that full supports are being provided and I have been told that they will be in this case. It is an issue which needs to be revisited. We all know the issue in relation to rural Ireland and the loss of services. The credit union brought up the report by the International Credit Union Regulators Network, ICURN, - the report of the auditor of auditors - and the fact that consideration was given to changing the threshold which at present means that credit unions can only have 10% of mortgages, business loans and agri-loans. Credit unions across the board will state that they need the threshold to be increased in order that they can do more businesses and provide services to people. That is vital, particularly when we consider the housing crisis.

Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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The US medical devices company Stryker employs 1,500 people in Carrigtwohill, County Cork. A significant minority of this workforce has chosen to join the trade union SIPTU. The company refused to recognise the union, in contrast to the position at its other plants in Macroom and Limerick, where it purchased companies with pre-existing union recognition arrangements. Stryker states that it is adhering to Irish law, but union members in Carrigtwohill believe the company is hiding behind it. SIPTU took the issue to the national contact point, NCP, for the OECD guidelines for multinational enterprises on responsible business conduct. The NCP ruled on 3 May that Stryker should be prepared to engage in collective bargaining with worker representatives and that Stryker should consider how pre-existing collective bargaining arrangements at two other Irish facilities acquired by the company can be replicated so as its entire Irish workforce has the same representational arrangements in place. Will the Taoiseach encourage this company to observe and implement the recommendations from this important OECD body?

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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It is obvious that the Taoiseach is running away from a debate on the report by the Housing Commission, which we have been asking about for weeks. One of the major contributors to the report was the NESC. It gave a presentation to the commission in March 2023, which referred to the need to engineer permanent affordability into housing policy. NESC referred to the housing policy as dysfunctional and said that an emergency response was required. It also said that we needed the active managing of land for the public good. This morning, the Taoiseach refused a debate on the report of the Housing Commission before the recess and at the same time, we got an announcement that the Taoiseach has signed a legal order which will waive the requirement for social and affordable housing on a site like the one on Aungier Street, which is in public ownership. This repeats the ongoing policy of the Government, handing over land or responsibility for dealing with housing crisis to the market and to private for-profit interests. When is the Government going to change tack and at least debate the issues about the report of the Housing Commission?

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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It has now been two years since the Government received the report into the scale of defects in apartments and duplexes, revealing that a majority of the properties built between 1991 and 2013 were likely affected. There may be up to 100,000 apartments and duplexes whose owners face an average cost, which is probably increased since, of €25,000 to repair. It has been a year and a half since the Government announced that there would be a 100% redress scheme, with retrospection. It has been a similar amount of time, about 16 months, since the Government announced that there would be an interim scheme for emergency fire safety measures. The scheme has opened and almost 300 individual applications have been made for different apartment blocks and multi-unit developments, representing almost 16,000 residential units. However, still not a single cent has been paid out in terms of interim funding emergency fire safety measures. There appear to be significant delays. We still do not have the legislation in terms of heads of Bill or in terms of the overall scheme. It is very unlikely at this stage that we will get that before the next general election. This means that all we and these homeowners have is a promise, which is not good enough. We need to have action.

Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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Clean drinking water and wastewater treatment systems are basic components needed to grow or even to just sustain rural communities. At the moment, our island communities in west Cork face huge barriers in accessing affordable social housing due to the need for a stand-alone wastewater treatment units. In Castletownbere, there is an issue where there is no extra capacity for drinking water because of the presence of pearl mussels in the current supply of drinking water. There is also the issue I raised with the Taoiseach the week before last about Shannonvale, where the wastewater treatment plant literally spills into the green space in the village and into the river. An estate on the other side of the river was built in 2004 with a temporary sewer because the village was supposed to get one installed in 2005. Twenty years later, it has still not been resolved or taken in charge. That is now degrading and adding to the leakage into the same river. I have had extensive meetings with Irish Water on a regular basis. I am sick of meeting them and I think they are sick of meeting me. As it does not have enough capital funding, it is prioritising areas that have no treatment systems, where the waste is going straight into the water. It desperately needs more money.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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The EU directive on adequate minimum wages is a significant opportunity to improve workers' rights and increase productivity in the Irish economy. The success of the directive relies on the domestic legislation underpinning it and the plan on collective bargaining that will be presented to European Commission as part of its transposition. The need for collective bargaining to be protected by legislation has never been greater. We have seen a race to the bottom for terms and conditions for workers and an increase in low-paid work and the marginalisation of trade unions and workplace democracy.

Workers' rights must be given priority and firm legal protections enacted. We fully support the trade union movement and its campaign on the right to organise. Does the Government support those objectives? It is only through collective bargaining that we can ensure that Ireland addresses the productivity difficulties that persist across the economy. Adopting both of these approaches can ensure good jobs, decent work and delivering a strong economy that addresses the causes of low pay and poor working conditions at source.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I will start with that issue. The short answer on that is that I agree. I met with ICTU last week at the Labour Employer Economic Forum. It is not for me to speak for the unions but it is fair to say this was a very pressing issue for them. They are right to be. It is important that when unions are good enough to come to the table, some of the issues they highlight as a priority do get that sense of priority from the forum too. I have asked for intensive engagement between them and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and the Minister, Deputy Burke specifically on making progress for the next meeting of the LEEF. Now that the Deputy has raised it with me, I am happy to write to her on this.

I share the view on collective bargaining. It is very important in these times when vulnerable people, low-paid workers or others can seek to be exploited by those who seek to bring division that the trade union movement has a more important role than ever in helping to deliver standards in the way they do and on which they have a proud record. On this I agree with the Deputy. We are committed to transposing the EU directive and I will write to her with further details on that.

Deputy O’Sullivan raised skin cancer and the danger of sun beds; I agree. It is a statement of fact that they are dangerous. The evidence on skin cancer is pretty categoric. Going back to my memory from my time as Minister for Health, measures were taken relating to banning them for children and so on but that is nowhere near adequate in terms of where we need to get to. I will seek the view of the Minister for Health whose policy responsibility it is but I am certainly in support of taking more action here on advancing our national cancer strategy’s objectives and keeping our population healthy from a cancer perspective.

On Deputy Ó Murchú’s question, I meeting the credit union movement at 4.30 p.m. and will raise the issue he raised with me. I did not catch the name of the first credit union because there was noise. It is Clogherhead-----

Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Clogherhead and Kilsaran and Connect Credit Union.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I will raise that and particularly the issues it raised with the Deputy about some of the changes it needs. I am happy to revert in writing.

On Deputy Barry’s question, yes, I would encourage a company to take seriously the recommendations and findings of an OECD body and a national contact point as well. I will make inquiries with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment on the issue regarding the company that he highlighted.

On Deputy Boyd Barrett’s issue, I do not want to repeat points I made here earlier but the land for the DIT buildings was always land that was in the ownership of DIT rather than in the direct ownership of the Government. Legislation was passed in this House, the Grangegorman Development Agency Act 2005, under which it was understood that the purpose of the disposal of that land was to fund the work at Grangegorman. The Land Development Agency confirmed in writing that it had no wish to acquire that site.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Do we not question that?

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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No-----

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Jesus.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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-----because the Government’s intention was always to allow for every cent of funding to go into the health clinic in the west quad, including a number of new schools in TU Dublin. That is separate and distinct to the work we are doing with many other public sites and the extra capital that we put into the Land Development Agency. The Deputy has a different view from me on whether the Land Development Agency should even exist.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I do.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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He has the right view.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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However, the Land Development Agency is delivering a number of projects on public lands. It is unfair to suggest that the DIT buildings were ever intended for anything other than the purpose of providing funding for TU Dublin.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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No, but you can do both.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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How would the Deputy plug the hole? That might be for a longer conversation but the situation is that those funds are required for a number of projects in TU Dublin on what they call the west quad.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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It is a unique site.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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It is a prime site.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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It is crazy. Absolutely crazy.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I would also point out that the decision has only been made in relation to not transferring to the Land Development Agency. What actually happens with the site in terms of ownership and the provision of housing, should it be housing, and the composition of that is a matter for further planning applications and so on. There has been a jump and a presumption that either there will be no social and affordable housing. That is not the same as saying that a site will not be transferred to the Land Development Agency.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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Did the Government not sign that order then?

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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No, the Government made a decision on Part 9 of the Land Development Agency Act. That is entirely correct. Respectfully, there would not be a Land Development Agency if it was up to the Deputy because she does not believe in it.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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Correct.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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That is okay too. I am not saying that there cannot be future housing development on that site and as part of a planning permission for that site that cannot involve social and affordable housing. They are genuinely different points.

Deputy Murphy raised the apartment and duplex defects scheme. I need to get him a note on that because I do not have the information to hand. My understanding is there was a meeting between the Minister, Deputy O’Brien, and the LGMA in recent weeks on the issue of interim funding and what can be done with the applications that are in. I do not have access to the information here but I will come back to the Deputy in writing.

Deputy Cairns is right. I can tell her that if one has meetings and engagements with Irish Water, and she points out she has had many of them, there is a need to look at the capital funding available to Irish Water. There is a number of significant pinch points in terms of basic infrastructure in Ireland, particularly around water, energy and housing. The Government will have a number of opportunities to see if we can do more on that in and around the budgetary process. I am happy to consider what more can be done to help Irish Water advance capital projects.