We have three petitions for consideration today. The first is No. P00036/21, which relates to reform of the insurance for thatched heritage buildings and which is from Ms Kate McNelis. It is recommended that: we publish the responses from the Minister of State at the Department of Finance with responsibility for financial services, credit unions and insurance and the CEO of Insurance Ireland; the correspondence from the Minister of State with responsibility for financial services, credit unions and insurance at the Department of Finance be forwarded to the petitioner for comment within 14 days; the correspondence from the CEO of Insurance Ireland be forwarded to the petitioner for comment within 14 days; the correspondence from the Minister of State at the Department of Housing with responsibility for nature, heritage and electoral reform, be forwarded to the petitioner for information; the secretariat contact Pobal and the OPW to check how Government buildings under its remit can have thatched buildings insured; and the secretariat request the Library and Research Service produce a briefing paper in relation to insurance practices in the UK and Europe versus Ireland, with statistics on the overall house fire percentage claims from the period 2020 to 2023 affecting buildings with thatched, flat and slate roofs. Do members have any views on this or is it agreed?
Decisions on Public Petitions Received
It is agreed.
The second petition for consideration is No. P00006/22, entitled "Bye/By Elections in Ireland may comply with legislation however they do not comply with the Constitution”. The petition is from Mr. John O'Malley. In light of the response from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to the effect that its position has not changed since it sent its previous correspondence, the committee recommends that the petition cannot be progressed further by it, that the petition should be deemed closed and that the petitioner advised of the same. The committee also recommends that when writing to inform petitioner of closure of petition, the secretariat advise that the committee is unable to consider a constitutional matter but that he has full access to the courts to pursue it. Is that agreed?
That is agreed.
No. P00008/24 relates to employment equality and is from Mr. John O’Malley. It is recommended that the committee we publish the response from Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine and that the correspondence from the Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine be forwarded to the petitioner for comment within 14 days. Do members have any views on this or is this agreed?
I have no views on that. It is agreed.
That concludes our consideration of public petitions for this afternoon. I invite members of the public to submit petitions via our online portal, which is available at petitions.oireachtas.ie. A petition may be addressed to the Houses of the Oireachtas on a matter of general public concern or interest or an issue of public policy. Do members wish to raise any other concerns?
No. Go raibh maith agat.