It is worth this House noting that tomorrow, over 200,000 public sector workers will take strike action in Northern Ireland to secure a pay increase. They have traditionally been very badly paid and so I salute them. We should note this because these workers are in our country. We may not have jurisdiction over them but it is a very important strike. Also important are the pay talks with the public sector that are happening here. I note that the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, has put a colouration on it that the Governm…

-----to take account of inflation over the last two or three years and those ahead.

I come here today less than enthusiastic about this. I said to the Minister the last day we spoke about this that he has made it very difficult for parties and people like me and mine who really want to progress the equality agenda in this country and has made it even more difficult for the citizens' assembly, which did a lot of work on the question of equality and how it should apply to the Constitution. Amazing work was done by the Joint Committee on Gender Equality, much of which was based on constitutional lega…

Of course. It is the messaging. I am just wondering how the Government will put its message across. What message is it giving the Irish people that says they should vote yes-yes?

It is replaced with stronger language in our proposal.

Tairgim leasú a 3: I leathanach 4, línte 15 go 28 a scriosadh agus i leathanach 6, línte 1 go 3 a scriosadh agus an méid seo a leanas a chur ina n-ionad: “(c) subsection 1° of section 3 of Article 41 of the Irish text shall be repealed; (d) subsection 1° of section 3 of Article 41 of the English text shall be repealed.”, agus I leathanach 5, línte 16 go 29 a scriosadh agus i leathanach 7, línte 1 go 3 a scriosadh agus an méid seo a leanas a chur ina n-ionad: “(c) aisghairfear fo-alt 1° d’alt 3 d’Airteagal 41 den té…

Tairgim leasú a 1 a : I gCuid 1, leathanach 6, línte 4 go 8 a scriosadh agus an méid seo a leanas a chur ina n-ionad: “Airteagal 41.2 1° Admhaíonn an Stát go dtugtar taca don Stát, ar taca é nach bhféadfaí leas an phobail a ghnóthú dá éagmais, de bhíthin cúram a thabhairt laistigh den bhaile agus lasmuigh de agus laistigh den teaghlach agus lasmuigh de. 2° Uime sin, tabharfaidh an Stát na gustail is gá chun tacú le cúram laistigh den bhaile agus lasmuigh de agus laistigh den teaghlach agus lasmuigh de.”. agus I gCu…

This is the piece of work with which I have the biggest problem. The Government has done us all a disservice by coupling the deletion of - as I paraphrase it - the woman's place is in the home with the care question. It has done the whole project a big disservice. I say this because I know for a fact that there are already others campaigning to confuse this issue, but also genuinely because the question of a woman's place being in the home, however it is phrased in the Constitution, is one that has both embittered …

That is why all the progressive women opposed it.

If it was being replaced with something more robust, I would have no problem.

I have just one final question for the Minister. He articulates his case very well but for me the case still does not stack up that "shall strive" is much more robust than "shall" and is better than "shall endeavour". It is probably better than "shall endeavour" but the word "shall" is the one we want to see included. I also question the opportunity that we have had to include care outside the family, as well as inside the family. This is really important because on a daily basis this State lets people down in term…

I would like clarification on procedure. We did not get a chance to vote on the last group of amendments, because the time ran out.

A couple of years ago, RTÉ wrote to Catherine Martin, the Minister, to ask for permission to use the pension fund to pay for the administrative costs of the fund. This is not normally done; the employer normally pays the admin costs. The figure involved would be upwards of €30 million over the lifetime of the fund. She refused, but RTÉ appealed and apparently she has done a U-turn on that. Why would she have done a U-turn? If Paschal Donohoe signs off on this, and apparently he has to, will it have to come back bef…

I will not try to compete with legal experts that dominate this House. Between Deputy Bacik and the Minister of State, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, I do not know what they are talking about half of the time but I do want to put across a perspective that is important for the vast majority of ordinary people because what this is about is removing a very offensive piece of wording in the Constitution. I will read it out for the benefit of anybody listening in. It states: In particular, the State recognises that by her lif…

I will share time with Deputy Barry. The Minister made it nearly impossible for us to be enthusiastic about this referendum. Many parties on this side of the House have played a key role in helping progressive referendums pass. I, like Deputy Cairns, worry that the Minister is not going to get this one passed for the reasons I stated earlier in that those in the far right have latched on to it to say it is undermining woman and women and promoting an agenda they say does not exist when they highlight their transpho…

I thank the Minister of State for taking this question at the last minute. I do not think he is responsible for this area but he may well be familiar with it as a Minister of State from the Green Party who should and would, I think, have an interest in developing public transport systems to take cars off the road, to decarbonise our economy and to improve public transport. In general, then, I start by saying I am not opposed to the BusConnects system in principle. If it improves public transport and encourages peop…

The problem we have is that all of this sounds great on paper. The data may show things are improving and capacity is improving. I know, for example, the late-night buses are a big attraction and capacity on them has improved and people are taking them up. Some of the routes are definitely better. However, we are still dealing with a lot of traffic congestion in the city. For example, yesterday evening I travelled to the Phoenix Park and it took me an hour and a half to go 5 km. I was going to the protest at the am…

They are not, however, and that is why I raised this as a Topical Issue.

It sounds like you are afraid of the Israeli Government and afraid to deal with them-----

You go after their citizens but not their State.