Does this sound a bit like another Debenhams to the Minister? It does to me.

The context for this discussion is that report on the climate action plan and its progress. It is remarkable to hear a report from the Taoiseach that did not mention that the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, recently told us the first two carbon budgets will not be met. Not only will they not be met, they will not be met by a significant amount. The EPA predicts at best a 29% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. This is far short of the legally binding target of 51%. An Taisce has called this pretty …

Any serious economy will depend on workers to function. This is why I keep raising the question of workers' rights, as I did this morning on the issue of Iceland workers who have been locked out of their jobs. I will raise another such issue, namely, that of the security workers who were awarded a relatively tiny increase in their pay more than a year ago, which has been blocked by the industry. Yesterday, that industry again had security workers in the High Court on the spurious grounds they were trying to block a…

I want to raise a separate matter. Last week, the Taoiseach agreed with me that we should have a debate on data centres. At that time, we did not have the report from Bitpower, which tells us that there are now 82 data centres operating in the Republic. Last July, the figure was 75. We know that data centre usage is taking up 18% of our national grid at the moment, and that figure will rise to 30%. According to Bitpower, a further 14 centres are under construction, with planning permission approved for 40 more, and…

The Taoiseach recently told The Irish Times that he was happy to have led a Government that repealed the eighth amendment. However, he is not so happy to make changes to the legislation that are clearly needed. He said he would have to think long and hard before making any changes to the legislation. The Bill I put to the House that passed Second Stage here has now been referred to the committee by the Ceann Comhairle. I have written to ask the committee to proceed with it. Will that Bill be allowed to progress as …

This question is pretty similar to the previous one. If the Tánaiste does not mind, rather than repeating the question, I will just follow on the train thought of the discussion he has just had with Deputies Nash and Cronin. I ask him to repeat what he said about the groups he met. He said it very quickly. He said he met various groups in the Defence Forces, retired members of the Defence Forces, some other group and the Women of Honour. Was I right in picking that up or that he was in touch with them or had a meet…

Could the Tánaiste just run through it again, please? Before he answers, what is the purpose of meeting them all if the point of this was to address the concerns of the Women of Honour?

Could the Tanaiste-----

I might flesh out the question a bit more. On the terms of reference, the Women of Honour group presented the Tánaiste with what it recommended as terms of reference, which should be broader and would make an inquiry more transparent and open. It wants it to be more public. Does meeting the group to deal with its terms of reference, choices, queries and preferences mean that if the Tánaiste meets other organisations that represent serving members or veterans' associations, which I am not picking out particularly bu…

I do not want to draw this out. I am trying to work it out in my head as well. The Tánaiste shared the draft terms of reference with everybody. The Women of Honour came back with their suggestions on them, which included 15 grounds that an inquiry should investigate, and asked for openness and full transparency. We know, very publicly, that Women of Honour came back with its suggestions on the draft terms of reference, which included approximately 15 grounds that an inquiry should investigate, and asked for open an…

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." Before I introduce the Bill, I want to say quite openly and publicly that People Before Profit sends its full sympathy and solidarity to the family of the late and great Christy Dignam. If he was alive today, he would fully support this Bill. My experience of him was when he played in a local venue in Ballyfermot in the 1990s. It used to be packed to the gills, full of young people who really got him, and he really got them. He understood young people in working cl…

The Taoiseach may or may not be aware of it but next Tuesday, 20 June, is World Refugee Day. It is both an opportunity for us to celebrate the incredible strength, perseverance and courage refugees have shown globally in the face of adverse and varied reactions from governments around the world to their plight, and an opportunity for us to protest aspects of what is happening to them at the moment, particularly being left to sleep on the streets and the housing crisis having an impact on that. This and consecutive …

After six months.

But there is a group that is treated differently.

It does not stop them from working until they get an answer to their applications.

I raise the special leave with pay scheme for workers who are out sick with long Covid. Healthcare workers in particular have had long periods of illness from Covid, and a scheme was put in place in June 2022 to ensure they would get paid if they were out sick with long Covid. That is due to end on 30 June. Therefore, from 1 July, potentially hundreds of health workers who stepped up to the plate, made sacrifices and put themselves out there for all of us in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic will be told their su…

My question relates to the same subject. The Taoiseach did not mention it but did the issue of Ireland's breach of the Council of Europe's labour rights obligations come up for discussion while he was in Iceland? Thousands of people will be interested to know if it did. Approximately 34,000 workers are paid sub-minimum wage rates in this State. Half of those are young workers and apprentices comprise the other half. Many people do not know that is the case. I was talking to journalists who had no idea that beneath …

The only way to address that is to change the law, and we will attempt to do that tomorrow morning with our Bill. We will see what way the Taoiseach votes tomorrow evening. I ask the Government not to submit an amendment in order to kick the issue down the road for another year. There may not be much more than a year left in this Government's term of office. People are getting sick of things being kicked down the road. We need to deal with them now. These are people's everyday living standards. Young people should …

I also want to ask the Taoiseach about data centres and comment on the astonishing speed and insistence of the Ministers, Deputies Eamon Ryan and Coveney, to protect the data centre sector in light of the statistics showing a substantial increase in the amount of electricity - up 9% in the past five years - that is being used by these centres. As previous speakers indicated, the sector's usage accounts for the equivalent of all urban household use. What I would like to see is an honest open debate and discussion ab…

People Before Profit warmly welcomes our colleagues from South Africa. It is good to see them here. I do not know how much they know about this little island but it is partitioned and there are things that impact on either side quite harshly sometimes. One of those is women's rights. On the very historic day we got the repeal referendum result and we all gathered and celebrated in Dublin Castle, some young women from the North held up a banner saying the North was next. However, five years later, I am afraid the No…