I do not want to be an irritant to the Minister of State and I do not expect him to apologise for it again but it is utterly shameful that the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, is not here today to take this session. It is an insult to the House. I understand it is because there is a Cabinet meeting. We asked during the suspension about the timing of this Bill because it is being pushed through. As Deputy Doherty said, we are going into this with a certain amount of blindness, which is not a healthy state for M…

I support the amendment. The Sinn Féin amendment calls for oversight on this, and it is completely lacking anywhere else. It was said earlier that we could not pass an extension of maternity leave last night because it was too complex, but what we are looking at here is seriously complex and we are not getting the clarity on it that we deserve. To be honest, what is going on here is beyond the understanding of most of us in the House. We understand the urgency and accept that this is a gigantic stimulus package tha…

Like the Bill that was passed earlier, if we accept the rhetoric of this Bill, it is hard to argue against it on the face of it. Money from the current 2 cent per litre levy on petrol and diesel will now go to the climate action fund if we pass this Bill. We are told that fund will be used to help to reduce our emissions and reach our climate targets. What is not to like about that? However, a number of questions arise and there is a fundamental weakness in the logic behind this kind of policy, which becomes clear …

The paths in the House are well trodden by the captains of industry and sometimes by trade unions and their representatives. My question to the Tánaiste is a bit like the question he was asked earlier about meeting the Debenhams workers. Maybe he could clarify it but I believe he responded positively to that. In the light of the recent High Court judgment which sent shockwaves through the industries affected by the judgment, would he be willing to meet representatives of construction, contract cleaning and security…

I welcome that the Minister of State said he will meet their representatives in the coming weeks. I hugely welcome the announcement that the Government will appeal the High Court decision and I particularly enjoyed the Tánaiste’s video that he put out on Twitter last night with Countess Markievicz clearly having his back. I doubt he will take her advice and leave his jewels in the bank and buy a revolver but nevertheless-----

-----he might follow her inspiration and show us that he has the backs of the workers involved. The reason I am putting the question in this manner is that I think there is more to protecting and advocating workers’ right than just what goes on in the courts. There is also the ability of workers to defend themselves. There is plan A, where one defends the rights in the courts and plan B, where the State gives workers the possibility to defend themselves. Here I am talking about the legal right to trade union recogn…

I agree that we need to appeal the decision in this case and robustly defend the right of the workers concerned to sectoral employment agreements. I do not agree that this Government and its predecessors have done their best to defend workers' rights. The Lockout more than 100 years ago was all about trade union recognition and we still do not have that in this country. Several Bills were put before the previous Government, which ended up being delayed and never progressing through the legislative Stages as they sh…

I thank the women who launched this campaign and who have worked tirelessly to bring it to this point. I thank the National Women's Council for their support and I thank Sinn Féin for tabling the motion. I tabled a motion under the previous regime, which was circulated and signed by more than 77 Deputies. I will return to this at the end of my contribution. It was kicked around the House between the Ministers with responsibility for justice, social protection and finance and it eventually ended up in limbo. We had …

I want to focus on one specific question to the new Minister. It is an issue that is of grave concern to me. It has to do with programme D - An Equal and Inclusive Society (Civil Justice and Equality Pillar). I want to ask the Minister's views on a committee on combating racism that was set up by her predecessor. This committee is to report within three months and to complete its work within a year. I am sure we all wish it the best. Its composition includes many people whom I would strongly welcome in terms of div…

It is difficult to scrutinise figures that are mainly inherited from the Taoiseach's predecessor but I want to flag something from the record of the past for the future. On the €20 million Covid communications Estimate, it is perfectly understandable that communications during the pandemic would be substantial. However, we know from experience with the Taoiseach's predecessor that a considerable amount of taxpayers' money was put into the strategic communications unit, which came in for strong criticism during the …

I am sharing time with Deputy Paul Murphy. I want to start by saying something positive to and about the Tánaiste's new Ministry. I recall the zeal and the scrutiny he had in a previous Ministry. We all remember the campaign he launched to account for every penny spent in the then Department of Social Protection when it came to social welfare recipients and welfare cheats who cheat us all. I look forward to a campaign of real zeal in the Tánaiste's analysis and scrutiny of the grants and funding to businesses, espe…

I also will share time with Deputy Gino Kenny. I will start by saying I have absolute confidence in this Government and that confidence is based on what we know about the parties in government and what they did in the past decades when they were in power. I am confident that Fine Gael will look after the very wealthy in this society. I am confident that Fianna Fáil will look after the developers and the builders and I am confident that the Green Party will act as a mudguard for both of them. We know from recent his…

I start by saying that it is highly ironic that we are sitting here this morning to renew major powers for the State, on a day when tens of thousands of workers will wake up to the realisation that a learned judge of the High Court, who earns more than €220,000 per year, has decided in his wisdom that an electrician who may earn €45,000 per year is possibly overpaid, and has then struck down a sectoral employment order that will affect tens of thousands of workers already on low pay. This is a war on workers and it…

It is 50:50. We are for equality. Although we are having this discussion in the context of Covid-19 and the horrendous consequences of the lockdown, which, as the last Deputy stated, were predicted because stay-at-home measures have driven the markers that make domestic violence abuse and psychological abuse stand out, the thing that strikes me the most is that we have had this awareness almost all of a sudden. Even the Minister's last statement regarding wanting to acknowledge the shortcomings in the provision of …

We all have to acknowledge the magnificent efforts by local communities and environmental groups to tackle the problems relating to biodiversity and nature. The situation is dire, however, and last year's report showed just how dire. Some 50% of fresh waters are polluted, 90% of protected habitats are classified as being of an unfavourable status and of the 3,000 or so plant and animal species in Ireland that were studied, approximately one quarter are facing extinction. One third of bees could be extinct by 2030 a…

I start by offering our solidarity to all those who have lost and suffered during this pandemic and indeed all those who have lost their jobs. I give a shout-out to the thousands of Debenhams workers who are protesting outside closed stores today. We should remember the impact on their lives too. I have something to give to the Taoiseach, so he should chalk it up, because it is not often that he will get anything from me. I will leave it at the desk in front of the Ceann Comhairle for the Taoiseach to collect. It i…

I acknowledge the tremendous voluntary and community efforts made by soccer clubs, GAA clubs and other sporting bodies at a community level throughout this crisis. Those clubs and their activities have been badly missed in our communities and they will need ongoing supports from the Department when they reopen. There has been much talk tonight about integration and equality. There has also been much talk in recent months about flattening the curve. One Deputy used the term "breathtaking inequality" to described how…

Will the Minister address the question of safety?

Will the Minister address the question of safety on public transport for sports clubs and communities that want to return to normal?

I want to speak on two issues which may seem unconnected but I believe they are absolutely connected and, indeed, go to the core of the issues we face around agriculture and climate targets. First, I wish to highlight what has been happening in our meat plants during the Covid crisis and recap on what has happened in them. Despite the Minister's bluster at the start of the crisis and the utter failure of the regulatory regime in the form of the Health and Safety Authority, it is clear that workers in meat plants we…