I echo what Deputy Gould has said about the Microsoft workers and I urge dialogue there to ensure that those jobs can be protected to the greatest extent possible. When the Government approaches Private Members' Bills and motions, it is sometimes right and sometimes wrong. Sometimes it can be frustrating, sometimes it is outrageous and sometimes it is just plain silly. This is a bit ridiculous. The first and main point about this legislation is that deducting union subscriptions is not hard; it is extremely straigh…

When I was 16 and started working in Roches Stores, all I had to do to join Mandate was tick a box. I never thought any more about it. It was as simple as that. I ticked a box and that was the end of it. Union subscriptions were deducted and I thought no more about it. That is the way it is with good employers. That is the way it is with many employers. Regarding the cases we are talking about, this is not a phantom. Mandate has direct evidence of more than 1,000 of its members who were impacted by this. What we ar…

We will support the amendments and we welcome the changes that were proposed in the Seanad. They are very welcome and people appreciated the announcement in the budget. That said, we need to look to the coming budget in respect of the child benefit rate, which has not increased in recent years and is still substantially below where it was pre recession. That needs to be viewed in the context of the Barnardos report this week regarding the decisions parents are having to make to provide for their children. Parents t…

So many things could be said. As I considered where to begin, I clarified my thinking and thought there is only one place to begin and that is that arson is wrong. Arson is wrong, criminal damage is wrong, attacks on property are wrong and potentially putting people at risk of serious injury and death is wrong. There is no excuse for it and no justification. It is clearly becoming a tactic and a strategy of people who are nasty actors trying to unilaterally take decisions about what places should or should not be u…

The Government's response is a nonsense. A programme for Government commitment remains unacted upon. We are expected to simply wait because the Government is promising an all-singing, all-dancing Bill, and it promises us that it will be better than what we have, but nobody has seen it. I do not think that is good enough and it is no reason to not support this legislation. We could work with this through Committee Stage, absolutely, and I am sure there are elements that can be worked upon, but there is no reason to …

Owenabue Educate Together National School was set up in 2020. It has faced a number of challenges during its short existence. A building that was earmarked for it at one stage was subsequently given to Carrigaline Community Special School. This was no fault of Carrigaline Community Special School, which is an excellent school. However, what happened made the long- and medium-term planning for the Owenabue Education Together National School challenging. A permanent site for the latter was identified last year, which…

I do not believe what is set out in the Minister of State's reply. I know it is not his fault. I was offered the choice to postpone this matter or allow him to take it this morning. Conscious of the urgency of the situation, I asked that it be taken today. The Department officials who drafted the reply either did not look into the issue properly or they decided to be too clever by half. I asked a very clear question, which was about the proposed plans for Owenabue Educate Together National School that involve split…

Aontaím leis an méid atá ráite ag an Teachta Cullinane. Tá go leor sa Bhille seo a dhéanann ciall agus go leor a bhí á éileamh ag Sinn Féin ar feadh tamaill mhaith. Déanfaidh an Bille cinnte de go mbeidh sé de chumas ar go leor poitigéirí thar timpeall na tíre, a bhfuil fonn orthu níos mó a dhéanamh ó thaobh cúnaimh de, níos mó a dhéanamh. Tá go leor eolas agus saineolas acu maidir le cúrsaí sláinte agus faoi mar atá, níl an áis sin á húsáid faoi mar ba chóir. Aontaím freisin leis an méid atá ráite ag mo chomhghlea…

I commend the work my colleague David Cullinane has put into this motion. I say to the families, parents and advocates who are present here today and outside the House that I hope it gets widespread support in the House. In 2017, the Minister, Deputy Harris, promised that no child would be left waiting for longer than four months for surgery for scoliosis and spina bifida. The Government has utterly failed to meet this promise. Not only has it failed to meet this target - from an already unacceptable level - but wa…

Ar an gcéad dul síos, baineann an cheist seo le daoine faoin treoir Eorpach. We have had a number of discussions around this. I am concerned that there is a lack of clarity as to what the situation will be for beneficiaries of the temporary protection directive. When the directive wraps up, what will be the situation with payments for those who were in Ukraine before the passing of the legislation before the current Dáil?

I would like to note a couple of things. First, the temporary protection directive does not require beneficiaries of the directive to receive the same entitlements as Irish citizens. That is obviously the case, given the actions the Minister of State and her Government have taken regarding Ukrainians who arrive at a later date. They will receive the rate that international protection applicants receive. I have already outlined my disagreement with the fact that people who move outside the accommodation will continu…

I have no dispute in terms of our international obligations. We supported the legislation that made those changes to social welfare payments for people who arrived from Ukraine after a certain date. This is not about Europe, however. The provision of social welfare payments is a decision that has been adopted by the Irish Government. Given it is highly likely that at the expiration of the directive they will either have to apply for visas or seek international protection and then be on the lower rate people in dire…

There is a lot of talk about care at the minute in the context of the referendum. We should acknowledge, in that context, the role that kinship carers play. Very often they are the unsung heroes of the system who step up when, for whatever reason, a relative of theirs is not in a position to care for children. Very often they are working very hard, they step up and it can be complicated. In many instances, I do not believe they are recognised financially. There is also a significant issue of small contributions fro…

Will the Minister repeat that last sentence? I wish to understand it.

My sense of this is that either this has not fully established itself yet or maybe the change in approach has not factored through on the ground. I received a parliamentary question response saying that the means of the guardian, including any maintenance payment paid to them, in respect of the child are not assessed when establishing entitlement. The problem is not just in terms of means when it comes to this particular payment. This needs to be looked at in terms of operational guidelines and at deciding officer …

I could probably send several cases to the Minister albeit I do not have them directly. Kinship Care, a subsection of Treoir, highlighted this issue to me. Kinship Care met the guardian's payment deciding officer relatively recently. As far as that meeting was concerned, the deciding officers were unaware of the recent change of maintenance not being factored into entitlements for other payments. This was not something they were aware of and they went on to explain that irregular maintenance, or pocket money, can b…

Yes.

I thank the Minister for that very comprehensive answer. I got most of it. I am sitting next to Deputy Ó Murchú, so I did not necessarily get all of it. In any event, we have regarded this area as a vital priority. In any event, the programme is in an area that Sinn Féin sees as a priority. It is a good news story that it continues to be expanded. In the longer run, similar to Deputy O'Sullivan, I would like to see it expanded to all schools. In fairness, the Department and the Minister have done good work in this …

I thank the Regional Group for bringing forward this motion. It is timely and we support the principles within it, although our approach to resolving these issues may be somewhat different. For more than a year, Sinn Féin and, in particular, Deputy O'Reilly have been highlighting the crisis facing SMEs, particularly in the hospitality and retail sectors. In the city of Cork, we have seen a slew of long-established and well-regarded businesses close in the city centre. Since Christmas, we have seen the closure of Tu…

I support the comments made by Deputy Clarke on this issue. On top of the issue of transport to school, I also flag the issue of transport between school campuses. The proposal put forward by the Minister's Department for Owenabue Educate Together national school sees the school split between two campuses for its temporary accommodation. Split campuses are rarely ideal. However, in a situation of being on two opposite sides of such a busy town as Carrigaline, it is completely unworkable. It will be unworkable for s…