I thank Sinn Féin for bringing this motion to the House. It is very important that we get an opportunity to discuss in detail the contribution that our carers and family carers give to the people that they care for and to society as a whole. Covid-19 has been a disrupter for us all but especially for carers who look after people with underlying health conditions, with severe illness, and people who are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of this pandemic. Ireland has changed so much since Covid-19 arrived on our…

I move: That leave be grated to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to confer functions on the National Standards Authority of Ireland in relation to promoting the use of standard specifications and standard marks to give information about the carbon footprint of commodities, process and practices. There is increasing awareness of the need to make informed consumer choices based on the environmental impact of goods, which is their so-called carbon footprint. Some companies have introduced their own labelling systems s…

I move: "That the Bill be taken in Private Members' time."

I want to put on record our support for these amendments. I want to move on and get in as many votes as possible.

I am delighted to contribute to the debate on this important Bill. I commend Sinn Féin on bringing it to the House, I commend the now Minister for bringing a similar Bill before the Seanad six years ago and I also welcome the Minister of State saying the Government will not oppose the Bill on this Stage. Ultimately, everyone wants to get to the same place on this issue. As a Dub, it is hard to not feel connected to Moore Street as a historical, cultural, social and economic space. While I would like to remove triba…

On behalf of the Labour Party, and as a parent, I am very supportive and welcoming of the Bill. The Labour Party is delighted the Bill has cross-party support. It has been eagerly anticipated and it is a good thing that it is finally here. I can state without qualification that it is a good step to where we need to go in terms of how we approach parental leave and, as a State, respect the need newborn children have for the care of their parents. It will enable the State to allow parents, as much as it can and in as…

In theory, everybody would welcome the extension of a ban on evictions until July. However, the ban provided for in this Bill is not the same as what was previously in place. We in the Labour Party have always said that we will work constructively with the Government to do whatever we can to solve this crisis, keep people in their homes and allow them to have hope that they have a future in Ireland. However, the stop-start nature of the eviction ban and the periodic need to produce new legislation to cover another …

My question is the same as Deputy O'Rourke's. It is the only question. What I have heard over the past five minutes has not given any comfort to me or any of the thousands of workers who are watching and concerned about the future viability of their livelihoods and lives. I must ask again what is the view of the Minister of State on the future viability of the aviation industry. The people also want to hear the view of the Minister for Transport on the matter and I would welcome that.

It will certainly not be an easy road. It is a pretty desolate road at the moment. We have consistently been calling for action. The language is so familiar, as it has been for months. The Minister of State mentioned the fact the EWSS has been put in place, as was the temporary wage subsidy scheme, TWSS, before that. We are talking about a survival package, a recovery package that is going to protect jobs. Four Aer Lingus aeroplanes that would otherwise have taken off from Ireland will now be taking off from Manche…

Our concern is there will be thousands of workers who will be outside the industry and looking in at that recovery in a couple of years' time because they have been let go. The workers are asking for a safe return to travel, as we have all been asking for. We want a roadmap back with clearly defined public health guidelines and milestones. That is not easy, we know that, but the European Commission is working on a digital green pass, albeit there is a lot more detail to come on that. The Taoiseach stated earlier he…

For many of us, life will return to some form of normality when restrictions ease. For those with profound mobility issues, however, it will not make much of a difference because their lives were the same before the Covid crisis. They live a life of permanent 5 km, or even tighter, restrictions. Acknowledging that there are only 15 changing places toilets in Ireland, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage made a commitment to Senator Wall in the Seanad in December that a working group would be crea…

I welcome the Taoiseach's contribution and I wish the Minister for Justice and her husband well for her maternity leave. This is not only an important moment for her personally and for her family but it is, and should be, an important signal to every expectant and future mother in terms of what this country will be doing on maternity leave for all and to ensure that everyone has entitlement to it. This is important and it has our full support. My thanks to the Taoiseach for his statement and we wish the Minister fo…

I thank the Minister for his opening statement. The focus on higher and further education is welcome in terms of the three-year strategy but I want to focus on the apprenticeship element of it. For too long, apprenticeships have been at the back of the class when it comes to further education and skills. We in the Labour Party welcome the light the Minister is shining on it and the position in which he is putting apprenticeships in the firmament of further education and skills. That is vital because this country ha…

I thank the Minister, Deputy O’Gorman, for stepping in for this Topical Issue matter. The Minister for Justice's office contacted me. I understand she is at a Brexit meeting. I know, however, given his interests and his past, Deputy O'Gorman may have a personal interest in this as well. He might bring this matter up to the Minister, Deputy McEntee. I am going to discuss a matter of the upmost sensitivity. It is an issue of which I have no personal experience; the vast majority of people do not. However, for those l…

I thank the Minister for his reply. I take some encouragement from the fact that some preliminary work has been done and this will be built on. Will the Minister give a commitment that the Department will examine some recommendations of what the best way to proceed would be and report them back to the suitable parties, be it the justice spokespeople or the House itself? The missing persons bureau and Forensic Science Ireland do fantastic work. The science is there to bring resolution and truth to many people and fa…

I thank Sinn Féin for tabling this motion. It has been tabled in advance of the legislation coming to the House and being discussed in detail but given how legislation has been debated here in the last few months, we do not know how much time we will actually get to discuss legislation in detail, especially when we get to amendments. Any opportunity that we get to discuss housing and the provisions of a Bill, although we do not yet have the exact details, is welcomed by the Labour Party, so I thank Deputy Ó Broin a…

We fully agree and perhaps the solution would be to add some time to and re-title the debate scheduled for later today on banking.

Tá brón orm ach beidh mé ag caint as Béarla. I would like to use this opportunity to bring up the issue of the fees being charged to students of Hibernia College. This has been brought up a number of times over recent weeks, and while it is ultimately the responsibility of the Minister for Education, the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media also has an area of responsibility here. I ask her to bring this contribution to the Minister for Education and I would appreciate it if she could con…

I thank the USI and Sinn Féin for tabling this Bill. For too long students have been treated like a cash cow when it comes to rent and rental accommodation. An entire industry has built up which is geared towards the exploitation of students in the context of rental accommodation. This Bill will tackle this issue in a real way and the Labour Party is proud to co-sign and support it. I look forward to its passage and hope the Government will not only give it a sympathetic ear but will prioritise it in terms of debat…

Deputy Alan Kelly spoke at length in opening this debate, so I will not speak for too long. There are a couple of elements I wish to add. An issue I raised on Second Stage relates to seasonal workers. I would like to hear a response from the Minister on this issue. What is the plan for seasonal workers? Last year, they were deemed essential workers. It was the subject of significant debate in terms of their treatment. There is a wider debate and wider issue in terms of their low pay, treatment, exploitation as a gr…