What timeline does the Tánaiste expect for the recommendations?

With the indulgence of the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach, I will take the opportunity to express my solidarity with the workers in Tara Mines who received the devastating news yesterday evening that there are to be 650 temporary layoffs - and we hope they are temporary - at the mine in Navan. It has a huge impact on workers and families in Meath and across County Louth as well. It is extraordinary that the company has decided to reach for the nuclear option of lay-offs as opposed to engaging with the trade union.

This is relevant generally to the conditions of workers across the country. They should engage with the trade unions on alternatives. It is high time, by the way, in conclusion on this point, that the Government stopped ignoring the Labour Party's calls for a German-type short-time working scheme to be introduced that could greatly assist in situations like this. The Labour Party is happy to support this Bill which addresses the blatant discrimination against low-paid younger workers in Ireland which has been toler…

I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to establish a committee of the Eastern and Midland Regional Assembly to serve as a River Boyne Task Force with the function of proposing and promoting policies and priorities for the protection and enhancement of the environment of the River Boyne and of its natural habitats and wildlife and the co-ordination of the activities of public authorities in relation thereto; and to provide for connected matters. I am pleased to introduce the Bill. Rising …

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

I am sharing time with Deputy Ó Ríordáin. I want to talk about a family in crisis, and what I am about to say will resonate with the Minister of State and builds on remarks made earlier by my party colleague, Deputy Sherlock. This week, I received an email from a struggling, loving and caring mum who had spent most of the past week sitting worriedly by her autistic son's hospital bed. She has every right to be beside herself with worry. Her son is in hospital because of what the woman who knows him best describes a…

I apologise for arriving late. I want to ask whether the Minister of State, his colleague, the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, and the Minister for Finance, Deputy McGrath, intend to exceed their self-imposed 5% expenditure rule in budget 2024.

We know why the self-imposed general expenditure rule was imposed last year, that is, to take account of the high inflationary environment. The reality is that, for much of this year, inflation will be above that 5% target in terms of the Government's self-imposed expenditure rule. The Minister of State will appreciate the context of the macroeconomic success that this country is experiencing, the corporation tax surplus and, indeed, the strong performance of other tax heads. Given we have had a decade of lost inve…

One particular point that the Minister of State made, and that he and his colleagues will consistently remind us of, is the once-off measures that were introduced to help families and businesses deal with the cost-of-living crisis, but the active point there is “once-off”. We know that our social welfare system is not indexed to either wage rises or increases in the cost of living. We know that, for example, social welfare payments this year fell well short of the prevailing rate of inflation and we have seen famil…

To be fair to the Minister of State, I acknowledge that he arranged to organise this meeting last week, which is when he announced it. He brought forward the scheduled 21 June meeting of the retail forum to discuss this most pressing of issues. I congratulate the Minister of State on his appointment. It is the first opportunity I have had to do so in this Chamber. I have no doubt the Minister of State will enjoy the experience. He is working with good officials who put the interests of the country, jobs and enterpr…

We need an urgent debate in this House on the extraordinarily high price of groceries. The biggest daily issue facing households throughout the country is the extraordinarily high price of bread, milk, butter and eggs, the basic staples on which we all depend. Last weekend, the major supermarket multiples, in an almost synchronised fashion, reduced the price of milk overnight, on the same day and by practically the same amount. I am deeply suspicious as to how and why that happened. We know that the cost of produci…

We need a debate on this issue in the House and, in the meantime, I call on the Taoiseach to engage the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, CCPC, and enable it to carry out an investigation into price gouging and competition in the retail grocery sector in this country.

In March, the Labour Party supported a similar motion to this. In the continued absence of the long-promised windfall tax on energy companies or, indeed, any fundamental attempt by the Government to tackle escalating home energy bills in a real way, we are inclined to support the motion and the sentiments contained therein. Wholesale prices for gas and oil are falling while energy bills at home keep rising. This is absolutely perverse. The energy companies can blame the mechanics of the market all they want but it …

The CSO consumer price index for March was published just under two weeks ago. Prices grew by 7.7%. It was the 18th straight month when the increase was at least 5% or more. We keep hearing that inflation should now start to moderate as rampant energy prices start to stabilise and subside. What is really hitting people where it hurts is soaring prices for basic essentials at the checkout. Over the past year alone, food prices rose by over 13%. Milk is up nearly 25%, butter is up 21%, eggs are up 20%, and I could go…

We know that the living standards of our people are being eroded. People who are at the front end of this and who are most acutely affected are those on low and modest incomes. We know that the national minimum wage did not increase sufficiently in order to allow people's living standards to at least stabilise. We required a much higher increase to the national minimum wage to protect those who work very hard and get up early in the morning but who simply do not make enough to exist. Things are simply getting worse…

The north east does not.

I spoke in favour of a similar motion in February and since then, there has been a further hike in the European Central Bank, ECB, rates. It is the sixth such rise since July of last year. As we know, the ECB governing council is meeting again in early May. It said it will use data to inform its next move. Irish mortgage holders will anticipate that meeting with dread. As I said in this House previously, I and the Labour Party remain somewhat sceptical about the efficacy of mortgage interest relief as a public poli…

The Labour Party supports the Bill and the transposition of the directive into Irish law. When an individual consumer takes on a corporation, it is never a fair fight and anything that strengthens the hand of the consumer and levels the playing field is to be welcomed. The broad thrust of the legislation is an attempt to do that. It will allow consumers to band together or enlist the help of designated representative organisations when they go into battle, so to speak, against a big corporation, in a bid to protect…

The Labour Party will not be patronised by Fine Gael. What I heard from the Taoiseach earlier-----

-----was an arrogance born out of disrespect for the constitutional right of an Opposition party to hold the Government to account. What I heard from the Taoiseach was the sound of entitlement. It was noise from a party that is failing on housing and is more interested in keeping the roof of Government Buildings over its head than providing roofs over the heads of children who are at risk of homelessness this week. It is not the precarious housing situation that keeps the Taoiseach awake at night but, rather, the p…