I think so as well.

I ask the Minister to arrange to meet these workers, find out what the issues are and try to resolve them.

Okay. Thank you, a Cheann Comhairle.

On 25 April, the Taoiseach stated the Government would waive development levies for one year. The day before that, however, he stated in a press briefing that the waiver would apply for a couple of years. For what period will the waiver apply? How will all local authority funds and developments connected to levies be guaranteed by the Government? I ask the Minister to make a statement on the matter. Dublin City Council has a €2.4 billion capital budget, of which 9.3% is covered by levies. It makes up a significant …

I thank the Minister. There was a certain amount of clarity in his reply. I am seeking a commitment from him that the waiver will be for one year only and will not be extended. That is a matter of trust and I do not know how much trust we have in the context of many of these deals. At the committee, the Minister stated that just under €20,000 per unit is expected to be passed on but he later made the point that he could not say that all of these levies and connection charges will be passed on. There was a sort of d…

The Minister has still not explained how the approximately €20,000 per unit will be delivered to people on the ground. Some €308.5 million, which is taxpayers' money, is being invested in this. What is in place to ensure that developers pass it on to home buyers? That is the crucial question. There is no point in activating a measure like this if it does not deliver on the ground.

What mechanism has the Government put in place to ensure that developers pass it on?

No. We want to be sure that this support is passed on.

First and foremost, I send my support and solidarity to the Palestinian people on the anniversary of the Nakba yesterday. This year marks the 75th anniversary of the start of the Nakba. There have been 75 years of injustice, brutality and murder and of a programme of ethnic cleansing carried out by the Israeli state against the Palestinian people. The Nakba is not an historic event; it is an ongoing atrocity that has seen over 9 million refugees, Palestinians in the occupied territories facing bombs and bullets eve…

I thank Sinn Féin for bringing forward this Private Members' motion. This Government finds itself in the unique position of being awash with cash - a €10 billion surplus this year rising to €65 billion over the next three years. It has more money than it knows what to do with. The Minister for Finance is apparently going to bring a memorandum to Cabinet with suggestions as to what to do with this bonanza of tax receipts, yet there is no mention of using any of this extra income to tackle fundamental problems in our…

In December, I submitted a question on the lack of development assessments for newborn babies at three and ten months of age at the Old County Road Health Centre. The reply I received explained there was a deficit of public health nurses and that a plan was in place to see children on the waiting list in January 2023. I put the question again in the Dáil at the end of January, after receiving emails from constituents saying there was still a delay. The reply was that a plan had been put in place by services in Crum…

Okay.

I welcome this motion from Sinn Féin. We are debating the matter ad nauseam , but the Dáil has to keep coming back to it. I recognise that the Government has spent €1.2 billion and assisted some people with their energy bills. However, it is trying to play down the cost-of-living crisis. For example, the Taoiseach stated this afternoon that inflation was decreasing and would decrease further in the middle of the year, yet people are seeing their grocery and energy bills increasing. That is the reality. I think the …

Does the Government intend to declare its intention to leave the Energy Charter Treaty, ECT, in light of the widely criticised reforms proposed by the European Commission? When I questioned the Taoiseach on the ECT last week, I was told we would work in concert with the EU on modernisation. However, the European Commission said that given the number of countries quitting individually, renegotiating the treaty did not seem feasible and that modernisation had failed. Will the Government declare its intention to leave…

Nine countries have indicated they will leave the treaty and a number have already left. The modernisation attempts have failed. The European Commission has already agreed on modernisation reforms leading to countries exiting the treaty with EU officials saying that there is no qualified majority in the Council to adopt the modernised treaty. The European Commission said that given the number of countries quitting individually, renegotiating the treaty did not seem feasible. Countries have been leaving the treaty i…

We need to lead on these issues and we are not leading by remaining in those negotiations. We are supporting the closed-door arbitration court which allows companies to sue for lost profits. We are supporting the protection of €344.6 billion in European fossil fuel assets. Total claims are estimated to cost governments €1.3 trillion worldwide by 2050. There is an ongoing case brought by German company RWE for €1.4 billion despite Germany announcing in 2023 its own phasing-out of coal. How can we even stay within th…

Why have the other countries abandoned it?

It is benefiting the fossil fuel companies. We should have statements on this in the Dáil.

I thank People Before Profit-Solidarity for putting forward this legislation, which I support. The OECD released its report, Taxing Wages 2022, confirming that Irish workers saw a sharp decrease in living standards last year. It called the combination of a 3.3% decrease in real wages and a 0.8% increase in average income tax paid a double blow for workers. This is not just a double blow for workers, but it is a kick in the teeth for working people. Energy and food prices, rent and mortgages are skyrocketing while h…

I object to the fact that every time we on this side of the Dáil raise critical questions about housing, the Taoiseach just throws the blame on us as being the cause of the problem and not on the Government for not implementing a package needed to radically change the position regarding the housing catastrophe that we face over the coming period. The Taoiseach mentioned that the Government is socialising the development levies for public infrastructure. I welcome that, but I would like to see the next step, namely,…