I will go through the motion for clarity and to put it on the record of the Dáil. The motion reads, "the current National Driver Licence Service (NDLS) contract, which was put in place in 2021 while the attention of the body politic was diverted by the Covid-19 pandemic, no longer offers a walk-in service, the walk-in service having originally ceased temporarily in March 2020 to ensure the safety of the service's staff and of the public using the service during the Covid-19 pandemic". That is an important point bec…

Will the Taoiseach join me in congratulating two female migrant workers who recently won a quite significant claim against their unfair dismissal in the Labour Court? Julia Marciniak, who is originally from Poland, and Lenka Laiermanova, who is originally from the Czech Republic, were found to have been sacked by the Ivy restaurant on Dawson Street for trade union activity. These two experienced waitresses joined the newly opened Ivy restaurant in 2018. They found that customer tips were being taken by management a…

I thank the Taoiseach for joining me in congratulating those workers. As he said, it was a very high bar, and there is no other case we know of in Ireland in which an unfair dismissal dispute over trade union activity has been won. The unfair dismissals legislation should be amended to give all workers protection from unfair dismissal from day one of their employment, not just after 12 months, which is much too long. We must also deal with the issue whereby there is no penalty under the Act for employers that are f…

They are not agreed.

Deputy Pringle raised at the Business Committee the issue of a debate on the National Maternity Hospital. We have recently seen media reports of deals being made and deals being brought to Cabinet. I ask that the National Maternity Hospital be debated in the Dáil Chamber.

I asked a question regarding the National Maternity Hospital.

There are three Private Members' slots-----

I submitted the matter for discussion on the Topical Issue debate six times in the past two weeks but it has not been taken.

I support the motion. I congratulate Sinn Féin on bringing it forward on the basis that it clearly outlines the scale of the ongoing and increasing crisis in the public healthcare system. It also clearly identifies the fault lines in the latest announcement of yet another plan to tackle waiting lists. We have to ask why we have these outrageous waiting lists in the first place. To my mind, the answer is very simple. It is a two-tier service which offers access to those who have private health insurance, and not jus…

I wish to raise a specific issue on the cost of living which we discussed again this morning. Is the Government considering setting up a hardship emergency fund? I raised this two weeks ago and the ESRI has also raised the need to establish an emergency hardship fund to help meet exceptional need payments, such a fund to be administered by the community welfare officers based in the community not in Intreo offices. That would allow for emergency payments for individuals and families most affected by the rise in ene…

I support the Citizens' Assembly on Biodiversity Loss. It is a serious issue and I fully support that forum taking place. Biodiversity loss is not just an issue in Ireland but internationally. Here at home, we are losing a great deal of biodiversity that will have an onward impact on insects and animals alike. Therefore, I have no problem with that assembly. I do, however, have a problem with the Dublin Citizens' Assembly. I support the amendment that will be moved by Senator Lynn Ruane in the Seanad tomorrow. She …

I also thank Sinn Féin for introducing this Private Members' motion regarding not increasing the carbon tax this year. No doubt members of the Green Party in the Government will accuse those of us who support this motion of not taking the question of climate change seriously enough. I assure them that I take the issue of climate change and global warming very seriously. As things stand, we are heading for a 4°C increase in global warming by the end of the century, with a distinct probability of mass extinction of l…

The programme for retrofitting looks great on paper. If the very ambitious targets are achieved, it will make a huge difference to energy bills and people’s health and reduce carbon emissions. However, there are serious questions as to how the target of retrofitting 50,000 to 70,000 homes per year will be met and how the target of retrofitting 500,000 homes can be met. Despite the grant of up to 50% of the cost of a deep retrofit, there is a genuine issue with requiring homeowners on low to moderate incomes to come…

I raise the issue of Tesco's disgraceful treatment of its workers. On Tuesday morning, well over 100 retail security officers were called into their individual stores at 9 a.m. to be told their contracts were being unilaterally passed, that is, outsourced to a security company, OCS, which works for Tesco, within six to eight weeks. There was no engagement with the workers prior to their being called in and no engagement with their unions. The workers, some of whom have been employed by Tesco for more than 20 years,…

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. I am aware of the regulations regarding transfers of undertakings and have assisted workers to get their rights under that process. It is inevitable in many cases that workers with good jobs that are permanent and secure, on which they base the securing of their mortgage or the payment of their rent and so on, may lose out if they are moved to new companies. In the case of the bin collection workers, for example, who were local authority workers before moving to Greyhoun…

Employees do not-----

I thank People Before Profit-Solidarity for putting this motion on the agenda this morning. We live in a very unequal society in an extremely unequal world. We have unacceptable rates of poverty. It is estimated that one in four people would be at risk of poverty and deprivation without social transfers. Even with social transfers we have 630,000 people below the poverty line, which includes 165,000 children. A key factor in the high rate of poverty is low pay. There is a huge disparity in wage rates. Average pay, …

I have a specific question for the Taoiseach on the cost-of-living increases. Is the Government seriously considering setting up an emergency hardship fund? Last week during statements on the costs of living, I raised this proposal. The ESRI has also raised the need for the establishment of an emergency fund to help to meet exceptional need payments and for such a fund to be administered by the community welfare officers based in the community as they operated in the past.

I asked this same question two weeks ago and it was subsequently asked a number of times by Deputies in this House. I am compelled to raise the matter again today. On 13 February it will be 41 years since the terrible Stardust fire in Artane in Dublin, in which 48 young people died and 240 young people were injured. In September 2019, the Attorney General announced that an inquest must go ahead as this was in the public interest. The Department of Justice leased the RDS in Ballsbridge for one year for the Stardust …

I thank the Ceann Comhairle. Many people are being impacted by the sharp increase in the cost of living. The people who will be most affected by this cost-of-living crisis will be the 630,000 people living below the poverty line which, scandalously, includes 165,000 children and low-paid workers. These are the individuals and families faced with the stark choice to eat or heat. The Government must respond with much more than €113 off our electricity bills. Electricity has risen by 22.4% in cost but gas bills have i…