The Deputy knows where that word comes from. He should be better than that but he is not.

There is no need for Deputy Healy-Rae to be personal.

I want to start by offering my condolences to the family, friends and loved ones of Aoife Johnston. I have read sections of the report and your heart would break in half listening to what happened to her parents. It must have been awful. As the report said, the family felt powerless amid all of the chaos of accident and emergency all around them. My grandmother died in accident and emergency and it is not an appropriate place to grieve the loss of a loved one. My grandmother had lived a very good life and had her f…

The Minister will be well aware of the DCU and University of Ulster report that outlined not just the challenges, of which there were loads, but also the potential for the development of the Dublin-Belfast economic corridor. I would welcome an update from him on the work of his own Department in this regard. If I could be a small bit parochial relating to himself and myself, I would be grateful if he could concentrate on that area around Fingal specifically, if he can. I am also interested in the project itself as …

I thank the Minister. Specifically, I am interested in knowing the work of the Minister's Department. I appreciate his response but a lot of that was focused on how people get out of Fingal by train and other public transport. I would appreciate if he could focus on how people can stay, and specific actions from his Department with regard to growing. What that report identified was huge potential right along that economic corridor. I appreciate the work in Drogheda, and it is something we are supportive of. However…

The Minister hit the nail on the head. That is the point I was making. We want people to be able to stay there. The vast majority of people in Balbriggan who are of working age and employed leave. They leave in the morning to go to work. They are not employed locally. There is an issue with underemployment that the Minister will be aware of. Even the report refers to towns like Balbriggan, Rush and Lusk, and my own town of Skerries, as commuter towns. That irks me a little because it makes them sound like places wh…

We are steadfast on this.

Hear hear.

Four years as Minister for Health.

I welcome the judgment. In future, I hope the Minister will listen and take heed of what Teachta Doherty is telling him because once again he has been proven right. He was not alone. The Government was warned repeatedly that the inevitable outcome of its challenge would be this money being returned to the State. The reputational damage done by the wrong-headed Government, with the support of the Labour Party and Independents, cannot be calculated. It was never about tax sovereignty; it was always about state aid an…

I commend an Teachta Claire Kerrane on bringing forward this policy and Kathleen Funchion for the work she has done in this area. Access to affordable childcare is a game-changer. I hope the Minister knows that. He certainly has not delivered but an Teachta Kerrane has the plan and the ideas - €10 per day per child. That is exactly what parents need. They need certainty and they need to know their childcare is going to be affordable. My daughter was born when I was 21. I was faced with a very stark choice, namely I…

Respect at Work is a civil society campaign aimed at improving workers' rights in Ireland. Will the Minister of State commit to supporting this campaign and, specifically, its six legislative asks?

People are being discriminated against and they are being dismissed because of trade union activity. The simple fact is that if they were not, the Respect at Work campaign would not have come into being. While I completely understand the Minister of State's position with regard to the length of time this is going to take, it is open to the Government to act now. I asked a fairly simple question, which is if the Minister of State supports the six legislative asks. That should not contradict anything she has said or …

I will take that as a "No" for the moment. I am sure the Minister of State is aware that one in five workers in Ireland, over 420,000 people, are classified as low paid. More than 345,000 workers earn less than the living wage. Workers here work longer hours and have fewer days off than the European Union average. Last year, the WRC found that employment law was broken in every second investigation that they concluded. There is absolutely no doubt about it. Workers need the right to organise. They need the protecti…

I previously raised the situation at the Wavin Ireland factory in Balbriggan with the Minister. At the time, in committee, I indicated my intention to raise it on the floor of the Dáil. I would appreciate if he would focus specifically on the steps and measures that can be taken to stimulate the creation of good jobs in Balbriggan. We are sorry to see the jobs go at Wavin Ireland. We appreciate the Minister's involvement up to this point. I am asking what he can and will do to stimulate the creation of decent jobs …

I thank the Minister of State for his reply and for the note he sent me outlining his plan to engage with all the relevant parties to ensure the workers are given support and training. He indicated that IDA Ireland will prioritise securing replacement employment in the area. There is serious untapped potential in Balbriggan. There are people in the town who can and should be able to work at home or close to their home. However, most of them have to get on a bus or train or into their car every morning to go to Drog…

The Minister of State said this is complicated, but it is not. It is very simple. It is equal pay for work of equal value. Yesterday, representatives from Mandate Trade Union appeared before the committee and I asked whether its members who are paid 70%, 80% or 90% of the rate are, in fact, doing 70%, 80% or 90% of the work. The fact is that they are not; they are doing 100% of the work. I caution the Minister of State against the use of language like she is trying to protect people from having their hours cut. I r…

I commend the Deputies on moving this motion this morning. Indeed, it is a mirror of motions we have discussed here many times. As the Minister will know, we discuss motions with similar wording year after year. This entails the same plea from the Opposition falling, it would appear, on the Government's deaf ears. There is very little evidence of a zero-tolerance approach. We can all hope that will come but evidence of progress is very hard to find. There are definitely plenty of announcements and superficial measu…

In its pre-budget submission, the American Chamber of Commerce Ireland has cited the impact of the lack of affordable housing on its members. The housing crisis, or disaster as the President refers to it, is impacting on the capacity of business to expand or in some cases to even be able to stand still and maintain the worker numbers they have. Dublin Chamber and IBEC have also cited the lack of affordable or available housing as a major concern for their members. Does the Tánaiste agree that the Government's failu…

I do not agree.