I am sharing time with an Teachta Mac Lochlainn. I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for the opportunity to speak to the Government's new housing plan. I say "new" but, as we have heard, there is little new in it. It is called Housing for All but, as we know, this could not be further from the truth. The Minister's plan is just more of the status quo . He stated he recognises it is cheaper to buy a home than rent one in several cities and added that this is how broken the system is. He talks as though the system brok…

Get up the yard.

On my behalf and that of my family, I offer my condolences to the family of Mervyn Taylor, and to his friends, colleagues and comrades in the Labour Party. The starting salary for a secretarial assistant is €24,423.37 per annum. I will save the Tánaiste the trouble of working it out; that is below the living wage. As he knows, secretarial assistants are engaged in conciliation at the Workplace Relations Commission. They are growing increasingly frustrated. This issue has been on the go since 2017. Will the Tánaiste…

Workers and families are being hammered by hikes in electricity and gas prices. There have been more than 25 increases from the 14 providers in the past year alone. Many thousands face a price hike of more than €400 this winter. That is even before the budget. People are paying through their noses to light and heat their homes. There are thousands of families who fall outside the criteria for social protection. They are under massive pressure right now. Anyone who listened yesterday to the Minister, Deputy Ryan, on…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on what is a fairly significant piece of legislation. The establishment of a corporate enforcement authority as a stand-alone entity replacing the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement, ODCE, is an extremely welcome step, and we are on the record as having welcomed this on more than one occasion. The ODCE has worked hard within the remit that it has had in recent times. Unfortunately, in the course of its work, the ODCE has often suffered from a lack of funding and resou…

It is regrettable that nobody from the Department of Transport could be here but I thank the Minister of State for being here this evening. This project has been around for decades. There have been plenty of false dawns. When Fianna Fáil crashed our economy off a cliff, it was shelved and delayed. People have bought homes with pictures of the metro they might be getting on going past their door. They are now looking at their children going off to school in great traffic jams. This is not just about the MetroLink bu…

The report in the paper said 2034. The response the Minister of State read out did not contradict that. For the people who are listening this evening and waiting to have this project delivered, all they have is the report in the paper that it was discussed at the Cabinet, the Tánaiste saying he did not know; he was not listening. I do not know what happened. The date is still 2034 and nothing the Minister of State has said contradicts that. All of the houses that are being built, dependent on this transport, and al…

I want to raise the delayed scoping exercise into the death of Shane O'Farrell. As the Taoiseach knows well, this is a process that should have taken months and not years. After a decade of campaigning, protracted delays by GSOC, a Dáil vote in favour of a public inquiry and the establishment of a scoping exercise in early 2019 that has yet to be completed, Lucia, Jim and their daughters face another anniversary without Shane and without the answers they are entitled to. In 2017, the Taoiseach told the Dáil that in…

I will ask the Taoiseach about the work of NESC. I know it does a lot of great work and has been contributing, as the Taoiseach mentioned, to the well-being framework for Ireland, of which the first report was published last week. Among other things, the well-being framework for Ireland will provide a comprehensive set of well-being measures to create a well-rounded, holistic view of how our society is faring as an important complement to existing economic measurement tools. This will be an important assessment of …

On Brexit preparedness, I have a question which pertains to the shortage of suitably qualified heavy goods vehicle, HGV, drivers. Mr. Aidan Flynn of Freight Transport Association Ireland, FTAI, as well as the Irish Road Haulage Association, IRHA, have raised these concerns directly with the Government. Freight Transport Association Ireland has outlined that Irish hauliers need Government support to recruit new HGV drivers into the logistics industry before the country's supply chain starts to break down. While the …

You and me both. I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the opportunity to say a few words this afternoon. I have listened carefully to what people have said. I must confess that, the more I listen and the more reasons I see to vote against the Bill, the more reasons I see to agree with the old backbenchers of destiny who come in and trot out all of their reasons for saying this is a bad idea even though they will stomp through the lobbies tonight and support it without a bother on them. They say that it is not a good ide…

I will be brief but I encourage Ministers, whether wise or not, to accept our amendments. They have already accepted the principle of self-assessment and it should be applicable to all homeowners. Believe me, if people are living in a house with defects, they will know it. They may not be sufficient to qualify for a scheme but they will know if a house is affected by pyrite. It is likely that the neighbours' houses will be affected too. These people know that, in effect, the presence of pyrite renders a house worth…

I move amendment No. 1: In page 6, to delete lines 24 to 28 and substitute the following: “ “(13) Proceedings under this section shall be conducted in public unless the adjudication officer, of his or her own motion or upon agreement by both parties to the proceedings, determine that, due to the existence of special circumstances, the proceedings (or part thereof) should be conducted otherwise than in public. (13A) Where there is an objection under this section by one party to the proceedings being held in public t…

I move amendment No. 2: In page 6, between lines 33 and 34, to insert the following: “(b) The Commission shall not include in a published decision the name of a party to proceedings where it is felt that to do so would detrimentally impact on either party specifically with reference to the capacity of a party to secure employment in the future.”. This amendment comes from the same place as the previous one. I have proposed it to ensure a worker's name is not included in a published decision where it will interfere …

I want to ask the Minister of State one further question on the consultation. He has said he will talk to anyone, and I know it is the case that he will. Just like me, however, no one's job here is guaranteed. I seek confirmation from the Minister of State that he will engage proactively with employers and unions, not only to monitor the progress of this but also to hear if there is a chilling effect. I have expressed my concern that this may inadvertently have a chilling effect. I sincerely hope it does not. I und…

I move amendment No. 1: In page 7, line 29, after “brand” to insert “, social and cultural importance”. I have chosen to include this amendment because in conjunction with having regard to the expertise, brand and historic success of the eligible company, the social and cultural importance of the company should be taken into account. In doing this, I am thinking about a brand such as Sudocrem. We all recall the furore when Madonna was photographed in her bathroom. It is an odd place to take a photograph, but there …

I am going to make two contradictory comments. It is a bit unfair not to accept an amendment that strengthens and improves the legislation only because time is tight, so that is not a sufficient reason. However, I will engage with the Minister of State. He understands the point I am trying to achieve and the purpose of this amendment. At the Joint Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment, we have facilitated the waiving of pre-legislative scrutiny and the passage of Government legislation. I absolutely underst…

Nobody wants to delay this unnecessarily but the Minister of State is already talking about amending legislation. This legislation has not even passed and the Minister of State is already talking about amending legislation. We want to work with the Minister of State. I was content to waive pre-legislative scrutiny on the basis that this is urgent. This has happened before. We were under tremendous pressure to pass the termination of pregnancy legislation. I received correspondence from the National Women's Council …

I move amendment No. 3: In page 18, between lines 27 and 28, to insert the following: “(3A) The process adviser shall provide proof that the ‘reminder notice’ served on a creditor has been received by the creditor concerned.”. Given that it is an offence under section 558O(8) for a creditor not to comply with and respond to the process adviser's notice, it would be prudent to ensure the notice has actually reached the creditor in question. This amendment is possibly by way of what might be called belt and braces an…

I do not know how widely Iris Oifigiúil is read but the process as outlined by the Minister of State gives me comfort. The Minister of State can understand where I am coming from on this issue. Again, we will not know how some of the provisions operate until such time as this is up and operational. I thank the Minister of State for his clarification.