How many will there be in our constituency by the end of the year?

I thank Deputy Pringle and his group not just for introducing the Bill but, as has been alluded to previously, for all of the attempts he has made to bring about this vital reform. Anyone who studies politics will know Sinn Féin has a long track record of supporting, proposing and bringing about legislative reforms to enhance people's economic, social and cultural rights. The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights is an extremely important document. As many Deputies have already pointed out,…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion. I add my voice to that of my colleague, an Teachta Doherty, in support of the Sinn Féin amendment, which seeks the expansion of the CRSS. Since budget day, when the CRSS was announced, Sinn Féin has highlighted the limitations within the scheme and has consistently argued that it should include all businesses that have seen their turnover fall by 75% or more. Under the current scheme, only businesses with fixed premises and reduced footfall as a result of restricti…

It seems the Minister has conveniently forgotten that it was by agreement with the teachers unions and the special needs assistant, SNA, unions that the schools were able to reopen and stayed open for 80 days. The Minister was quick to take all of the credit for reopening schools but when her failure to engage and her inability to listen and respond to the genuine concerns of those working in the schools meant that school reopening had to be postponed, she tried nice and quickly to shift the blame onto teachers and…

I have asked the Minister to prioritise one question, if the Ceann Comhairle gives her a few seconds. The Ceann Comhairle gave her a few seconds previously.

I had three and a half minutes.

All sides were both exhausted and contented when a trade agreement was finally reached between the European Union and Britain at the end of December. The decision to leave the EU was one taken by the British people, or more specifically by people in England. That is their democratic decision, but it would be more palatable to many in this House if they were not dragging parts of our country out of the EU with them. Businesses and exporters have been contending with the new trading terms between the EU and Britain w…

I do not know if Deputy Higgins struggles with addition but if she is good enough to take a look at what happened, she would see that Sinn Féin was proposing more social housing, as we do. We make no apologies for that and we will continue to do it. Our housing strategy is to ensure people get housed, unlike the policies of this Government, which ensure that homelessness increases day on day.

I have a question on the vaccine roll-out. We all know that vaccines do not save lives: getting vaccinated saves lives. What matters is getting the vaccine where it needs to be. I have been contacted by front-line healthcare workers over the weekend who have seen staff within our hospital system and communities getting prioritised who do not have patient-facing roles. They have said it is simply not a case of what a person does but who you know. That must stop. We must ensure the vaccine gets to the front line, whe…

Will the Tánaiste make a statement on this today? Will the Government issue guidance to hospitals to ensure the vaccine gets to the front line where it is needed first?

The Minister seems to be absolutely oblivious to the stress she has caused, not just to the families of the children in our education system but also to the workers in that education system. I urge the Minister to reflect on that aspect. Now is not the time for the trademark arrogance that we tend to expect from the Government. It is a time for engagement and perhaps a modicum of humility would also not go amiss. It might be alien to the Minister but I urge her to engage, open her ears and to listen to people who a…

Before the hostilities break out, as they inevitably will, I want to take this opportunity to wish the Minister, the Ministers of State and their families and the staff in the Department a very happy Christmas and a safe and - fingers crossed - healthy new year. I know how hard everybody has been working and I am sure they are all, like myself and all of us on this side of the House, very much looking forward to a bit of a break. My question is reasonably simple. It relates to the appointment of liquidators to the …

I thank the Tánaiste for his response. There are 491 jobs in the balance at the moment. That is 491 people with families, bills to pay, etc. I appreciate what the Tánaiste is saying regarding the appointment of the provisional liquidator. However, these people are in work today. They are looking at their collective agreement. They are looking at what happened to the workers in Debenhams. They are wondering if their collective agreement is worth the paper it is written on. For the avoidance of any doubt, a collectiv…

I do not want to get into a slagging match about that but I am someone with a fair amount of industrial relations experience. I am not in the habit or in the practice of interfering in industrial disputes but I see a very clear role for the Government in this regard. I have spoken at length with representatives from Mandate. It is not good enough for the Tánaiste to simply say that he hopes an alternative buyer is found and that the jobs will be saved. We are talking about 500 jobs. He has a responsibility, as the …

Again, this is a fairly straightforward question. It is to ask if the Tánaiste is aware of the Organisation of Working Time (Amendment) (Carryover of Annual Leave) (Covid-19) Bill 2020 introduced in November. It seeks to allow workers carry over untaken annual leave and to give them a legal right to be able to do that. This is leave accrued as a result of Covid-19. I am aware that in some instances leave can be cashed in and they can take the money but after the year those on the front line in particular have had, …

They may indeed refer a complaint to the Workplace Relations Commission but they need a rest now and as the Tánaiste knows, it can take months, if not years, to get those complaints resolved. The purpose of the legislation is to reflect these extraordinary times we are in and while I respect the conversations he has had with employers and others with regard to them saying it is not a significant problem at this time, my understanding is that it is a problem and one that can be fixed. Many people may not be in a pos…

There is no suggestion that public services would be undermined. People have an entitlement to take their annual leave. If the Tánaiste reads the legislation, it provides for cases where leave cannot be taken, not cases where workers are banking their leave. I note that the Minister's first port of call is to blame the workers themselves for not taking their annual leave or to suggest somehow that they are trying to game the system. They have an entitlement to benefit. Rest and recreation are extremely important. N…

This morning, I was contacted by members of Fingal Communities Against Racism, a group of which I am a member. They advised me that despite the commitment given by the Taoiseach in this House last week that there would be no deportations, a young man was deported from Dublin Airport at 11 o'clock this morning. They stated: By the time we were informed, within 1 hour of him being lifted to Dublin Airport, he was awaiting deportation on a flight, alone, and only had his mobile phone to communicate with us [...] By th…

He said there would be no deportations. This very morning a man was deported from Dublin Airport.

Can I ask-----