I move amendment No. 16: In page 65, between lines 10 and 11, to insert the following: “Reports 24. The Minister shall, within three months of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before Dáil Éireann a report on a levy on energy supply and generation companies to offset the increased cost of heating and energy for households.”. I will speak briefly on this amendment. The facts, figures and statistics in this regard have been quoted many times in this House. I am not going to recite them again. These large profi…

In July, The Irish Times wrote, in reference to the European Court of Justice, ECJ, hearings on the Apple tax case, that a spokesman for the Department of Finance said it was expected that the hearings in Luxembourg would be held in the autumn and it was anticipated that the court would provide between four and six weeks' notice once it had decided on a date to hear the case. This month, the Tánaiste told me in the Dáil, "I do not have an update on the timing in relation to those cases. That matter is handled by th…

I asked whether there was any update whatsoever on the position.

It is not often I quote a British Tory but I will do it today. Alok Sharma, the president of COP26, said with regard to COP27: Emissions peaking before 2025, as the science tells us is necessary. Not in this text. Clear follow-through on the phase down of coal. Not in this text. A commitment to phase out all fossil fuels. Not in this text. And the energy text, weakened in the final minutes. Of course, that is hypocrisy. His government signed up to the text. COP27 was a sure sign that the corporations that rule and …

Putin's bombing of Ukraine is despicable. A little desperation is beginning to creep in. As we know, Putin is on the defensive against Ukrainian advances, in addition to the home front, which is an issue that is underreported. In recent weeks, many ordinary Russians have defied conscription, relatives of conscripts have held protests in at least six cities, some troops have refused to leave barracks and some soldiers have fragged, or killed, their officers. In these circumstances, the role of NATO is counterproduct…

Rents are up 14% in the three months to September compared to last year, the highest increase ever recorded in the State. Average rents are €1,700. Apartment building is down 29% and housing builds are down 23% in the three months to the end of October. There are 11,000 people living in emergency accommodation. Tens of thousands more are homeless, couch surfing, etc., and are not counted in those figures. How many more will be counted this Friday? The record of the Minister and the Government is a disaster. People …

When the moratorium on gas and electricity disconnections was announced for the winter, pay-as-you-go customers were excluded. There are 340,000 such electricity meters in the State and 117,000 such gas customers. If we exclude a certain crossover and perhaps some holiday homes, we are safe to say the households excluded from the moratorium probably comprise more than 500,000 people. This issue was highlighted in the Dáil and there was a subsequent furore, debate and controversy. Some concessions were forced as a r…

You are at the cinema, the lights go down and the ads start up. If the audience is going to groan at one of the ads, which one will it be? I bet it will be the one that ends with the words, "This ad was brought to you by the Government of Ireland." When the punter goes to the cinema or switches on the television, he or she should be able to watch the movie or television show without having to swallow a dose of Government propaganda. A person who, for example, strongly dislikes this Government and its policy might, …

The Taoiseach is nearly there.

It was not at the cinema but I was watching the Taoiseach over in Sharm El-Sheikh doing his best-boy-in-the-class routine again. While he was trotting out the hype in Egypt, the reality at home is very different. Take the well-being framework for example. The framework monitors 35 indicators of well-being and the 2022 report finds progress in some areas, a neutral, as-you-were situation in others and only one that was negative. Which indicator was negative? It was environment, climate and biodiversity. The report n…

It is not compatible with the idea of investor courts.

Did the Taoiseach quote it in Sharm El-Sheik?

Why is the State continuing to use non-disclosure agreements against women in the Defence Forces who take court action on the issues of sexual harassment, sexual assault and sexual violence within those forces? The Defence Forces have had a culture of sexual harassment, sexual assault and sexual violence which has thrived on secrecy. That culture of secrecy is now being bolstered and supplemented by the State's use of these non-disclosure agreements. We are told that the independent review group will submit its rep…

Why is the State using non-disclosure agreements?

What about non-disclosure agreements? Not a word.

When the European Political Community is discussed, there is usually much talk of human rights. Many European Political Community countries will shortly be involved at an event that will be much discussed in the context of human rights. I am referring to the Qatar World Cup, which starts in five days' time. The Qatari regime will try to use this event to sportswash its shocking record on workers' rights, women's rights and rights for the LGBT community. Many European states benefited from the rotten decision to awa…

The eviction ban does not extend to emergency accommodation; it should. I recently came across a case which shows why. It involves a woman who is in emergency accommodation in Cork city. She attempted to get a diagnosis of autism through the State. She is in that process, which is very slow, and she does not have the finance to go private. She clearly feels herself that she has autism but she has refused accommodation offers on the grounds that they are not suitable for her with her condition. However, the accommod…

Cork City Fire Brigade has been operating at 75% strength for the past year. When the city boundary was extended in 2019, the civic fire service took on the station at Ballincollig, the retained staff there and an extra truck. Since then, the retained firefighters have been promoted to full-time positions and are based at the fire station headquarters on Anglesea Street in the city centre. In taking those positions they replaced other firefighters who retired. There are now no retained officers at Ballincollig and …

I ask the Minister to report on the BusConnects project in Cork. Will he confirm that the routes will be subject to tender for private operators? What guarantees can be given in terms of workers' rights and service levels for outsourced routes?

I strongly believe that Cork city needs to move towards having fewer cars, more public transport and more bicycles on the road. Key to making public transport more attractive is to slash fares, even going so far as to make fares entirely free. Given this, I am disturbed that the Minister's reply holds open the real possibility that 12 strategic transport corridors could go out to tender. If they do, the Minister and I know that private companies which pay lower wages will have a competitive advantage and could end …