That is right.

I will start with some questions. Will the cost-of-living crisis lead to an increase in the number of people who steal food from shops in order to eat or provide for their families? If so, how will the law react? Will people be prosecuted? In Britain, there is public debate around this question. Why is there no such debate here? Earlier this month, the new chief inspector of the constabulary in England and Wales, Andy Cooke, said the cost-of-living crisis will trigger an increase in crime and that officers should u…

Good afternoon Tánaiste. He is back from the luxury ski resort. I am sure he did not do a Eugene Murphy and sleep in the back of a car, so I am curious to know how much the rooms cost in Davos this year and what was the all-in price of the trip. For some time the Tánaiste has been solemnly warning about the dangers of a wage-price spiral. It seems his analysis is up to serious challenge these days. For example, writing in the Business Post last weekend, Dr. Aidan Regan of the school of politics and international re…

It is interesting the Tánaiste has gone back half a century and used the 1970s for his analysis of inflation. He did not engage with the examples I gave him. They are real, new, fresh and are coming from the US and Europe, including from members of the executive board of the ECB. That in itself says much, as the Tánaiste engages with the Minister, about the weakness of his line of argument. He talked about employers struggling to find staff. It is little wonder. Yesterday in Cork City an estate agent got nearly 1,0…

What is this dispute about? It is about equal pay for equal work. Medical scientists and biochemists do the same work in the same laboratories in the same public hospitals. More than 20 years ago, it was agreed there would be pay parity and, more than 20 years on, there is still no pay parity. Medical scientists are paid at least 8% less. In the National Health Service in the UK, there is a grade of clinical scientist. It is a natural career progression for medical scientists to move to the grade of clinical scient…

I will just have time to comment on a few issues here. I will comment on the Tories' legacy Bill and two of the industrial disputes currently taking place in Northern Ireland, and then I will see as to whether I might squeeze in another point. The legacy Bill was well summed up by Suzanne Breen, writing in the Belfast Telegraph , when she wrote: The Tories bill includes not only an effective amnesty for perpetrators, it also shuts down all new civil cases by victims' families and Police Ombudsman investigations as …

I am sharing time with Deputy Boyd Barrett. Staggering profits are being made from short-term letting in the midst of the greatest housing crisis in the history of the State. According to the online publication Tripe + Drisheen , citing the AirDNA website, a five-bedroom house on the south side of Cork city yielded €71,400 income through Airbnb last year. According to the same sources, a two-bedroom house on the south side of Cork city yielded an Airbnb income last year of €47,500. Long-term rental rates in Cork ci…

After the events of last night, the Government has only a paper-thin majority and is significantly more vulnerable to pressure. I am of the view that pressure will grow from working people hard-hit by the cost of living crisis. Bus Éireann workers have been threatened with a two-year pay freeze and are not going to wear it. Medical scientists have been underpaid for years and they are not going to take it anymore. Some 87% of Bausch + Lomb workers in Waterford voted for strike action to reverse a pay cut. With inte…

It is right and proper that urgent action is taken to support the victims of this war who have fled to this country. It is also right and proper that this country takes action to support other victims of the war. I want to urgently raise the case of Javid Mamedov, a Russian anti-war activist and socialist who is now in prison after being arrested for a third time for his anti-war stance. He faces a prison sentence of five to ten years. He is not alone. More than 15,000 anti-war campaigners have been detained and ma…

I will do.

Supporters of the militarisation of Europe were in full voice at the recent Conference on the Future of Europe. Emmanuel Macron, Ursula von der Leyen and others linked what they saw as the need to militarise with changes to the European treaties, including an end to unanimity clauses. Where is the Government in this debate? Will the Taoiseach support a two-tier Europe and if so, which tier does he want Ireland to be in? Will the Taoiseach support a convention for a new treaty when the issue inevitably arises at the…

Talk to Mr. Macron.

When the pandemic raged, bus drivers kept society on the move, risking their health day after day as key front-line workers. How are they being repaid? They are being repaid with a kick in the teeth. Bus Éireann is threatening to freeze their wages, not just for 2022 but for next year as well. While prices continually increase, this represents a massive pay cut. What does the Taoiseach say about this situation? Does he think this is what the drivers deserve? I would like to hear his views on it.

Bus Éireann is proposing it.

I want to raise again the case of George Nkencho. It is my understanding that the inquest into the death of George Nkencho is due to reconvene in June. However, it is also my understanding that the inquest cannot properly reconvene until such time as the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, GSOC, investigation into his death is complete. That investigation is not yet complete. The Nkencho family had been given to believe that it would be completed before the one-year anniversary of George's death, that is, by the e…

The chair of the St. Vincent's Hospital Group, Mr. James Menton, told the Joint Committee on Health yesterday that the St. Vincent's Hospital Group is a secular organisation. This is the St. Vincent's Hospital Group that still has St. Vincent in its name. Does it not still have religious statues and icons in its grounds and in its hospital? At the same time as that contribution was being made, a quick check on the Sisters of Charity website yielded the following statement: "health care is provided in an atmosphere …

Ah yes, the Minister of State, Deputy Feighan. Abraham Lincoln once said: "You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.” I hope I have that right but the Deputy knows the quote to which I refer. Fine Gael jumped on the Repeal bandwagon very late in the day but it will be lot clearer to the people who gave the party a degree of support around that issue where it really stands on the struggle to separate Church and State in this cou…

The Minister has quite clearly nailed his colours to the mast in favour of the second level of ambition as a minimum, which would involve a significant increase in the expenditure on defence. Am I correct in stating that entire increase in spending will be capital, such as on new military equipment and so on? Will pay be covered by another Department or will it be covered as part of the increase in defence spending? What kind of breakdown does the Minister envisage between pay and the other elements?

Let us say that defence spending is increased by €1 billion. Is the Minister going to take the pay increases out of that €1 billion or will they be covered by another Department? Will the Minister give us a breakdown of where he sees the increases going? How much will there be for capital spending, for military equipment and for pay, if his Department is to cover the pay element? I am hearing a lot about 3,000 extra personnel and new military equipment but I am not hearing a lot about the issue of pay. That is the …

I thank the Minister for that clarification. The representative associations have been locked out of the public sector pay talks.