The Government is ignoring a decision of the Dáil. The cost-of-living package that is being reported in media this morning and watched carefully by low-paid workers involves increased electricity credit, an extension of fuel allowance and the bringing forward of the working family payment by two months. Of course, groceries are up €800 a year, petrol is up €500 a year and electricity is up €800 a year. That is more than €2,000 before we get to the rent. Putting the Government proposals in that context, they not onl…

The Government must.

If the Government will not provide real relief for working people and ordinary families, unfortunately working people will have no alternative but to seek real relief themselves. We are calling on working people to organise in the workplace to submit pay claims which at least match the cost-of-living increases and to fight to achieve them. In the UK, the Unite trade union has won cost-of-living increases in 25 workplaces by balloting for industrial action and by taking industrial action where necessary. In many cas…

So does the Minister of State. The Government cut the minimum wage.

Look at their record. They cut the minimum wage.

I move: That Dáil Éireann: notes: — the latest increase of the minimum wage from €10.20 to €10.50 an hour is a 2.9 per cent increase, and is well below the rate of inflation representing a de facto pay cut for the lowest paid workers in the State; — the minimum wage rate for those aged under 20 and those on training programmes is less than the main rate, therefore a lower increase, and represents flagrant discrimination against young people; — that the State has a high level of low pay with approximately 380,000 wo…

The slogan of the campaign for a minimum wage in the United States was "$15 now because the rent won't wait". That is a slogan that will have a lot of echoes among a lot of young and not so young low-paid workers in this country this morning, given the shocking figures we have seen from daft.ie , which do not shock because we are all so used to it now. The Minister of State mentioned six consecutive increases in the minimum wage. He should not worry about six consecutive increases. What about 37 consecutive quarter…

The Garda had to be called to Blackpool, on Cork's north side, this morning when an attempt was made to physically disrupt the start of the working day at Múin Preschool on Brocklesby Street. The disruption took the form of the erection of a blockade comprising a van and cones at the entrance to the site where the school is based, the diagonal parking of a car on the site where the school staff normally park their cars, and the parking of a truck extremely close to the entrance to the school. The actions involved t…

Will the Taoiseach address the issue of the school in Blackpool?

I see the Taoiseach was out peddling the old Thatcherite myths earlier on about wage increases causing inflation. He was at it again. At a time when inflation stood at 5.5%, the Government increased the minimum wage by 2.9%. It is a statement of fact that the Taoiseach's Government and the Taoiseach have introduced a de facto pay cut for the lowest paid workers in this State. At a time when the average minimum wage increase across the European Union is 6%, the Taoiseach's Government has decided to increase Ireland'…

Will the Taoiseach admit that the idea of raising the pension age to 67 and then 68 is now dead in the water? The most recent general election showed that there is as much potential support for this measure as a race for a return of water charges. The Oireachtas committee was only recognising the reality that, politically, this is now a complete non-runner. Increasing life expectancy raises important issues about funding pension arrangements. Will the Taoiseach now accept that there are alternative ways to doing th…

"Allegations such as those revealed at McKee Barracks should not remain within the military system to investigate ... A similar regime was operated within the [Catholic] Church in which canon law was applied in horrific cases of sex abuse. It was not tolerated there, and it should not be tolerated in the Defence Forces." Those are strong words today from the Women of Honour group. As for the comparison with the Catholic Church, my understanding is that they are talking about an institution which is not covered by t…

Last Saturday night in Cork, a young woman was assaulted and hospitalised. On Tuesday, not five minutes' walk from here, on St. Stephen's Green, a 50-year-old woman was assaulted and hospitalised. I send solidarity to all who will assemble at Custom House Quay tonight to mark the one-year anniversary of the death by violence of Ms Urantsetseg Tserendorj. I hope I have correctly pronounced her name. Last Sunday morning, gardaí called to the home of Limerick woman, Ms. Aislinn O'Keeffe, serving her with a court order…

The decision of the DPP-----

-----and the Courts Service is a disgrace.

I am asking the Tánaiste to reply.

May we hear a reply from the Tánaiste?

The Tánaiste-----

Until the Tánaiste responds-----

-----I will not resume my seat.