From 1918 to 1920, the Spanish flu epidemic swept the world killing tens of millions of people. The pandemic clearly revealed to the masses that the existing health systems based on private ownership and charities were not fit for purpose. The demand for public health services grew louder and unstoppable. In 1945, following six years of world war, the people of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland resolved there would be no return to the poverty of the 1930s. They fast-forwarded the creation of a welfare s…

The pandemic showed who the real essential workers in society are. They are not the millionaires or billionnaires but our nurses, healthcare workers, transport workers, retail workers, cleaners and many others. What plans does the Minister have to provide a Covid bonus payment to our front-line workers and when does he intend to pay them?

Front-line workers died from Covid, which they contracted while working. Many others got sick and some of them got long Covid. All suffered from stress, fatigue and mental health pressures for their services to society. Does the Minister intend to announce details of recognition payments in the budget? The Minister talked about the coming weeks but does he intend to announce it on or before budget day? What year does the Minister expect payments to start? The Minister mentioned costs of €377 million and €500 millio…

Writing in the Irish Examiner on Monday, Daniel McConnell wrote "a key question is whether the Government can get private sector buy-in". It is a key question. Given that the Minister agrees that private sector front-line workers such as those he mentioned, including retail workers, cleaners and many others, deserve a Covid bonus, what steps has the Minister taken and what steps does he intend to take to ensure they get it?

Who was it who said, "if you freeze rents to zero, that could mean an income or pension cut for another person or another person unable to pay the mortgage on that property"? Was it, "A", the Irish Property Owners Association, "B", Margaret Thatcher, "C", Micheál Martin or "D", Attila the Hun? Who wants to be a millionaire? A lot of landlords. The answer to the question is "C". It was the Taoiseach yesterday putting an investment by a landlord ahead of the right of a tenant to a home. This is not a level playing fi…

It is calling for three years. Is it not for one year and by the inflation rate thereafter?

In that case, I stand corrected. A rent freeze would need to take place over a number of years, at the very least. The debate does not need to be about rents that rise at the rate of inflation or a rent freeze when a rent freeze is a no-brainer as a minimum policy. Regarding where the debate is, we saw how the Labour Party took a fair bit of flak from renters on its social media pages yesterday. They said a rent freeze does not go far enough. A rent freeze is not good enough. What we need are rent cuts. Rents are 2…

Are you doing a Roy Keane on it now?

Aer Lingus asked its cabin crew to accept a four-year pay freeze, new yellow-pack starting rates and cuts to both sick pay and duty allowances. Staff are being told: "Go back in the sky, wear a sunny smile and put your lipstick on, but do not forgot the hair shirt." To the credit of the workers, they voted by 80%-plus to reject that package. The company has now threatened these mainly women workers with a unilateral imposition of even more draconian terms, including temporary lay-offs for senior staff and freezing …

"There's class warfare, all right, but it's my class...that's making war, and we're winning." They are not the words of a socialist or trade union militant but those of American billionaire, Warren Buffet. They are words that are very relevant in this case. In 2019, IAG made an operating profit of more than €2.5 billion, more than four times the temporary Aer Lingus losses. Meanwhile, workers with families have to fork out rents greater than their pandemic wage and rely on parents to help finance their weekly food …

Fine Gael has been in power for more than ten years. Fianna Fáil has either been in government with or has propped up Fine Gael in power for more than five years and neither has built anything like social and affordable housing, the results and consequences of which we see every day. The latest example is the student accommodation crisis. This afternoon, I spoke to Aisling O'Mahony, president of the Munster Technological University Cork student union. She told me that because of the accommodation crisis, students a…

A headline in today's edition of The Guardian newspaper states, "Governments falling woefully short of Paris climate pledges, study finds". In that light, I ask the Minister if he can report to the House on his approach to preparation for the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties, COP26, summit in Glasgow in November?

Does the Minister feel any embarrassment whatsoever about going to Glasgow as the representative of a Government that is rolling out the red carpet for unlimited data centres? He will be going to an international convention at a time when data centres account for 2% of global electricity use. He will represent a State that allows data centres use 11% of its national electricity output. More than that, he will go as the representative of a State that is planning to allow data centres consume 27% of national electric…

Let us look at some of the global issues. Part 3 of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, report is not due to be published until March next year. However, scientists associated with Scientist Rebellion and Extinction Rebellion Spain took a decision to leak the early drafts over the summer. Part 3 states that "The character of social and economic development produced by the nature of capitalist society" is viewed by many political and economic critics "as ultimately unsustainable". In other words, th…

Will the Minister for Transport report on any recent communication he has had with Dublin Bus management or trade unions on industrial relations matters in the company?

The backdrop to this question is the fact that 97% of Dublin Bus workers who were balloted rejected the proposals. The proposals were for changes to work practices, changes in their rostering and included lower rates for part-time drivers. The ballot was conducted with the threat of privatisation hanging over their heads but still 97% said "No". I ask the Minister to take serious note of that vote and the anger represented by it. There is also the registered employment agreement, which was agreed in the Labour Cour…

In a situation very similar to that at Dublin Bus, we have breaking news this morning that Aer Lingus cabin crew at Dublin Airport have voted by 87% to reject proposals for a 10% wage cut, a four-year pay freeze, lower starting rates, and cuts to sick pay and shift allowances. These austerity measures are proposed by a company where the wages are, in large measure, paid by the State and which is far from idle. A total of 20 Aer Lingus flights left that airport before 8 o'clock this morning. As with Dublin Bus, thes…

It is good to be back. The big dark cave up on the Liffey kind of suited the Government. There are fewer places to hide in here. No. 16 on the Order Paper is the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, CETA. It gives power to corporations to sue governments for progressive policies. CETA must not go to a vote in this House without a proper prior debate on the floor of the House. Has the Ceann Comhairle sought assurance from the Government that there will be no attempt to slip this issue in during the business t…

Fifteen minutes ago, the Taoiseach told the Dáil we do not want students living in hotel rooms. However, the Government has failed to stop students being forced to do precisely that. It is not just hotel rooms. In Cork city, 100 students are living in one hostel on Wellington Road at the moment. Officers of the student union in UCC tell us that more than 1,000 students have no proper place to stay. Student unions across the country are reporting significant numbers deferring their courses simply because they cannot…

The Taoiseach seems to have swanned off on his summer holidays without taking action until it hit him straight in the face, and all he can say now is the dog ate his homework. What is he going to do, not in 2030 or next year but now?