I want to ask the Minister about her plans to tax the pandemic unemployment payment. The recipients of the payment are victims of the Covid crisis; they are workers who lost their jobs in the Covid crisis. Many of these workers did not just lose their job, but their incomes fell off a cliff. There are people who would have had incomes of €600, €700 and €800 a week that were reduced to €350. That was the money which paid the rent and put the food on the table. Now, the Minister and the Government are planning to tax…

Tax is a matter for the Department of Finance but the Minister sits at the Cabinet table, where a proposal came to tax a payment for which the Minister is responsible. She is the Minister for Social Protection. How are these workers being protected with the plans to tax them in the new year? In fact, it is a retrospective tax because when it was introduced, on 13 March, it came in as an urgent needs payment. Urgent needs payments are explicitly exempt from tax under section 126 of the Taxes Consolidation Act. It is…

I wish to speak to amendment No. 70 which proposes that a report be drawn up to look into the question of a doubling of the corporation tax rates from 12.5% to 25%, which is a policy I support. I will start with a couple of clear facts. The first is that Covid-19 will cost Irish society a large sum of money. The costs that have been heaped on society by Covid-19 are currently being paid, first and foremost, through borrowing. I have no problem with that. One can borrow on the international markets for extremely low…

I will not go over the substantive points again. We did that on Committee Stage and the basic points have been outlined during this debate. Nevertheless, I will make one further point to the Minister. I have outlined a variety of reasons that corporations invest in this country. I underlined the opinion - I think it is a fact - that a key reason there is high multinational investment in this country is because it is a country where the majority of people speak English and it has access to the European Union market,…

I move amendment No. 70: In page 45, between lines 25 and 26, to insert the following: "22. The Minister shall, within six months of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before Dáil Éireann a report on the revenue gained from increasing corporation tax to 25 per cent for corporations with over €800,000 in profits and in closing loopholes that exist that allow corporations to hugely reduce their rate of tax.".

I move: “That Dáil Éireann: notes that: — 4,000 student nurses and midwives have been working on the frontline in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic; — these students are carrying out essential work and are compensating for the long-term understaffing of our health service as well as covering for Covid-19-related absences of qualified staff; — 11,369 health care workers have been infected with Covid-19, 16.6 per cent of all cases in Ireland, 59 of whom were admitted to Intensive Care Units; — the chronic understaff…

The actor Elliot Page announced yesterday that he is transgender and his announcement has focused world-wide attention today on the issue of transgender rights. The national transgender healthcare steering committee was set up to "develop a seamless and integrated service" for those who present with gender identity issues, with clear pathways of care so that the needs of patient and their families are placed at the centre of service delivery. The committee concluded its work nine months ago, in March, but the repor…

I will be brief because we had a lengthy debate on this on Committee Stage. I will repeat some of the key reasons we would support the production of a report examining this issue. We believe the scheme is flawed in a number of respects. First, we have issues with the supply of housing at present. The scheme will increase demand. It is quite obvious what happens in a situation in which there is increased demand and a more or less steady supply. It will push up prices. There is evidence of that already in Cork and I …

I move amendment No. 4: In page 10, between lines 34 and 35, to insert the following: "8. The Minister shall, by 1 March 2021, prepare and lay before Dáil Éireann a report on the Help-to-Buy scheme which shall cover the following areas: (a) the impact on overall house prices of the scheme; (b) the impact on the profits in construction, banking, and other related property sectors; (c) other measures and interventions that may deliver affordable housing at a lower cost to householders and public funds.".

I wish to make some points about the CRSS scheme and the conditions attached to it. Amendment No. 22 proposes that four conditions be attached. In order to be eligible to get the CRSS an employer would need to demonstrate that he or she pays a living wage to employees. If an employee wishes to join a trade union, he or she must have the facility to have the union recognised in the workplace. The employer must operate a sick leave scheme for employees and must also make contributions to a pension scheme for employee…

I move amendment No. 22: In page 20, between lines 18 and 19, to insert the following: “(a) the person can demonstrate that they pay a ‘living wage’ to their employees, (b) the person can demonstrate that they facilitate their employees to join a trade union that has been or will be recognised by them as a body to deal in collective bargaining with employees concerning pay, health and safety, terms and conditions of employment and other employment related matters, (c) the person operates a sick leave scheme for emp…

I am unsure whether the member of Greyhound Racing Ireland will take up the challenge from Deputy Cairns for a public debate, but I know one thing: if the debate has already started, I think he is losing it heavily at this stage. I intend to focus on the greyhound side of the funding. The proposal is for €96 million to go to the Horse and Greyhound Fund. One fifth of that money goes to the greyhound industry, which is a little over €19 million. This industry cannot be separated in its format from cruelty to animals…

The question is to ask the Minister if she will consider initiating an investigation into allegations that females in a school were asked not to wear certain items of clothing due to them allegedly being revealing; if she will report on measures taken to counter sexism in schools, and if she will make a statement on the matter.

The school in question is being asked for a report. Are the school authorities alone being asked to supply the report or is contact being made with the student body to get a report and information back from it? Something happened in that school. Would a petition come forward to be signed with thousands of names for no reason? It appears that protest took place in the school, including boys coming into school wearing leggings and skirts in solidarity with the girl students. People would not do this for no reason. It…

On the broader issue of sexism in schools, I think it is fair to say that young people in general, including teenagers, have been ahead of the curve in Irish society on social issues. They were ahead of the curve on LGBT rights, including gay marriage. They were ahead of the curve on abortion rights. I think they are ahead of the curve on sexism in schools as well. They ask many legitimate questions about policies in school, including policies on uniforms, sport in schools, subject choice, the rights of trans stude…

I was not here for the event but I learned on the way over that at the start of his speech, Deputy Sherlock apologised for having supported the increase in the pension age. Someone told me he repeated the apology at the end of his speech. I do not know whether the Labour Party as a whole intends to follow the example of Deputy Sherlock on this issue and apologise to the people of this country in the next day or two. I do not expect any mass celebrations on the street. People will not be overjoyed that the Labour Pa…

Nursing is arguably the most dangerous job in the country in this pandemic. Around 50 nurses a day have to stop work because they have either contracted Covid or are a close contact of someone who has. More than 3,000 student nurses have done placement work in our hospitals in the last few months. If someone studies nursing in college, Covid risk is on the curriculum. The Tánaiste said in response to Deputy Kelly that paying students does not tend to be the practice across the public sector. However, it also does n…

There are reports that girls in Presentation College Carlow have been told not to wear leggings to school because they are too revealing of their bodies and make teachers uncomfortable. I understand the principal was on the radio this morning to challenge the reports. Clearly, young people, male and female, in the school are very upset and believe that something very wrong happened here. There must be no place for victim blaming or body shaming in our schools and I ask that the Department investigates this matter f…

In terms of the scale and horror of this issue, Mary Crilly from the sexual violence centre in Cork recently said: I have yet to meet a homeless woman who hasn't been raped. They tend to say "I've lost count of the number of times that I've been raped." I welcome the fact there is to be a pilot scheme in Cork to provide a refuge for homeless rape victims but I ask the Taoiseach what is the timescale for this initiative to come to fruition. In all of Cork city and county there is one refuge for families who are vict…

The programme for Government makes reference to the possibility of legislation to improve workers' rights in a liquidation situation. The Taoiseach has committed to a process of dialogue on this issue with employers' organisations and trade union organisations. I understand a meeting has already taken place in this regard. Are there terms of reference for this process? Have they been published? If so, where? Which organisations are being invited to participate in the process? How long is it intended for the process…