Yes.

I have listened to the points that have been raised. Points were raised about putting the evictions Bill on the agenda and a lengthy, significant debate on the question of the Covid-19 strategy. I suggest that the Business Committee be asked to convene this afternoon and to come back later with proposals that would include the items I have mentioned, with the debate on the Covid strategy to take place before restrictions come in on Wednesday night. That proposal would obviously have to include a sitting on Friday.

Is KPMG to be allowed to collect non-essential stock from Debenhams, a non-essential retail store, over the next six weeks? People need clarity on this issue. If the answer is "Yes", even if the trucks and vans are only to travel the 5 km, then workers are going to be forced to maintain pickets during the lockdown. If the answer is "No", then is the Government going to allow a situation where the dispute remains unresolved during lockdown, meaning pickets will have to be put in place again three weeks before Christ…

I will ask about youth unemployment and training. If we add the number of young people on the live register and the number of young people on the pandemic unemployment payment, we get a number in the region of 100,000. That figure will increase significantly in the coming weeks. Some €200 million was set aside for training in the budget. I question whether that is enough. There are 80,000 places but I also wonder if that is enough. I will not focus on that today. I want to talk about the quality of training. The tr…

I wish to ask the Taoiseach about the question of a new mortgage moratorium. The Tánaiste is quoted in the papers this morning as saying the lockdown will cost 150,000 jobs. I do not know how many mortgage holders are in that cohort but I imagine quite a lot as well as many more who will have their incomes negatively affected while still holding onto their jobs. During the first lockdown, a six-month mortgage moratorium was put in place. What will be put in place in the course of this lockdown? Of course, the answe…

When are the banks coming in?

The European Council made it a high priority to strengthen relations with Africa. Historically, the relationship between Europe and Africa has been characterised by the exploitation of Africa and her peoples by the ruling classes of Europe. Let us consider the wealth in Amsterdam, Paris, London and Lisbon that was extracted through the profits from the slave trade. Today, in the main, there is no direct military rule but there is still a relationship of exploitation by economics. Associate Professor Lorenzo Kamel, …

The question asks the Minister his views on whether legislative change is required to ensure that all students who are long-term residents and-or born here but who are not Irish, EEA, Swiss or UK nationals will be eligible for the free fees scheme to apply for Student Universal Support Ireland, SUSI, grants and to be considered EU students in relation to fees; if he will undertake a review of the situation; and make a statement on the matter.

The issue is that there are young people in schools in this country who were born and have grown up in this country and who, because of a racist referendum in 2004 and the legislation introduced on foot of it the following year, do not have Irish citizenship. As a result of this, they do not have an automatic entitlement to free fees under the SUSI scheme. This may have been an academic question until now but some of those young people are now 15, knocking on the door of 16, and very soon will be wanting to go to c…

The Minister gave the example of Eric, which was a well-known case of about two or two and a half years ago involving a potential deportation. It may not apply to Eric directly but there are people in a similar situation to Eric who will face being effectively barred from going to third level education for financial reasons unless the law is changed. The Minister seemed to indicate it needs legislative change. The clock is ticking on this. My supplementary question is on the issue of young people who were not born …

I wish to deal with the issues of the PUP, training and internships and make a point about the Debenhams situation. Before I do so, I point out that the Government has taken a Keynesian turn in the budget. There is significantly increased State intervention in the economy and society. In taking these actions, the Government is in lockstep with capitalist governments globally which are boosting state intervention in order to sustain capitalism itself. In the hands of these governments, including the Irish Government…

There is no argument that this is a big budget, with €86 billion in overall expenditure, an increase of €4 billion in health spending and €19 billion in borrowing next year. Some of the spending is unnecessary, particularly on corporate welfare. There is fair amount of necessary spending that is not included in the budget, and housing is a big part of this. Most of the spending is completely necessary and justifiable but many workers will worry who will pay for all this. Many will wonder if Mr. Keynes is being welc…

I move: “That Dáil Éireann: notes: — the surge in Covid-19 cases across the country; — the continued public health guidelines and restrictions and their effects on employment and people’s movement; — the consequences for many thousands of workers across the country; — the likelihood that other counties may join Dublin and Donegal in higher levels of restrictions in the coming weeks; — that the Government rhetoric of ‘in this together’ is contradicted by the cuts to the Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) a…

It is amazing what one learns when one listens very carefully during a Dáil debate. I was under the misapprehension that what the Government did in September was cut the PUP by €100 or €50. It turns out I was wrong and the payment was not cut at all. Many people believed that was what happened. They believed the Government, in taking €100 from them, had taken food out the mouths of their children or, by taking €50 from them, had endangered the roof over their heads. It turns out they were wrong. They should have li…

Let us look at this exact same issue from another angle. Listen to these words: "We are having big outbreaks that we simply cannot get a handle on because we don't have the resources." Those are the words of a public health employee that were reported in the Irish Examiner last night. One of her colleagues reported that 150 new cases came in over the weekend but that none of her staff could go near any of them because they are run off their feet and did not have time to do so. Dr. Ann Dee, a consultant in public he…

I note with great interest the information the Taoiseach has provided to the Dáil. He is expecting 40,000 to 50,000 new claims for the pandemic unemployment payment this week alone. In the previous debate, a point was made by a Deputy that it seems that, according to a fairly extensive online survey, the average pay of someone before having to go on the pandemic unemployment payment was over €500. In other words, people had suffered a cut of nearly €200 in their household income before the Government decided to cut…

I ask about the plight of two groups of workers, namely, the Aer Lingus workers and the Debenhams workers. The Aer Lingus workers have been submitting short-term working forms to Intreo offices to try to get the back-money due to them from the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection from before 1 September. Why are they getting satisfaction in some offices and not in the majority? For example, the Intreo office in Drogheda will process the claims, but Intreo offices in other areas are not doing so. T…

From midnight tonight, the entire country will be at level 3. As the restrictions tighten, there could be and should be an increase in supports but there will not be. In fact, those on the pandemic unemployment payment have seen their supports cut. They are down between €50 and €100 every week, money needed to keep a roof over one's head, put food on the table and keep the wolf from the door. I put it to the Taoiseach that those cuts should be reversed more or less immediately and not later than next Tuesday's budg…

Last Monday morning taxis from all over Cork city and county arrived in the suburb of Mahon as taxi drivers prepared for the biggest taxi protest in living memory. They were attempting to draw attention to the terrible financial plight that they face with their families and the lack of action on the part of the Government. If Cork is moved to level 3, their financial position will worsen, as will the financial position of many other working people. People need supports, including the supports that have been taken a…

The two previous speakers, my colleagues, made points about pain and people who die in pain. I want to speak about the people who are facing into an undignified death without control of their bodies or bodily functions and who make the choice to leave this world in a different way, namely, voluntary assisted death. If I had a terminal illness, getting progressively worse, and I was facing an undignified death would I want a choice in that situation? Yes, I would want to be able to say that if I am leaving this worl…