I will not spend a lot of time making the argument this is discriminatory because its discriminatory character is blatant and obvious and the point does not need to be laboured. It does not apply to a business person travelling abroad. It does not apply to a worker travelling abroad. It does apply to unemployed people travelling abroad. It is discriminatory and it is blatant. I want to make my first real point on the degree of the discrimination and the penalty for ordinary people who are unemployed through no faul…

No, I am speaking myself.

I want to ask the Minister for Education and Skills about the position facing fifth years, the leaving certificate class of 2021, and also the sixth years who have just left schools, the leaving certificate class of 2020. I had an exchange with the Taoiseach earlier today. I asked him about changes being planned regarding the leaving certificate in 2021 to take account of these students having lost quite a lot of face-to-face time with their teachers in recent months. The Taoiseach said that there are changes afoot…

This debate is taking place in the National Convention Centre, in Dublin's north inner city. We are just down the road from Liberty Hall, the headquarters of James Connolly and Jim Larkin, and the locked out workers of 1913. We are a little more than a mile away from the scene of the world-famous Dunnes Stores anti-apartheid strike of the 1980s, and now we have another historic strike taking place here in Dublin's north inner city. Striking workers, overwhelmingly women, are picketing Debenhams stores at 11 separat…

The Government chose not to extend the ban on rent increases and evictions for at least another three months for fear of a court challenge from landlords. This is a Government of gutless wonders. Does the Taoiseach not think it would have been better to extend the ban and prepare to face down any court challenge by arguing that such bans are clearly and demonstrably in the public interest in the context of a dangerous virus abroad within our society? The programme for Government, on page 60, commits to improving th…

Fine legal minds dispute that.

The Government is bowing to the needs of landlords.

I do not know if anything quite like it was ever seen before when more than 20,000 childcare workers came out onto the streets on 5 February. There was an emotion and anger about it that had been building up for years. One could see it being released on 5 February. There were demonstrations in Dublin, Cork and in other towns and cities across the country. There are 4,200 childcare centres in the State and it is estimated that more than 2,000 were closed on that day. This is a quote from one of the workers at the Du…

As they marched to the Dáil today, Debenhams workers chanted, "Apple got sorted out. We got sold out." The Taoiseach supported the successful appeal against Apple paying the State €13 billion. The Debenhams workers are campaigning for the far smaller sum of €13 million but the Government is taking no action on their behalf. This €13 million is the sum necessary to provide almost 1,000 Debenhams workers with two weeks' statutory redundancy and two weeks per year of service to top it up. To try to win this modest sum…

This dispute is now an historic dispute, as it is the first dispute of the coronavirus lockdown. The flagship store for Debenhams is on Henry Street in Dublin, the scene of another historic strike, the Dunnes Stores anti-apartheid strike in the mid-1980s. That dispute was resolved by a Government introducing legislation that in name may not have been emergency legislation but effectively was special legislation, taking apartheid South African goods off the shelves. There is a deadlock in this dispute. There is a ri…

Can the Taoiseach tell us when the Cabinet's education sub-committee is due to have its first meeting? The Irish Times reported on Monday that the National Educational Psychological Service presented a report to the Department of Education and Skills regarding stress and anxiety levels among Irish second level students. The report is said to have found much higher levels of anxiety over school work and exam-related stress than is the case in other developed countries. The report apparently finds that 50% of second …

What about fifth years?

In one sentence, could the Taoiseach comment on the second half of the question I raised about the idea of tapering next year's leaving certificate in order to give more choice and options to students who have lost a significant amount of teaching time and give his view on that?

The Taoiseach mentioned the discussion he had with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. Did the issue of the Apple tax judgment come up in that discussion? He mentioned in the previous round that he felt the left has been niggardly in acknowledging the role of foreign direct investment. I would argue that the right has been niggardly in accepting and acknowledging that the level of tax paid by the Apple corporation in this State was unacceptable. I understand that the General Court of the…

I live in Blackpool on the north side of Cork city. The Apple headquarters in Hollyhill are a 30 minute walk from my front door. If I take a walk there, I am high up above the city and can see schools that are underfunded, where parents have to organise fundraising drives at Christmas time to keep the schools patched up. I can see hospitals that are underfunded, with patient waiting lists and increasing numbers, once again, in their emergency departments. In other words, from that vantage point one can see with one…

No, I will speak myself. I will speak briefly because there is only one issue I want to focus on this evening. It is the question of the striking down of the sectoral employment orders. The Government has decided to appeal the decision of the High Court to the Supreme Court, and I welcome that. The High Court decision represented a clear and present danger to the wages and conditions of 120,000 construction workers, including electricians, mechanical engineers, plumbers, pipe fitters and others. The fact that there…

Having a baby during the Covid period has been a very difficult and challenging experience for many women and a difficult challenge for many families. Families have been unable to extend the normal support because of the Covid situation. The support of professionals has been very difficult to tap into because of Covid. Many examples have been given in the debate so far, particularly as it relates to childcare. Babies have missed vaccinations, the scans they would normally have and developmental checks. Demand has r…

The evictions moratorium expired two and a half weeks ago in New York city. The backlog in eviction cases for a three-month period in that city would normally be expected to be somewhere between 50,000 and 60,000 cases but, given the rent arrears that have built up from people who lost their jobs during the pandemic, it is expected that more than 100,000 evictions could be in the pipeline in New York city. The director of litigation at legal services for the city said the situation is the most dire thing they had e…

Yesterday, off Parnell Place in Cork, there was an eight hour stand-off between Debenhams workers and drivers of trucks and vans who were trying to remove stock. A similar stand-off is taking place right now in Blanchardstown. New legislation to protect workers' rights in cases of company liquidation is referred to on page 23 of the programme for Government. My colleague, Deputy Boyd Barrett, raised points about the Duffy Cahill report. The experience of the Debenhams workers shows, however, that new legislation ne…

I am sharing time with Deputy Paul Murphy. There are too many hotels, too much overpriced student accommodation, not enough social housing and not enough affordable housing. I am talking about Cork city centre but I could be talking about other places too. A new hotel with 120 beds at Kent Station is now on the way, as well as a new hotel with 171 beds in MacCurtain Street, a new hotel with 183 beds at Morrison's Quay and a new hotel with 58 beds in South Mall. Overpriced student accommodation is on the way in Wash…