I asked a question.

Is there a single thing that prevents the Minister, morally or politically, from campaigning on behalf of citizens?

I will talk this evening about the FFY, forgotten fifth years. This is a group of approximately 60,000 young people whose leaving certificate studies have been seriously disrupted by the pandemic and who feel that neither the Minister nor the Government are paying real attention to their concerns. Precisely because these young people feel they are being ignored, not listened to and are unheard, I am going to start by reading some of their words into the record. I am going to start with the words of a young woman na…

When Clerys closed without paying a penny to long-standing workers, the Dáil said that would never again be allowed to happen. It is happening again. It is happening on the Minister's watch. It is happening at Debenhams and more than four times as many workers are involved in this case. Debenhams closed in early April. Liquidators were appointed by the High Court, namely, KPMG. I met the liquidators earlier. The 30-day consultation period is very nearly up and KPMG has informed the unions that it does not intend to…

Will the Minister meet the liquidator?

The Minister may ask to meet the liquidator. Will she do so?

I want to make some points about the position facing the leaving certificate students of 2021, the current fifth-year students, but first I want to look at the reason the leaving certificate exams were cancelled. No doubt the official record will show that they were cancelled due to logistical problems related to organising State exams in a pandemic, the need for PPE in the exam halls, the need for social distancing in the exam halls, and the need to recruit a greater number of volunteers, etc. I do not doubt for o…

-----for these students in addition to answering my question on school profiling?

Will the Minister answer my question on fifth years?

I too want to ask the Minister questions about the Skellig Star hotel in Cahersiveen. First, I wish to make some brief points about the direct provision system in this Covid-19 crisis in general. There are 7,700 residents in direct provision. As of last Friday - the latest information we have is five days old - 149 of those people had the disease, while there were ten clusters, ten people had been hospitalised, and only 1,600 had been tested. Some 1,700 asylum seekers were sharing rooms with non-family members. In …

I want to ask the Taoiseach some questions about the leaving certificate. There is clearly now a crisis of democratic legitimacy around this year's leaving certificate exams. Some 79% of nearly 24,000 leaving certificate students polled by the Irish Second-Level Students' Union, ISSU, want cancellation and a mere 15% want the exams to go ahead. These young people feel that they are being forced to do these exams against their will and that they are, in effect, being bullied by the Government. These young people are…

I note the Taoiseach's comment on opinion polls but he swept that one under the carpet quite quickly. His Government meets the Irish Second-Level Students Union, ISSU, and recognises it as in some way a representative voice for secondary school students. The ISSU conducted a poll to which 24,000 students responded. What they said does not count for nothing. It was not 51%, 52% or 53% who said the leaving certificate examinations should be cancelled, but a crushing majority of 79% or almost four in five of the 24,00…

They are distressed. The certainty they seek is that the leaving certificate exams will be cancelled. Will the Taoiseach give those students a commitment in this House today that the Government will cancel the leaving certificate exams and find a fair and just alternative?

Last week, the International Labour Organization stated that 50% of the global workforce are in immediate danger of having their living standards destroyed by the coronavirus. "Destroyed" was its word, not mine. In some ways, that statement is only half correct because to be fully correct, it would state that those people's living standards will be destroyed by the coronavirus in the framework of market economics. Ryanair is talking about making 3,000 redundancies, 20% wage cuts and closing bases throughout Europe.…

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for fighting for my corner.

We are an island nation. We cannot have a fully rounded discussion on tourism without discussing the aviation industry and air connectivity. Questions on that must be directed to the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport first and foremost, but I wish to raise some points during this debate as it is greatly relevant to tourism. Two key airlines in this State, Ryanair and Aer Lingus, have been heavily impacted by the coronavirus crisis, as has every airline across Europe and the globe. Ryanair has spoken of 3,00…

I start by offering solidarity and my sympathies to the families and friends of those who have lost loved ones. I offer sympathy also to all of those who are sick, and solidarity to workers on the front line. I will direct my more health-specific questions to the Minister for Health later today. The main points I wish to raise now relate to the crisis, the question of jobs and the approach. Debenhams has shut stores, put more than 2,000 workers onto the dole and now wants to flee the country without paying a single…

Socialism.

According to this morning's edition of The Irish Times, "There is growing concern in the Department of Finance that current unprecedented State supports are unsustainable in the medium term." I think that refers to the wage subsidy scheme but the particular subject of the article was the Covid-19 payment of €350. That payment is key for huge numbers of Irish people at the moment to put dinner on the table and keep a roof over their heads, not just for themselves but for their families. Without it they would go unde…

Some 20 years ago, 80% of nursing homes in the State were in public ownership and 20% were private. The position now is completely reversed, with 80% in private ownership and 20% public. This has been the result of 20 years of Government policy incentivising the development of the private nursing home sector. I will not go into that now but it means that the majority of nursing home workers do not have access to the HSE's occupational sick pay scheme. It also means that the majority of nursing home workers do not h…