I send solidarity to the workers at the Corrib Oil filling station in Ballinasloe who area due to strike this Saturday, having been on strike on 22 December. The workers have been driven to strike because of the refusal of their employer to recognise their union of choice, namely, Mandate. Because of the so-called voluntarist model of industrial relations here, there is no legal mechanism to force the employer to engage with the union except by the workers exercising their right to strike. It is an important strike…

I want to ask the Taoiseach about the incredible decision that people coming from Syria or refugees from elsewhere in the world other than Ukraine will have to sleep on the streets when Ukrainians, correctly, but it should be the case for everybody, will have emergency accommodation available to them. How can the Government justify such discrimination? Is it because the Ukrainians are European? Is it because they are white? Why is it okay for anybody to have to sleep on the street? Does the Taoiseach not accept tha…

That is scandalous. The Government is bowing to the far right.

You have to take a stand against it. It is scandalous.

The action plan on bullying refers to progress in providing safe and supportive school environments for LGBTQ+ students. My question to the Taoiseach is, what will the Department do in circumstances where that is not the case and where there is, in the words of the staff of the Spiritan-run Templeogue College, a toxic culture and atmosphere? I will quote from a collective grievance submitted by a majority of staff members of that institution. Writing to the principal, they stated that regrettably, matters came to a…

I ask again about the refugee discrimination the Government is engaged in. Why is a person from Ukraine more entitled to be accommodated than a person from Yemen or Syria, when both are fleeing similar conditions? The Taoiseach earlier said it was because they have a different status but it is a political decision of the Government to give them such a status so it does not answer the question. Why treat them differently? Is it because one is European? Is it because one is white? This policy against certain refugees…

Victims of apartment and duplex defects were very happy last week to hear the Government announce that there will be a redress scheme and it will be retrospective but they also know from the experience of the mica homeowners who had 100% schemes supposedly announced for them over a year ago and are still waiting, in reality the small print means it is significantly less than 100%. They understand the devil will be in the detail and at the moment we have very little detail from the Government. When will the detail o…

Ireland’s electricity emissions increased by 4% in the past year. The climate action plan requires electricity emissions to fall by 75% by 2030. Almost the entire carbon budget for electricity up to 2025 has now already been used up. The main reason is that electricity generation increased by 3%. Even though coal and oil generation fell and wind generation rose, emissions still increased because of a 10% increase in electricity produced by natural gas. Everybody knows that the main reason for this is the proliferat…

The majority.

Did Michael Stone help with postering in the 2019 local and European elections?

Fine Gael was involved in an election. This is a guy who makes donations in the form of putting up posters for Fine Gael in the 2016 and 2020 general elections but he does not do so in 2019. He only seems to get involved when the Minister is standing for election. Is that right?

Okay, so they look like donations to the Minister as opposed to Fine Gael. Just to confirm, the Minister is saying that the donations of the assistance of the labour, worth €972 in 2020, and the use of the vans, which were €434.20 in 2020, were donations to Fine Gael as opposed to the Minister.

The Minister also said last week that he sold tickets with a donation value of €334 in 2020 to Michael Stone. Is that right?

That would also be a donation to Fine Gael North Central, presumably?

Okay, but it was a donation to Fine Gael.

Collectively, in 2020, with a donation of €972, and the figures of €434.20 and €334 in 2020, that is a total of €1,740 in that year. Is that accurate?

That does not matter in terms of the legislation.

This is the problem. When the Minister begins to tell untruths he begins to trip himself up. It does not make any difference where the donations went. If they were donations to Fine Gael, they fall under the rules for donations to a party. The Minister is, presumably, aware that if a party receives donations or donations in aggregate exceeding €1,500 in any one year, it needs to declare that. Is the Minister aware of that rule?

Again I emphasise that this does not matter. The Minister is known to be quite good with figures: €972, €434.20 and €343 is a total of €1,740, when the maximum that can be accepted without being accounted for in the election statement is €1,500. Yet Michael Stone does not appear on the donation statement. The Minister is just landing Fine Gael in it with his series of untruths.

Correct.