No. The Minister of State should go back and look at the record. He said that he was going to call me that afternoon to arrange a meeting.

It was cynical then, just as it is cynical today. The Government has no intention of legislating for workers' rights except when it is under immense pressure. What is contained in the heads of the Bill is not the right to remote working, but 13 reasons that businesses can give for saying workers cannot do it.

Yes.

Incredibly, one of the grounds is concern for the commute between the proposed working location and the employer's on-site location. An employer can say "No" on the grounds that it believes the employee lives too far away or too near. What does that mean? There are not just 13 reasons, but any ground at all, given that "the proposal requested is not suitable on business grounds." The heads explicitly state that the 13 reasons are not an exhaustive list, so any reason whatsoever can be used. As such, what the Govern…

What is the Taoiseach doing to ensure that the big oil companies do not simply pocket the excise duty cut? Reports are already coming in of petrol stations increasing their prices for petrol and diesel today before the cut. Around the corner from where I live, one petrol station increased the price of diesel by 15 cent at lunchtime today. Presumably, then, the station will reduce the price tonight by 15 cent, having made a tidy profit. The petrol being sold now was bought some time ago at lower prices, so the compa…

Has the Taoiseach been informed of the recent U-turn by Stormont on rents? Two weeks ago, People Before Profit proposed in Stormont a 10% rent cut for private tenants right across the North. It was passed. At the time, MLAs from the SDLP, Sinn Féin and the Alliance Party all backed the proposal but since then buckled to the landlords' pressure. They did a U-turn and, two days ago, reversed the decision at Stormont. The proposal would have given renters a much-needed break, but rather than stand up for tenants, Sinn…

I want to raise a shocking example of where the State is completely failing to protect the well-being of people. Those living in the shadow of the Aughinish Alumina plant in County Limerick have suffered massively from the toxic pollution from that plant. People have got sick, animals have died and livelihoods have been wiped out by the pollution. When an investigation was done into the health impacts of the plant in the locality, Aughinish Alumina used the notorious lobbyist, Frank Dunlop, as its fixer. Later, 18 …

The national reform programme talks about students.  What action is going to be taken to ensure that English-language students from outside of the country are protected and are not allowed to be scammed again as has happened?  There have been scandalous cases whereby Latin American students have lost their life savings, thousands of euro, to travel companies like Travel Now.  It got the students to pay upfront on the promise that when Covid-19 restrictions lifted, the company would have paid for a place for them. W…

We are the ones who resist them.

We did not say that.

It has been.

If the Department enforced its rules, it could not happen again.

I will raise two specific points, but before I get to them I will make some general remarks. Hate speech, racist speech and the kind of hatred spewed by those on the far right, which must be combated and fought and the best way to do that is by building a mass anti-racist and anti-fascist movement, is connected to the hate policies and state racism of the EU and the Irish Government. They are not two unrelated things. It is not the case that the EU can hypocritically say that it is against hate speech, and so on, o…

On International Women's Day, I raise the plight of refugees fleeing from the brutal invasion of Ukraine, who are overwhelmingly women and children. I trust the Government is doing everything possible to assist Irish citizens in getting out. By now, there are numerous and credible reports of blatant racism against refugees trying to flee Ukraine, including racism both by the Ukrainian military and by, for example, Polish border guards.

CNN, Vox, TIME and others - I could go on and on - have had reports of separate lines for white and black refugees.

Does the Taoiseach condemn this racism and will the Government act to ensure all refugees, regardless of colour or passport, are welcome in Europe?

Has the Civil Service management board considered introducing a four-day week without loss of pay for public sector workers? There is a growing movement demanding a four-day week, understanding it would cut carbon emissions by up to 20% and, obviously, provide significantly more work-life balance for workers. Workers understand that productivity has gone through the roof yet the hours people work and much of the wages they get have remained the same, with the benefits going to the bosses, by and large. According to…

Did the Taoiseach raise with Chancellor Scholz the urgent need for the cancellation of Ukrainian debt? If not, will he raise it at the meeting in Versailles? This is a demand from ordinary people in Ukraine for a cancellation of the debt which is a crushing burden on the economy. The total foreign debt of Ukraine is $125 billion and debt-servicing expenditure for 2022 is expected to be around $6.2 billion, or 12% of all state budgetary expenditure in the year. The IMF component of that debt is approximately one hal…

Why not Saudi Arabia?

It is the same in Yemen.