The Government, for years, has hidden behind the Constitution. It has hidden its class interest, the class interest of those it represents, behind the Constitution or has attempted to do so. It has avoided taking action that would resolve the housing crisis but hurt the profits of those who benefit from the housing crisis because it represents those who benefit - the developers, the speculators, the cuckoo funds, the corporate landlords, etc. Instead of coming out and saying that this is the class that it represent…

The so-called property tax is, in reality, a family home tax. It is an austerity tax. It is a tax against which the socialist left campaigned when it was introduced in the aftermath of the household tax. People Before Profit warned at that time that if it was introduced it would rise and rise and that is precisely what is happening. The Government is proposing to hike up the property tax by approximately €100 for one in three households. That €100 might be small change for Ministers but for many households it is a …

Yesterday, the Taoiseach said that what we were experiencing was the opposite of austerity. It is a bit hard to accept. There are many similarities now to what was done in 2008 when the Government responded to the crash by bailing out the banks and making ordinary workers foot the bill through cuts to public services and taxes such as this. The result was a lost decade, untold suffering for many and massive profiteering by a tiny few. Now we have the funnelling of huge amounts of money to big business with no strin…

The Taoiseach is clearly very touchy about the subject of his Government's lack of care for renters. The reason for that is that we have a government of landlords, for landlords. I will provide some facts rather than assertions. The cost of renting has more than doubled in the last ten years. Dublin has the fifth highest rents in all of Europe. Rents here are more expensive than in Paris, Berlin or Rome. Irish renters pay an average of 40% of their income in rent, the highest proportion in the world. There is a cri…

This is another example of the Government's argument, the Constitution says "No". The Taoiseach says that we cannot have a blanket freeze on rents because of the Constitution. He says those are the facts. I do not believe they are. The Government is hiding behind that argument precisely because it represents developers, but let us concede that those are the facts. Let us accept the idea that the protection of private property in the Constitution means that there are limits beyond which we cannot go in terms of rent…

The Government says that it would love to do this, but it cannot do it because of the Constitution. It should support our proposed constitutional change so that it can do it.

The Government information spin machine has been trying to prepare the ground for a reintroduction of JobBridge, a JobBridge 2.0. Rather than debating it in the Dáil, we saw it mentioned in one of the Sunday newspapers. There will be substantial opposition to any attempt to reintroduce a JobBridge scheme, even through the backdoor. The plans yesterday refer to a new work experience placement programme with a target of 10,000 participants. For the Government to think it can trick people into accepting the bringing b…

This national reform programme talks about climate action but, like so much else from the Government, the talk and the actions do not add up. At the same time as the fine talk, the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, has given the green light to Irish Cement to start burning a million tyres a year in its cement kiln in Limerick city. How on earth in this day and age can it be acceptable for big business to burn tyres in the city, right beside a school, a public park and people’s homes? There are major climate imp…

There was quite a bizarre story a couple of weeks ago which illustrated a very important point about the position of Ireland in the world and the role it plays in terms of supporting and facilitating US imperialism. It was the story about the massive US air force jet landing at Baldonnel. I and many others asked a whole bunch of questions about it and what emerged was that the pilot had landed there because he wanted to go and see the Cliffs of Moher, and he had gone down low, had been facilitated by air traffic co…

The way the Government goes on about this plan and has been lauding itself about this being the opposite of austerity and so on over the past 24 hours, one would think a massive new deal public investment was going on in the economy. The reality is very different. Look at the size of what we are talking about. The EU money and the domestic money adds up to €4.5 billion, which is a tiny amount. It is 1.5% of the size of the economy or 4% to 4.5% of the size of an annual budget. That is without going into the details…

I agree with that objection. I also want to raise a point about the proposal to take a motion without debate to give an instruction to committee to deal with the amendments to do with the climate action Bill, considering they are outside the scope of the Bill. It is a basic point of parliamentary scrutiny. Substantial changes are being made to the Bill in respect of the petroleum minerals section and the ESB. For example, we have a concern that the provision in the amendments that allows the Minister to grant furth…

Last year when the Government was talking about cutting the PUP, I asked the Taoiseach's predecessor, the Tánaiste, Deputy Varadkar, a very simple question, which he refused to answer. I hope the Taoiseach will give me a straight answer to a straight question. If he thinks the €350 pandemic unemployment payment is too high, will he at least agree to live on that until he cuts it in September? Today, a series of Ministers, who are highly overpaid - these people are on more than €350 per day, never mind per week - ha…

Thanks for not answering.

I also want to follow up on the question of the four-day week. The Four Day Week Ireland coalition has highlighted how moving to a four-day week could reduce carbon emissions by up to 16% while also improving people's work-life balance and mental health. It is an important demand raised by the trade unions and the environmental movement and it constitutes an important part of the eco-socialist green new deal that we advocate. Earlier this month the Tánaiste said the four-day week was not something his Department wa…

Last week, I questioned the Tánaiste about the double rent hike facing renters this July as landlords attempt to impose two years' worth of rent increases in one fell swoop, which is allowed under the legislation introduced by the Government. The Tánaiste seemed genuinely surprised and unaware that this was possible and he said that it was not the Government's intention to allow for such percentage increases in rent. Will the Taoiseach and the Government bring forth this month the emergency legislation needed to st…

What happened here was the de facto hijacking of a Ryanair flight by Belarusian intelligence operatives to arrest a political dissident. It is very clear, despite the attempted obfuscation by the regime, that that is precisely what took place. These are the actions of a desperate dictator. Lukashenko has been in power for 27 years. They are actions that People Before Profit absolutely condemns. Lukashenko is a man who is under pressure from a mass movement from below to end his rule. He thinks he can get away with …

Last year, under pressure, the Tánaiste finally accepted the need to freeze rents. Now, from July, the Government plans to allow landlords to once again hike them up. Even worse, tenants are being told that, rather than a 4% rent increase in the rent pressure zones, they can face up to an 8% increase as landlords are allowed to impose last year's 4% as well. It is bad enough that the rent freeze is being lifted but why on earth are landlords being allowed to apply a rent increase from last year and, effectively, ge…

I will make a number of points. The first is that mandatory hotel quarantine saves lives. It was a crucial part of the zero Covid strategy that was successfully implemented in some countries. The difference in death rates between countries that adopted a variant of that strategy versus those that did not is striking. In New Zealand, there has been a total of 26 deaths. It has a similar population to Ireland where, tragically, we have close to 5,000 deaths. Australia, with a population of 25 million, has had fewer t…

People Before Profit will be opposing this Bill. Unlike most of the Opposition, we also opposed the previous extension of the emergency powers in October 2020. We again oppose their extension for the same reasons, which have only become clearer over the course of the last six months. Once again, we are being asked to approve the extension of draconian emergency powers without any review of how they have operated and with no opportunity for meaningful oversight by the Dáil. We have already endured six months of rule…

This is a very cynical debate. Some of the contributions from the Government-supporting Deputies are extremely cynical. They are painting themselves now as supporters and defenders of workers' rights under the guise of pushing for an end to mandatory hotel quarantine. If they are serious about supporting workers' rights, they should get the Government to step in now to guarantee jobs and terms and conditions, and to renationalise Aer Lingus to do so. The Government has the power to do that. It does not have to mess…