The private developers say, "Jump" and Fianna Fáil asks, "How high?" It is still firmly the party of big builders and private developers, and this is just the latest proof. In recent weeks we have had the LDA legislation, which is potentially the biggest giveaway of public land and public wealth to profiteers in the history of the State; we have had an attempt, thankfully knocked back, to unsafely reopen construction at the behest of the Construction Industry Federation; and we have this shared equity scheme. As ha…

I agree with the proposal from Deputy McDonald. We need to have a debate about this. One of the issues that is particularly concerning is that it is reported in the Irish Examiner that the Minister for Finance did not bring any memorandum to Cabinet on Tuesday about his decision but merely slipped it in during an oral briefing on various banking issues. If one looks at the situation in banking right now, one sees the massive closure of bank branches and the threat that poses to rural communities and jobs, one sees …

We need to have a debate and we need to have a statement from the Taoiseach.

On Saturday, we saw a violent anti-lockdown protest on the streets of Dublin. This protest had the far right at its core, exploiting the widespread frustration people feel about lockdown and the failure of the Government to give people hope in its strategy to eliminate the virus. The far right tried to tap into people's real anxieties and fears. In reality, those groups want to see an end to democratic rights, the smashing of trade unions and brutal oppression of women, LGBTQ people, migrants, Travellers and others…

Can the Ceann Comhairle give us the list?

He is dog-whistling as well.

We should be clear that if these amendments from various parties are not passed, and the Government has clearly stated its objections to them, then this is not a Bill for mandatory hotel quarantine, as is being reported. It is a Bill for a piece of theatre or a joke about mandatory hotel quarantine. It is a Bill to close one window in a house when the other windows and the front and back doors are open. It is a Bill to try to make the Government look good and as if it is responding to the call by 90% of people for …

The mother and baby homes report has not only failed to address the concerns of survivors, in many respects it has made the situation worse. If it was not for the outpouring of anger from survivors, the Government would have gone along with the plans to destroy their testimonies. I welcome the U-turn on the part of the Government and its promise not to destroy those recordings. The survivors need more than that, however. When the mother and baby homes commission put out the appeal, 549 brave witnesses came forward …

Last night, we got the living with Covid plan mark II. It could have been subtitled "More of the Same". It contains restrictions for ordinary people while turning a blind eye to what is happening in the meat plants and while there is no enforcement of employers in terms of working from home and there is a half-arsed approached to mandatory hotel quarantining. All of this is combined with a new vaccination target that seems to have been plucked out of the air.

We have no time this week to debate the new plan. Our regular slot to debate vaccinations and Covid has been removed this week and, for the seventh week in a row, there will be no Taoiseach's questions. The Government is running from accountability. That is not on. We objected to this at the Business Committee and we will object to it in the Chamber. We need time to debate these matters.

Why is there still no sick pay?

For months, RISE and People Before Profit have been to the fore in calling for mandatory hotel quarantine for all incoming travellers as part of a zero Covid strategy that is based on socialist policies. We are not alone in this. Nine and a half months ago, NPHET wrote to the Government calling for “a mandatory regime of self-isolation for 14 days at a designated facility for all persons arriving into Ireland from overseas”. That was 8 May. It repeated its call in August. That call has overwhelming public support. …

They say a leopard never changes its spots and Fianna Fáil does not change its character. It has always been, and remains, a party of the big developers and big builders. We have three proofs of that this week alone. First is the ESRI research which confirms what the left has said about the supposed affordable housing schemes, that their effect will be to push up house prices to make houses even more unaffordable for ordinary workers and to line the pockets of developers. Second is the Government's drive to re-open…

Listening to the Minister of State, Deputy Fleming, earlier I was struck by his focus not on the rip-off of ordinary people by the insurance companies, which is going on, but on the words "dual pricing". He seemed to be very offended by the words and insisted we must call it differential pricing instead. One may call it what one likes: differential pricing, flexible pricing, multiple pricing, variable pricing or indeed dual pricing, which is in fact what the Central Bank calls it. The Central Bank uses the term int…

I would like to do a question and answer session with the Minister on the same issue raised by Deputy Smith. The meat plants are once again major Covid clusters. Of the 56 meat plants in this State, there are 29 open Covid outbreaks. At the majority of the plants, there have been Covid cases in the past 28 days. In the Larry Goodman-owned ABP Bandon plant, 70 of the 300 workers have tested positive for Covid. It is clear that the big beef barons are putting their wealth before their workers' health and the Governme…

When will the Government implement legislation to give people sick pay?

My question relates to Deputy Boyd Barrett's question so I would like to hear the Minister's response before I come in.

The time for the Minister to ask questions about whether this is something we should do, or to say that we could do it or not do it but he has concerns, is over. He has responsibility in this matter as Minister. The EU is blocking the suspension of the waiver. The EU, by refusing to take on the big pharmaceutical companies, is blocking the vaccine from being used across the globe. It might be 2024 or later by the time we have global vaccination. These vaccines were developed in large part through more than €5 billi…

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle. We need a commitment or guarantee from the Government on this issue that any parts of the decommissioned oil and gas rigs that are left behind are left as such solely because it is the most environmentally sound way of doing this and that no parts of them can be used in any circumstances as part of any new projects. On the broader point, I echo what Deputy Bríd Smith said. I listened to the contribution of Deputy Matthews. Last Tuesday, the Green Party announced on its Facebook pa…

On Sunday, the Taoiseach was quoted as saying he regretted the decision to reopen in December. It was the first time the Government came close to acknowledging its responsibility for the unnecessary and avoidable loss of more than 1,000 lives in January. Yesterday, however, the Tánaiste was talking about a revised plan for living with Covid-19. Mr. Tom Parlon from the CIF appeared on the radio this morning beating the lobbying drums again for a full reopening of construction and spinning a ludicrous line that it is…