Deal with the issue.

The HSE and the Ireland East Hospital Group.

Will the Taoiseach talk to the RCSI Hospital Group also as it has a different view?

Gabhaim buíochas freisin leis an Teachta Harkin mar gheall ar an mBille seo. Tá sé go hiontach go bhfuilimid in ann an t-ábhar seo a phlé anseo inniu. The Irish banking system is in crisis. It is a crisis different from the one that existed more than ten years ago but it is a crisis nonetheless. We have a banking market which has been radically shrunk. The crash itself shrank the number of groups operating in the banking market and then Fine Gael came along and created this two-pillar banking system which was in ef…

Gabhaim buíochas a Cheann Comhairle. Cé mhéad ama atá agam, le do thoil?

Gabhaim buíochas ach ní thógfaidh mé an méid sin. Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire as fanacht anseo le haghaidh na díospóireachta go léir. I appreciate that the Minister has stayed for the full debate, which does not often happen. I will focus on a number of brief issues. Ireland is becoming increasingly divided. It is not just divided by partition itself but it is also divided by income, access to healthcare, access to housing, background, whether people live in Dublin or live in the rest of the country, and even if …

I do not think so. I think that party supports them.

Why not antigen testing?

The Minister is dodging the point.

The Minister is dodging the antigen question.

Why is the Minister dodging the antigen test question?

The artful dodger.

A father told me today that his 12-year-old, 14-year-old and 16-year-old children have been banned from playing basketball because they have no vaccine pass. A volleyball coach in County Mayo was told not to accept girls between the ages of 12 and 17 if they do not have a vaccine pass. A kickboxing coach was also told not to accept children for the same reasons. A young girl was stopped from going on a school trip because she had no vaccine pass. First of all, discrimination is wrong. Second, it makes no sense. Tra…

I met a large number of protestors today outside the Dáil and spoke to them about what is happening in the nursing sector, which is absolutely shocking. We in Aontú were one of the first political parties to bring to a discussion the matter of student nurses being properly paid. It is also interesting that the Minister at the time, Deputy Harris, said he would pay them and then reneged on that promise. Now they are being offered a quarter of the minimum wage to work on the front line in very difficult circumstances…

White-collar crime in this country has an enormous effect on how society functions. The inability to eradicate white-collar crime can skew and distort markets. There are many examples of white-collar crime and fraud being perpetrated in markets and businesses, meaning a significant number of victims who will suffer radically. There has been none of the necessary enforcement to date. When is the enforcement likely to happen?

The ODCE has had a troubled existence, mostly because of the lack of resources it has received. We spend so much time in this Chamber discussing legislation and fretting over wording or phrasing but it is usually the case that unless there is proper enforcement, the legislation is not worth the paper it is written on. There are many examples of businesses, and staff and employees especially, around the country that have suffered as a result of this issue. The ODCE probably hit rock bottom when the trial of Seán Fit…

On a slightly left-field note, this country is also dealing with a big problem relating to commissions of investigation. For example, the NAMA investigation established in June 2017 was meant to be completed in 2018 but now has an extension until December 2021 at least. It has spent approximately €2.5 million but that figure is likely to reach approximately €10 million. There is also the Siteserv commission of investigation established in 2015. I recall the Government of the time was rocked by it in 2015. It had an…

The partition of Ireland is the most damaging event in the history of Ireland since the Famine. It set in train decades of second-class citizenship for nationalists and Catholics in the North of Ireland. It institutionalised discrimination and state violence and sundered thousands of villages, towns and communities throughout the Border region. It also hammered the social and economic development of Ireland and has seen the loss of thousands of lives. Even today because of partition, the Tories, who know nothing ab…

I will bear that in mind.

How can two arms of the Oireachtas take opposite decisions at the same time and for both of those decisions to be considered the correct decision? It is absolutely impossible. In the words of the former Fine Gael Minister, Paddy Donegan, is this Government not a thundering disgrace?