This is important legislation. Insofar as it seeks to improve the whistleblower regime, its intentions seem laudable enough. The provisions seeking to include volunteers, shareholders, those in administrative management or supervisory bodies, and those who have a work-based relationship that is yet to begin or who are involved in a recruitment process, all seem good. The establishment of the office of the protected disclosures commissioner within the Ombudsman seems a good thing, as does enhancing the protections f…

Can the Taoiseach honestly say to workers, pensioners and people on low and average incomes, with a straight face, that the paltry set of measures he announced last Thursday to deal with the catastrophic rise in the cost of living is adequate? Can he seriously suggest that is the case? Average heating and energy costs are due to go up by about €800 a year. The Government is giving people back €200 a year and a little bit extra on the fuel allowance. Who is supposed to pay the rest for workers whose wages are increa…

----energy companies and corporations are making an absolute fortune at the same time that workers are being hammered as a result of the cost of living.

Tax the corporations.

It certainly will not.

It seems that the bank of the last resort is always the workers’ pocket. That is the truth. What the Taoiseach is really saying is that the workers can take it in the neck. The elephant in the room in the context of his argument is the incredible increase in the wealth and profits of the richest in our society----

----while workers are having their pockets looted as a result of increased energy prices and rents that are utterly stratospheric and totally unaffordable. The Taoiseach did not answer my question about how workers are supposed to pay for these things. He also did not mention the fact that profits in the last decade have gone up by 172%. He did not mention that we now have nine billionaires in this country, according to an Oxfam report, who have €42 billion between them. That sum has increased dramatically during t…

That is the reality.

We are for getting rid of the USC.

Who pays the other €600?

That is working so well.

It is not working very well at the moment.

Yes.

Just get them to pay their taxes.

I do not see how that recruits nurses.

I note the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage is sitting beside the Taoiseach. The Killian Woods report from last weekend on the shared equity affordable housing scheme would seem to suggest that the Government's affordable housing plan is looking increasingly like it is going to be completely defunct. I do not agree with that scheme because I think it is chasing already unaffordable house prices. It now appears that the house prices for all the new builds that are coming, particularly in Dublin, f…

That is not-----

At a time when workers are rightly calling for pay increases to deal with the issue of inflation, I want to draw the Taoiseach's attention to the fact that Aer Lingus, a company that got a hell of a lot of public money during Covid-19, is forcing its ground operation workers to vote on a pay freeze until 2025 and, in some cases, take a 10% permanent pay cut on their restored duty allowances. This is a deal that 84% of the workers rejected before Christmas. The company is making them vote again and said it will outs…

I think we are all glad to see some signs of de-escalation over Ukraine, with Russia withdrawing some troops from the Ukrainian border. Our Government and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Coveney, are very quick to be critical of a possible attack by the Russians on Ukraine, or the massing of troops on the Ukrainian border, both of which are totally unacceptable. Yet there is not a single word of criticism of NATO and of the United States for its role in cranking up and in escalating this situation, particu…

That is self-evident.