The elected councillors did not decide this.

A decade.

Happy days.

Tomorrow, there is another protest by Northside Home Care Services workers who have been engaging in a series of one-day protests and strikes over the fact that they did not benefit from the pay increases arising from the section 39 Workplace Relations Commission decision on pay restoration. Many of these workers used to be paid on a par with HSE workers. Now, they are on rates barely above the minimum wage. There are thousands of them. This is one group of 80. Their shop steward has been disciplined because of the…

By the not-for-profit company that provides services to the HSE. I met some of these other workers, doing the same thing. There are thousands of these people, all across the country, on poverty pay rates, who did not get the pay increase that other section 39 workers got. They are very angry and it is not fair. There should not be pay apartheid for home care workers.

There are a lot more affected than just those 80 workers.

The Minister has indicated that a levy of more than €446 million will be imposed on Departments to pay for an overspend in the Department of Education and Youth yet he suggests that this will not really have any impact because we are going to spend more next year anyway. In reality, will it not mean that there will be less money available than was projected for multiple Departments to undertake key infrastructure or projects or to provide services?

Is there enough then to deliver the critical infrastructure that we know we need? I will give one example where I cannot understand frankly why the money was not made available, namely, the case of The Complex. We need arts infrastructure. We had the Government bringing in stuff yesterday about drinking on the streets because we need greater vibrancy in our city centres and I agree that we do, so how could the Government let The Complex close down in Dublin's north inner city when all they were looking for was €6 m…

This is the game of pass the parcel that led to The Complex being closed down. If one goes to the Department, it says that it would love to leave The Complex open but it cannot buy properties, which is something I did not know, so what the Minister just said is complete nonsense. The Department is not allowed to buy properties. Dublin City Council said basically it did not have the money for it. The Minister is the Minister for infrastructure. We need housing, social and affordable housing in particular, and we nee…

It cannot buy stuff.

We are all aware how the failure of the 2014 circular and the Government to recognise the evolved role of the SNA and what the meaning of inclusion in education really means led to in the crisis we had earlier this year. When will the promised new circular be out? I think I heard the Minister say it will come before the summer recess. Will she confirm this? Will it reflect the needs and aspirations of SNAs, school communities, parents and children?

It is coming out over the coming number of weeks. That is good. It happened because the Government got it so badly wrong. There were massive protests and there was fear and anxiety but it is good that we have moved on. The question is really whether it will be maximalist in terms of the need to include children and genuinely recognise the role of the SNAs and how it has evolved, and genuinely recognise what inclusion means. It is not just physical presence in the school. It is emotional well-being, genuine support …

That is all good and not a moment too soon. However, we know there is always a tension between budgetary constraints being imposed, the needs of the children and a genuine recognition of the importance and role of SNAs and what school communities really need. It is absolutely critical that the needs of children, a genuine recognition of the importance and role of the SNAs and what school communities need trump any budgetary pressures being imposed. The concern is that these delays and what happened the last time wa…

I am against the legislation and I am a little surprised others have not stated their opposition to it. I urge people to consider opposing it. There are some good aspirations and aspects to it, which I would support. I am for greater transparency when it comes to the governance of RTÉ. I am for better financial management of RTÉ and of money put into public service broadcasting generally. I am also for more transparency - that is relevant to why I am against this Bill - and proper management of public funds going i…

Yes. That is something that was public and where we had some oversight of it. There was some accountability. It went to a private company and then ended up in the hands of vulture funds, and a huge fortune was made in the meantime. There was no transparency around any of that. We had no real control over it or no oversight. That is what is going to happen, in my opinion, slowly but surely to public service broadcasting. This is an example of the requirement to outsource to the independent sector. Who is going to ch…

No, I am asking questions about what I think may be happening.

I am entitled to ask whatever questions I like.

What? Who did I mention?

I am simply making-----

A Gordon Ramsay cooking show was made a couple of years ago down in Wicklow. Did it benefit from public money? Will the independent sector benefit - because that was made by the independent sector - now that 25% of RTÉ money has to go to these people, the producers? An awful lot of the stuff that is made here is getting section 481 money or Screen Ireland money and now it is going to get RTÉ money. Screen Producers Ireland, which is the representative group of the independent sector, has for quite a number of years…