I had a very interesting encounter with the Irish Second-Level Students Union yesterday. I spent the afternoon discussing with students from secondary schools up and down the country the issues they are concerned about. It highlighted for me the urgency of radical reform of our secondary school system and a few points should be borne in mind in that regard. One of the things they said was that there is absolutely nowhere for students to go if they are feeling anxious, worried, scared or bullied because we do not re…

I welcome what the Taoiseach outlined. Following on from that, what some of the second level students said is that sometimes, teachers handpicked people to talk to inspectors but there was not engagement with the mass of students and there should be a bit more engagement on the ground. The other point they raised related to facilities in a lot of schools, which vary widely from inadequate heating systems to toilets that are completely inappropriate and do not allow for privacy and other such issues. The point about…

It would be grossly unfair, but it is looking like it may well be the case, that the public and workers who did absolutely nothing wrong will pick up the tab for the scandals that emerged in RTÉ. They will be collateral damage for the lack of governance and the bad behaviour of some people. That appears to be a likely outcome for hundreds of jobs, not those of the well-paid, high-profile people on obscene salaries, but those of the crew and technical people. I heard somebody describe it as an upstairs-downstairs cu…

A little later this morning, the long campaigned for and long awaited film industry stakeholders forum will take place, convened by the Minister of State's colleague in the Department of arts. I presume the Minister of State's officials will be there. One of the key issues at stake is the use of successive multiple fixed-term contracts where workers never acquire any kind of security or recognition of their service or employment in the film industry. What does the Minister of State intend to do to address this issu…

I have with me the declaration, and it is signed. I campaigned on behalf of film workers to get this declaration. When we bring the film producers that the Government gives the film credit to into our committee and I ask them simply how many workers who have worked on film productions have acquired contracts of indefinite duration, the answer is “Zero”. They go on to explain how it is not possible, given the nature of the industry. They sign a declaration saying they will apply it to fixed-term workers and they wil…

The Minister of State has to look at this. The Acts are not working. The producers told us that no one had ever got a contract of indefinite duration and never would. It is not acceptable that people can work in an industry for 25, 30 or 35 years and never get a contract of indefinite duration. It means that the clock goes back to zero with every single film. It is as if they had never worked in the industry before. If the producer says people are not getting back on the next film, there is nothing they can do. The…

One of the great untold stories of the Irish economy is the fact that over the last 15 years or so, working people were hammered, first with an austerity crisis and more recently a cost-of-living crisis, yet in that period corporate profits increased, for example, by 235% from 2012 to 2021. Some of us campaigned for those corporations to pay more. We now have a 15% rate, something the Government stubbornly resisted for a long time. Does the Minister have projections for how much they are actually going to pay in ta…

The big question is if there is actually going to be an effective rate of 15%. That itself is still a very low rate compared with what ordinary workers pay. I would argue that previously, the 12.5% was not effective. In 2021, there was €250 billion in pre-tax profits, on which €15 billion was paid in corporation tax. That is a rate of 6.1% and it is due to the taxable income being dramatically reduced by allowances and deductions. Revenue states that in 2021 there were corporate tax expenditures - tax breaks for th…

I believe the Minister stated that the projected revenues for next year are €24 billion. Will the Minister confirm that? Could the Minister tell us what are the corresponding projected pre-tax profits? Working back on previous years, that would suggest €400 billion of pre-tax profits. I would be interested if the Minister could confirm that. Those allowances, credits, etc., are expenditures. They are tax expenditures. That is public money given back to companies that are making absolutely enormous profits. The Mini…

Their profits have as well.

Dead right.

They are settlers.

Waiting lists for driving tests are ridiculously long. In my area, which is the worst in the country, the waiting period is over 50 weeks. Nationally it is about 30 weeks. In many cases this means jobs are lost for people who have jobs that are dependent on having a driving licence. People may have relatives they need to care for, including elderly, vulnerable or disabled relatives, and they need a driving licence because public transport is not available to move people around. They cannot do this because they are …

It is 50 weeks in my area.

I commend Deputy Gino Kenny on his leadership on this critical issue in our society. The lack of leadership and courage on the part of the Government is depressing. Yet again, it wants to kick down the road a key issue of social change and the recognition of social reality, instead of doing the right thing. This is especially the case given the citizens' assembly has made the recommendations. On the wider issue, we are clear about this and straight up. We believe in the legalisation and regulation of drugs because …

I welcome the opportunity to contribute on the Bill. I want to express a little scepticism. I am open to the debate but a change of name for Science Foundation Ireland and the Irish Research Council and simply amalgamating them does not mean anything in and of itself in advancing our support for research and innovation, most particularly if it does not address the issue of core funding. As I understand it, Ireland is near the bottom of the EU league table when it comes to research and innovation funding. According …

Darwin, indeed, as would Friedrich Engels. It might be worth noting that Das Kapital was dedicated to Darwin, which is something people do not know-----

-----that Karl Marx's greatest work was dedicated to Darwin. Engels pointed out in his fantastic pamphlet, The Part Played by Labour in the Transition from Ape to Man -----

It has a lot to do with it. Manual dexterity was actually the thing that created a dynamic interaction between the growth of the human brain so it was able to do things that no other species can do. That is the essence of research and innovation. If we boil that down to the issue of the poverty of our researchers, they cannot do very good research if they do not have a secure roof over their heads. If a researcher is literally hungry and living in poverty, it does not actually contribute to the advancement of those…

I move amendment No. 1: A. To insert the following after "urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance; and": "further notes that the ICJ has previously held that: — the obligation to prevent genocide requires States 'to employ all means reasonably available to them, so as to prevent genocide so far as possible'; — a state incurs responsibility for breaching this obligation if it 'manifestly failed to take all measures to prevent genocide which were within its power and which might have contributed to…