Moneylenders are currently distributing leaflets promoting loans. My father recently received one in the post. If one borrows €1,000 from one of these moneylenders, one will pay back €32 a week for a year, which means paying back €1,560. That is a scam and a disgrace. How can we allow this? The problem is that, if people cannot find another avenue to borrow money, they are driven to these moneylenders. Christmas is a special time and it will be even more special this year. All families want to do their best. Parent…

I would like to ask the Tánaiste about his recent comments on the Covid-19 crisis and the potential for another lockdown in January. This is an extremely worrying time for people. We are being asked to follow public health advice, but the Tánaiste is now projecting that advice. To some people, his comments mean that they will have a limited window to see their families and friends. This will push some people into socialising to make the most of the short period. Others are scared that they will not be able to see t…

This is safer gambling week. In 2013, Fine Gael published the general scheme of a gambling control Bill. In 2018, the Fianna Fáil Party published the Gambling Control Bill. The Bill passed Second Stage but lapsed with the dissolution of the previous Dáil earlier this year. These two parties are now in government. Yet, the Minister of State with responsibility for public health and well-being, Deputy Feighan, told me last week that it will be the end of 2021 before he finishes drafting gambling control legislation. …

A consultant in perinatal psychiatry at the Rotunda Hospital, Dr. Richard Duffy, told the journal.ie that Covid-19 has had a major impact on the mental health of new mothers. He talked about women staying in hospital for four or five days with no visitors and how isolating this can be for them. These are women who would normally have had support circles at home. Families and friends would have been calling to see the new baby and lend support and help to the mother and partner. These women, and indeed their partner…

Can the Minister give me an update on the development of the St. Kevin's site in Cork? As he will be aware, this strategic housing development has proposed the construction of 274 units, comprising 46 houses and 228 apartments, but, unfortunately, arising from the consultation between an Bord Pleanála and the LDA, An Bord Pleanála has stopped the planned development and is waiting on further information on the development.

I welcome that there will be an announcement before the end of the year but unfortunately I have listened to Minister after Minister responsible for housing talk about this development and do nothing. In 2002, the facility was closed down. For 18 years, it has lain idle. We have had Fianna Fáil in government, Fine Gael in government and a mixture, yet nothing has been done. I welcome the announcement but in 2013, seven years ago, I sought to have the site developed. On a number of occasions, I went to Cork City Cou…

As I stated, I welcome the announcement. Can the Minister of State give me a timeline for the delivery of the houses and apartments? I was a councillor on Cork City Council for 11 years fighting to get this site developed. I welcome the proposal but what I am looking for now are definite timelines. If the work starts in 2021, when will it be completed? We have been waiting for far too long. There are thousands of families on the housing lists of Cork city and county councils. The site overlooks the River Lee and th…

I thank Deputies Mairéad Farrell and Doherty for bringing forward this Bill. There has a been much anger in recent months about the behaviour by, and friendships of, certain members of the Government. Big businesses, developers and speculators have always had a direct line to Ministers and senior Government officials. I am currently helping a family of two adults and seven children who are forced to live in a three-bedroom house. Two of the children have special needs. If their case had been discussed at the Oireac…

We are an all-Ireland party.

As a former shop steward, I welcome this Bill. As the Minister has heard, working from home needs to be recognised as a specific form of work. For some people, working from home is great but for others it is a nightmare. We need to recognise that and put in place protections to ensure that those who are working from home do not lose out on rights and entitlements. The labour market think-tank, Eurofound, found that Ireland had one of the highest rates of working from home in Europe during the first wave of the Covi…

The Debenhams workers were outside Leinster House yesterday following 223 days of picketing for a fair redundancy. Last week, I emailed the Taoiseach's office inquiring if KPMG would be allowed to withdraw stock from the stores during the level 5 lockdown and the response was that it can do so. At a time when we are telling people that they cannot shop for clothes for their children, for newborns or for their families and we are asking them to stay at home, we are allowing KPMG to go into stores to remove stock, wh…

Community safety and crime prevention are major issues in my constituency of Cork North-Central. There are some brilliant and very tight-knit communities in the constituency I represent but, unfortunately, some people no longer feel safe in their homes or walking the streets. This year, there have been horrific attacks and incidents. In January, a man had petrol poured over him and was set alight. Gangs are roaming the streets attacking people and organising fights through social media. My colleague, Deputy Ó Laogh…

Many of the communities I represent in Cork North-Central, like other communities nationally, have been ravaged by scramblers and quad bikes. I commend my colleagues, Deputies Paul Donnelly and Ellis, on bringing forward the motion. They did so because Sinn Féin is committed to supporting communities and ending this scourge. As the Minister of State said, in October the Garda, along with the Road Safety Authority, launched a campaign pleading with parents not to purchase these bikes or scramblers for their children…

Last week, I asked the Tánaiste if the removal of stock from Debenhams stores by KPMG is an essential service under level 5 lockdown. In the past week I have emailed his office three times, contacted the Minister for Health, the Garda Commissioner, the Garda press office and the Department of Health press office - my office also contacted the Tánaiste's office - but a week later we still do not have an answer. This week, Debenhams workers were out picketing during a yellow weather warning and a level 5 lockdown. Th…

I asked the question last week and I am asking it again this week. I think I should get an answer. I have made 18 telephone calls.

I appreciate that, when asked by my party leader, Deputy McDonald, to work together on an all-party approach to Brexit, the Taoiseach agreed. I firmly believe that this is the only way to approach Brexit. I hope the Taoiseach holds firmly to his commitment in that regard. I want to raise some of the serious concerns some of my constituents and I have regarding healthcare in a post-Brexit society. I am sure the Minister of State is aware that over 6,000 people availed of the cross-border directive in 2018 and this n…

Is the Taoiseach aware that, in March, the SouthDoc centre in Blackpool, Cork, along with a number of other SouthDoc centres, was closed due to the Covid-19 crisis? All the other SouthDoc centres were reopened except for the one on the north side of the city, in Blackpool. I have contacted the HSE and the operators of SouthDoc seeking a timeline for the reopening of SouthDoc in Blackpool. At the moment people have to travel to the Kinsale Road, and for people who do not have a car, it is €20 to get a taxi over and …

My question is simple and straightforward. As the Tánaiste is aware, the Debenhams workers have been protesting for 211 days because of their unfair treatment by Debenhams Ireland and KPMG, and a lack of action by this Government. Those workers are only looking for a fair and just redundancy. We are now in the middle of a second lockdown but those workers are still on picket lines in the rain and freezing cold. Is the removal of the stock from the store by KPMG considered an essential service? Can it take place dur…

Will the Tánaiste get back to me about that?

I want to discuss a measure that shows the Government was unfair and underhanded in the 2021 budget and that has been enacted in legislation. Everyone knows that Sinn Féin opposed carbon tax. We believe that climate change can only be addressed by holding big business to account. I am not sure whether someone from Fine Gael is now in charge of the lobbying for big business and corporations but whoever is in charge they are doing a very good job with this. In 2009, the Institute of Public Health in Ireland found a d…