Some 700 workers at Covalen, a major contractor for Meta, that incidentally made €26 million in profits last year, have been told their jobs are gone. This is on top of 300 jobs before that. They cannot work for six months because of what Meta requires, and the vast majority of them are getting no redundancy. They are looking to meet the Taoiseach and the senior Minister. We need to discuss their plight because their jobs have been replaced by the AI that they trained. More job losses like this are coming. We need …

Even the multimillionaires are now saying that the inequality in wealth is obscene and that the rich need to be taxed. At the time of Davos, hundreds of multimillionaires, and even one or two billionaires, released an open letter to the Davos delegates saying there should be wealth taxes imposed on them. The inequality in wealth is staggering. The 11 billionaires we have in this country, a number that is growing each year, have the same amount of wealth as two thirds of the population. It is absolutely disgusting. …

The Taoiseach should see their profits

Look at their profits.

I talked about Kilmainham today.

It is an absolute disgrace that many of the benefits of offshore wind will be given away to private for-profit companies, most of which are from other countries. Another problem that flows from the policy the Government has pursued in this area is the displacement of fishers. I received correspondence today from fishers in Dublin Bay who have had an injunction taken out against them by EirGrid, which is doing surveys in respect of offshore wind. Of course, a private company will benefit from it. Even though the Mar…

It is even against EU law to displace one industry with another.

The Taoiseach should get on to EirGrid and tell it to leave the fishers in Dublin Bay alone.

I thank Sinn Féin for this important motion. I obviously agree with all of the points put forward about collective bargaining rights, providing unions access to the workplace, bringing the minimum wage in line with the living wage and the issue of workers' right to remote working. I want to give a shout out to a few specific groups of workers. The first is the Oireachtas TV workers. They tell me that the people who broadcast these proceedings are being left off the roster because of their union activities and becau…

There is a film called "No Country for Old Men". This is no country for young people because the Minister discriminates against them in their entitlement to the minimum wage. People aged under 20 get paid either 90% of the minimum wage, 80% of it or sometimes as low as 70%. Apprentices, who we need a lot more of to help us to build the houses we need in this country, also earn less than the minimum wage in their first and second years, so it is hardly an incentive for young people to stay in this country. I ask the…

Okay. The Minister seems a bit more sympathetic on the apprentices, but will he do something about it? The higher education committee recommended it in a report. It is ridiculous. We desperately need qualified apprentices in the trades in particular but also in many areas of the economy. For first- and second-year apprentices to be paid either €7.67 in their first year or €11.50 in their second year is pathetic. Many of them are in their early 20s. Some of them are paying rent or have families. They need to be paid…

Daniel Tatlow-Devally has been in prison in Ulm in Germany since September. He is incarcerated for 23 hours a day, effectively in solitary confinement, in pretty shocking conditions in prison. He was not allowed to hug his family until there was intervention by myself and other TDs with the German ambassador several months into Daniel's incarceration. He was not allowed to get books of his own choice. Generally he is kept in pretty awful conditions. The circumstances are that his trial was due to begin yesterday in…

The Minister of State, Deputy Feighan, is not the senior minister and he is just reading off the script, which is a bit frustrating given that there is somebody facing very serious charges in a court in Germany and is being treated in an absolutely disgraceful way for protesting against genocide. This is about genocide. Ireland and Germany and 153 other countries are signatories to the Genocide Convention. In case the Minister of State does not know what is in that convention, I will outline what we signed up to. W…

They are not. I am telling you they are not.

It is only a few weeks since the Government caused fear, panic and stress among parents of children with special needs, school communities and SNAs by threatening swingeing cuts in SNAs in many schools. That was all because of a circular from 2014 which had failed the recognise the evolution of the role of the SNA and the needs of our children with special needs. An alternative circular has been put together by the Save our SNAs campaign group involving parents, SNAs and others. The group wants to know if the Gover…

The Minister of State has not really answered the question. Let us remember that we had a massive revolt because of the anxiety, stress and fear induced by the Government's attempt to cut SNA supports in many schools, based on an outdated circular that failed to acknowledge the evolution of the role of the SNA and the rights of children to the supports and resources they need. What I have heard the Minister of State do is quote figures but the whole point of the new circular being put forward by parents, SNAs and s…

The Government really needs to realise that we have had revolts on a number of issues because it does not actually listen to the people on the front line. The Minister of State has not responded on the actual circular that has been proposed by the Save our SNAs campaign. It comes from the horse's mouth and is about what SNAs, parents and others believe is required to ensure that their children have the opportunities, supports and resources necessary to reach their full potential and to vindicate their rights to edu…

The Minister of State did not really answer the question

Many organisations that deal with disability and vulnerable sectors of our society are voluntary organisations. That is in itself a problem, but I will set that aside and ask about proper funding for those organisations to be able to look after the most vulnerable in our society. The Before We Die campaign was in the Houses yesterday to highlight the lack of funding to deal with the need for proper housing and residential care for older people with intellectual disabilities when their parents die, get sick and so o…

To be honest, bandying around figures will mean very little to those who are concerned about their loved ones being let down. The Before We Die campaign's characterisation of the situation facing parents of children with intellectual disabilities was pretty grim. A lot of it revolved around the lack of planning and related funding for voluntary organisations. The description was fairly stark. They talked about a systemic failure in the State's provision of housing and care for adults with intellectual disabilities …