Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Danny Healy-Rae and I are sharing time, with four minutes each.

If this pandemic has taught us anything it is how we need to invest in our front-line workers. We can see it from all the front-line workers who came home and all the trainee nurses who helped the front-line services while getting paid during the Covid-19 crisis. Up to the outbreak of Covid, they did not get paid for the time they spent training. When the pandemic ends, the Government wants to stop paying them again. Trainees in the construction industry or any other apprenticeships get paid while in training. Yet, the very people we have depended on during the pandemic do not get paid while training.

Not all companies are bad but we have some companies that treat their workers disrespectfully. I acknowledge that. We have seen the Debenhams workers protest outside the Dáil today. They are protesting in Limerick too. The company is still trading in the UK. It is basically giving the two fingers to Ireland. We should be picketing the company in the UK. We should be stopping its online trading in this country if it is not willing to look after its former workers. I have seen the workers in Limerick standing on the picket line. It is the last thing they need to hold on to because of what is in the store in stock. They are being treated with so much disrespect in this regard having given great service to Debenhams.

We also look at people who live in rural Ireland and who are working. We debated the question of increasing the carbon tax in the context of the Bill that was just before the House. Let us imagine how it is for a person living in rural Limerick. Most of the industry is located in west Limerick. A person living in east Limerick who has to drive to work must drive to a childcare facility with the children first. The family needs a second vehicle at home because if a student is living within 2 km of the school, he or she does not qualify for public transport. Parents must drive their children to school. The Government does not acknowledge that to which I refer. It amounts to a carbon tax on a minimum wage. Everyone within rural Ireland is suffering double because of the minimum wage, the cost of living and the expenses imposed on us when trying to get to work. Yet, we are being penalised again. The majority of the funding for this is being spent in Dublin. Again, the Government does not understand Limerick or rural Ireland. If the Government learns one thing from the pandemic, it must be that we need investment in our workers, infrastructure and companies. We need them to open up in Limerick in areas where there is no industry. That way we could actually help to reduce the carbon taxes and help our workers throughout the country.

It has to listen to the people. There are 19 Independent Deputies in this Dáil and they should be listened to.

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