Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am beginning to think that the new phrase in political circles, which is not opposing the Bill, feels a bit like you can go and talk to the cat because it has pretty much the same effect. The frustration we have on the Opposition benches is we have spent the past 18 months trying to bring forward practical solutions to benefit workers and people in society and to fill the gaps and fault lines that Covid has exposed. I am talking of basic protections for workers and young workers who have been asked to work from home and the protections they need. Sick pay is a basic provision in almost every other European country, yet we still struggle to grapple with such pay. I believe the Government's recommendation is that 7% of a person's wages would be covered by sick pay, which for a minimum wage worker would not even cover on a daily basis the price of going to a GP to get a certificate.

Now we have this recommendation in terms of legislation from the Opposition. Again, it is a basic provision in the fight against Covid. Schools have been mentioned and we had a debate with the Minister for Education this morning as to why people like Professor Orla Hegarty are not being listened to when she says it would cost €12 million to install a HEPA filter in every primary school class in the country. Yet, when it comes to Government, it seems as if, when it gets advice or a recommendation from the Opposition, it has to deal with it with a mindset of scorn and not being open-minded enough to work on this together. When we asked about antigen testing and when Professor Mark Ferguson said last May that it should be introduced in primary and second level schools, the Government sat on it for six months. Meanwhile the Government has repeatedly told us schools are safe until NPHET told us last week it never said that in the first place. Then the Government gave schools 16 hours to implement a mask-wearing measure for third class and up. Meanwhile, as my colleague has said, children are sitting in classrooms wearing coats, scarves, hats and gloves with the windows open and what Professor Orla Hegarty is saying seems to be irrelevant. When practical and goodwill legislation is brought in to protect workers, we get the not opposed line from Government, which has the same legal basis as saying you can talk to the cat.

What we are trying to bring forward here is a practical suggestion from the Opposition as to what is actually happening on the ground because we want to be part of the solution.

We want to drive leadership in our own communities. We want to assure everybody that there is hope, that we can get through this and that things are not disimproving out of control. That is the level of anxiety every public representative must deal with day to day. What the Government sometimes throws back at us is that we are not putting on the green jersey or we are not part of the same team. That is deeply insulting to those of us who are dealing on a day-to-day basis with people who are losing hope, who are cracking up and who are now facing into what they think is going to be a very difficult December, Christmastime and January. This is particularly so as yesterday the Taoiseach was again very unwise in his words on school opening in January. Meanwhile, basic supports such as the EWSS and the PUP are being cut. I ask the Minister of State to take advice from the Opposition in good faith, to stop using this line about not opposing and to embrace what we are trying to achieve here to protect workers in their workplaces.

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