Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I would like to follow up on the good and constructive debate we had last week on bin charges. The Minister came to the House and we all found it helpful. However, he said he would attend meetings this week and he would come back to us. This issue is not about Galway. My colleague, Senator Ó Clochartaigh, mentioned Barna Waste. Dublin City Council has called the Minister in for further clarification as well. Will the Leader follow up on that because we need that feedback quickly and urgently for our people?

Before I got this job, luckily enough, I was a SIPTU trade union official and I worked on our Home Helps Time to Care campaign. I assure the House that the people I worked with, who suffered savage cuts implemented by both Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil and who lost clients because of them, have absolutely no time for public representatives pleading to be friends with them. I recall the savage cuts. More than 500,000 hours were cut between both parties, yet Members have stood up today pretending to be friends to home helps. We fought for, and eventually secured, decent contracts for them and it was no thanks to Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael.