Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is welcome. I have a couple of queries for him on which I would appreciate a response. I have a concern about the fact that some people employed on this site are not paid a living wage. I am talking about our cleaners. This issue has been raised a number of times. A member of the Minister's party, whom I respect, said to me approximately three years ago that this was all going to be sorted. The fact is some of the hardest working people on this site are our cleaners and they do not get paid a living wage. That is entirely unacceptable. I hope that somewhere in this increased expenditure is spending to ensure those workers are paid a living wage. We should be setting an example to employers in the State. This has gone on for far too long. These people are forgotten about. They are in here every morning before we are. They work antisocial hours and do an incredible job. We are happy to thank them, and rightly so, but we are not happy to pay them a living wage. I am old fashioned and think someone who works for a living should be able to earn a living. That includes our cleaners. Perhaps the Minister would address that matter.

The second issue relates to our ushers, who we all agree do an incredible job. I have concerns about the health and safety aspects of their role. The Minister acknowledged in his speech that there are bad actors out there. God knows we know that. There is a lunatic fringe and there are bad actors. Some of our ushers are at the front line at times. A couple of things worry me. The first is how long it took to get X-ray machines into Kildare Street. I did not see the prioritisation of that and it took far too long. Perhaps the worst example was that, at one point, a lunatic was wielding a sword outside Kildare House. I know that when ushers have suffered traumatic experiences, they have been told to work on because no one is available to replace them. That cannot be right.

I will ask the Minister a specific question about the Merrion Street gates. Is it possible for a fire engine to access the Merrion Street gates? I have been told that is not the case at the moment. From a health and safety point of view, that is entirely unacceptable.

We would all agree that the challenges facing our ushers have changed dramatically in recent years. Things certainly are not what they used to be. I am not sure enough time, thought and, where required, expenditure have gone into protecting the health and safety of these workers, without whom we cannot do our jobs, day by day.

We are at the end of this Parliament. We are going to have one hour for this entire debate. There is an issue in respect of overall accountability, which is also a concern. Senator McDowell referenced that point. We support the Bill but I ask the Minister to address those issues to ensure we do what is right by everyone who works on this site.