Richard Boyd Barrett

What about Taoiseach's Questions?

A more honest answer.

7. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Taoiseach for an update on the establishment of a Cabinet committee on water quality. [6086/25]

Due to the Victorian decrepit water infrastructure in much of my area - this is probably true of much of the city, but it is certainly true of Dún Laoghaire - when it rains, the run-off water mixes with foul water and the foul water all goes into the pumping station in Dún Laoghaire, which cannot cope and therefore foul water goes into the sea, destroying water quality and making the sea in Dublin…

14. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on health will next meet. [6087/25]

A lot of Members are not here so we could double up on the questions.

The Taoiseach was caught out misleading the public, to put it kindly, on the housing completion numbers to try to win an election. Will he now admit that the crisis in our health service is also another area where he has been misleading the public about what is actually going on with regard to the lack of staffing across the health services? This has prompted all of the health workers unions to ba…

Why do we have a staffing crisis then?

There is no staff.

There is on staff.

32. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on EU and international affairs will next meet. [6428/25]

It seems to me that there is a crisis in terms of the EU's commitment to even its own human rights legislation and to international law. The newly elected Chancellor of Germany has invited Benjamin Netanyahu to Germany. This is somebody who has an arrest warrant out for him by the ICC for genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and the new German Chancellor is inviting him to Germany. Now, …

I do not. I talk about one state and a land for all.

That is the ICC gone.

I understand the context.

A group of 54 parents of children with special needs will be outside the Department of Education at 1 p.m. this Friday to fight for their children's right, which the Government is failing to vindicate, to have a school place with the special education resources and supports they need. It is bad enough to have to fight for the right of one's children to have a school place which the Government is f…

I thank Sinn Féin and Deputy Daly for bringing this motion forward, which we are happy to support. I heard somebody say Tallaght was the worst in terms of the waiting list. I was reported in the middle of last year that Dún Laoghaire was the worst, so we are competing for that accolade. Certainly, waiting times for tests and resits in Dún Laoghaire are shockingly bad. They have not improved, as I…

2. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will intervene to protect employment rights and jobs in an institution (details supplied), which provides courses for TU Dublin and refuses to engage with the WRC; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7039/25]

Last week in the Dáil I raised the plight of teachers in the British and Irish Modern Music Institute, which provides degree courses for TUD in commercial modern music. At that point, 53 of them had been threatened with redundancy and were told they would have to reapply for their own jobs and would be facing big cuts in their pay and conditions. Their union and their strike action have now establ…

That is very interesting. I was not aware the Minister of State was notified. Due to the three days of strike action and the representations of IFUT, the workers' union, it looks as if BIMM has made concessions which it is hoped are satisfactory to the workers. The context here is that 53 workers were told they were going to be made redundant but not because their jobs were gone. They were going t…

Let us be clear, their strike action, the actions of their union and the fact the matter was raised in this House all put pressure on BIMM to come to the table. It had previously refused to go to the WRC. There is a serious issue here, especially as the workers were working under the auspices of TUD. Essentially, TUD had outsourced this degree to a private company. That contract will be up for ren…

The Minister does not bother his backside to turn up for two housing debates in a row and the Government refuses to discuss for nine months the Housing Commission report which provided a damning indictment of the failures of Government housing policy. Why? It is because the Government does not want to solve the housing crisis. It does not care about the people who have been on housing lists for a …

Vital bus routes and public transport services should not only run if a private company can make a profit out of them. A private company, Aircoach, has just announced that it is going to cut several routes, including one that goes through my area. The cut means there will no longer be a route going from Shankill, Ballybrack and Loughlinstown to Dublin Airport. Bus drivers in my area are telling me…

It is an Aircoach route.

Yes, get rid of your phone and computer. I wish I could.