Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I wish to begin by proposing an amendment to the Order of Business: "That No. 9 be taken before No. 1." This refers to the Public Procurement (Collective Bargaining and Collective Agreements Criteria) Bill 2024. It is clearly going to be a very busy day next Tuesday in the Seanad. This Bill relates to the EU minimum wage directive, which should have been transposed into law by this Government but it has failed to do so. The directive itself deals with the issue of collective bargaining coverage. It sets a target of 80% collective bargaining coverage, and my Bill is a means of getting to that target by ensuring for the first time that collective bargaining is valued and weighted in terms of the public procurement process. It is something that is particularly important given that this Government worryingly said there is no new legislation required with regard to that EU directive, which really shows that the Government has no commitment whatsoever to increasing collective bargaining coverage in this country. However, that will be a choice that will be put to the electorate in the next number of weeks.

I also want to raise the occupied territories Bill and the disgraceful decision of the Government yesterday to basically kick it into the long grass again. I want to put on record my clear view that neither Fine Gael nor its sister party, Fianna Fáil, have any intention of ever passing the occupied territories Bill. That is entirely clear from this point of view. Not one economic measure has been taken against Israel for its perpetration of genocide. It is not so much what we can achieve through that economic measure as a signal and sign it would send to the rest of the world that we must and can do more.

I will go through the average statistics with regard to Gaza. Each and every day in Gaza, on average, 115 people are killed, of which 46 are children, 31 are women and 38 are men; 266 people are injured; 27 people are missing under the rubble; and 5,480 people are forced from their homes. Yet, this Government in the face of that genocide has decided to take no meaningful action. The ambassador should not even still be in this country. The Government has copped out and it is a mark of shame in that regard. It will not even tackle the issue of arms going through Irish airspace. Even when the Minister, Deputy Ryan, was told in advance by The Ditch that we would have arms going through Irish airspace, he took no action. What is happening in our airport in Shannon continues to be nothing less than an absolute disgrace. Saying it is against genocide and then deciding to do nothing about it is absolutely disgraceful. This is the record of this Government and, as I said, it is a mark of the deepest shame.