Do I have three and a half minutes?

Sentiment score: 0.00

Maybe the Leas-Cheann Comhairle can stop me at three and a half minutes.

Sentiment score: -0.30

I wish to point out something to the Minister. While I welcome the payments that have been made, they fall very short. I refer, in particular, to the cost of disability or the failure to address the cost of disability in this legislation. There is a disconnect between the Departments of Social Protection and housing. The Minister will know that many of our constituents in Mayo - I refer to those who are tenants - got letters in the past number of weeks to say that their contribution to Mayo County Council, and, indeed, to other councils, has been increased in line with whatever increases they have received. That is totally wrong. If the Minister is saying that people are getting €10 here, Mayo County Council is saying that it wants 16% of that €10. That is disingenuous and points to how this Government can in one sense be perceived to put something into people's pockets and at the same time take it back out. That is something which needs to be addressed. In relation to housing, the eligibility thresholds have not moved. This means that on the back of very small increases, people have been knocked off the housing waiting list. That is totally wrong. That completely undermines the idea that the Government is in some way trying to address child poverty or take more people out of poverty. There is nothing more impoverishing than saying to somebody, "You are not entitled to a home" or "You cannot have a home". That is something I want the Minister to address in terms of the alignment of social protection and housing. We support the principle of auto-enrolment, but we have always said that we want the right auto-enrolment scheme at the right time. As Deputy Louise O'Reilly pointed out, this is the wrong scheme and it is the wrong time. The Government is out of touch on this with the scale of the financial pressures facing low- and middle-income families. Ordinary workers received next to nothing in last month's budget. Now, instead of some relief, this Bill adds yet another burden in the form of automatic deductions from already stretched pay packets. These are the people who have never worked so hard and never struggled so much. These workers have been forced to stay in work longer because Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have said that they cannot access their pensions until the age of 66. Let us be clear. This is not just about workers; it will also hit employers, including small businesses, charities and community organisations. Many of them, particularly those whose staff are funded by State contracts, have been told that they will not receive any additional funding to cover the employer contribution. This is wholly unacceptable.

Sentiment score: -0.08

Instead, what we will see are wage cuts, reduced hours and even job losses to cover the cost of this scheme. This is the opposite to what we should be doing to strengthen employment.

Sentiment score: -0.14

Sorry, I was nearly there.

Sentiment score: -0.08