The multinational tech company-----

What we seem to have today is a playground. I ask everybody to conform and to have respect for the Members whose time they are taking up. Deputy Gibney.

The multinational tech company Meta has announced a new round of layoffs, with 5% of its workforce under threat. This is in the context of the chief executive of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, abolishing equality, diversity and inclusion programmes, stopping fact checking on the Facebook platform and essentially bending the knee to Trump in the same way we saw Elon Musk do when he took over Twitter. There are reports in the press today that Irish employees of Meta are very concerned that they are being arbitrarily fired. This new round of layoffs is using performance management as window dressing when the company is engaging in arbitrary firings. Does the Taoiseach share the Social Democrats' concerns about the lurch to the right of these tech companies and the impact that this will potentially have on workers and customers of these platforms? Is the relevant Minister meeting with Meta to deal with this matter?

Deputy, your time is up. The Taoiseach to respond, please.

In terms of lay-offs, our thoughts have to be with the workers in the company or those who may be laid off - from our perspective, in Ireland - and we have to do everything we possibly can to make sure they can secure alternative employment. We have a strong industrial relations framework and strong employee protection rights in Ireland, along with legislation.

We will do everything to make sure we maintain those rights, maintain the legislative framework we have, protect employees and help employees in situations where either companies are engaging in lay-offs - which can happen, and I will not speculate on the reasoning beyond the lay-offs. Our fundamental obligation is to help those employees who are going through a traumatic time if and when they are laid off.