I am glad that the protest at lunchtime today was raised. I have a particular personal interest in this because it was the first campaign I worked on as a SIPTU trade union official. It frankly beggars belief that 11 years on, successive Governments have ignored the recommendations from their own Labour Court, the highest industrial court in the country. This Government is very happy to lecture people for ignoring Labour Court recommendations.

It lectured the nurses on that for months. Despite this, it has ignored this Labour Court recommendation for eight years. Before that, Fianna Fáil ignored it for three years.

Here is the thing. These people are not well-paid. When they retire, they have nothing to fall back on. Having spoken to the workers outside the gates of this building, I cannot underestimate their anger. They know, unfortunately, it is a fact that under this Government, this place is a cold house for working people and trade unions. They cannot even get a meeting with the Minister. The Minister for Finance did not even have the decency to reply or acknowledge that they have asked for a meeting after 11 years. They are absolutely right to go on strike. They have no choice. They have tried every method. They have tried everything. A high-level forum was set up under the Lansdowne Road agreement to deal with this but this Government immediately ignored the agreement and has ignored it consistently since.

The Leader is not here today but, unfortunately, when I raised this issue back in February, he said that we cannot implement the recommendation because it would have financial implications that would be disastrous for the country. This is the view from the Government that spent billions on the children's hospital, so it is nonsense. It goes to reinforce that this Government in particular has contempt for working people and trade unions. They are left outside the doors. They cannot even get an acknowledgement from the Minister on this issue. I am calling on the Government to act immediately, bring those decent people from the union, SIPTU, into this building, and treat them with respect for the first time in 11 years.

The first thing I would like to do is send out some kind of energy, even from a small space, to France and the beautiful Notre-Dame de Paris, which was up in flames last night. It reminded me of the great line by Milton from "Paradise Lost", because if I ever witnessed awe in my life, I witnessed it in Notre-Dame. I also witnessed reverence. I witnessed reverence from all walks of life and all peoples, colours, creeds and religions. I know the French are a great race and they will rebuild it. I think we should all help them, because if we want an example of elevation, magnificence, what it is to see magnificence and maybe have it in our lives, then it is Notre Dame.

I want to talk about something else this afternoon: the new cultural body of the banks. When I read this great article by Michelle Hennessy, I thought I was going to pass out. I was seriously going to pass out. The banks are now going to have a new body to improve their culture. The new body comprises themselves, including KBC, Ulster Bank, financial advisers, Permanent TSB, AIB, Bank of Ireland and representatives from financial services. There are many young people in the Public Gallery today. I do not see any young people in their 20s or 30s who cannot afford a tree house or a barn or who cannot afford to live under the stairs and yet who have studied and have jobs. I do not see any of them on the great board, which will be the new cultural way forward for our banks. I do not see any artists on this new great cultural board that is made up of the banks themselves.

They are con artists.

They are not going to restore trust in me, although I do not know about the young people. They are a joke. They brought us into the red even though they are now back in the black. There is no one there. I was in a bank yesterday but I had to talk to machines. If they are going to restore my faith in machines, it is not going to happen.

I very much believe the people have to stand up against the banks once and for all. People should take all their money out of the bank, bar their salary, and put it in the post office, a plastic bag or maybe in a biscuit tin, because it is likely to be there when they go looking for it in several years. They beggared us and we are paying for the beggaring. We are choked every day by their inadequacies and profits. Someone needs to start taking this seriously and stand up to them. Also, we might question how much they paid for their awful building down on the docks. To me, the idea of the banks having a cultural committee to change the sense of their own profiteering energy is simply the joke of jokes.

I think we have collectively dismissed the idea of using a single-use plastic bag for our money. A biscuit tin is a far better idea than a plastic bag. I am keen to put that on the record in terms of climate action.

I support Senator Gavan in what he said about CE supervisors.

If it has not already been seconded, I second the proposal that we do not take Committee and Remaining Stages of the Aircraft Noise (Dublin Airport) Regulation Bill 2018 today. It is not necessary to ram through the legislation this evening. It is not fair, not right and not good parliamentary procedure, as the legislation needs to be teased out over a prolonged period.

When we talk about politics in this House, football may not be regarded as very important, but it does touch the lives of many people. I have just come from a briefing I hosted with Niall Quinn and others from the football family. One of the statistics that jumped out at me was that 30% of players in the League of Ireland had no qualifications beyond the junior certificate. That brought home to me why football was perhaps not powerful politically because the people who played the game were not powerful politically. They do not have a high level of education, as shown by the statistic I have given, and do not have many friends in the Houses. Other sports are more powerful politically as seen, for example, in the guaranteed and ring-fenced €55 million a year for the horse and greyhound sector. I think it received €89 million last year. While we argue over Sport Ireland's withdrawal of €2.7 million, it is nothing when compared with the millions and billions funnelled through Departments and these Houses. Once the circus moves on from the controversy over the Football Association of Ireland, FAI, its board and its former chief executive officer who is in the spotlight, politically we need to mind this sport because it is not being minded by those who are entrusted with the task of minding it. It needs many more political friends. Those who play the game generally come from disadvantaged communities and are more vulnerable; they are people whom politics does not necessarily reach or touch or represent, as well as others. While today's news about the board is welcome, we need to take a new direction to have a fresh start for a sport that is so important to so many in this country.