Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-07
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Cian O'Callaghan (SD), Dublin Bay North

Tá gealltanais bhriste. There are broken promises. Ar fud na tíre, tá daoine tuirseach de níos mó agus níos mó gealltanas briste. Bhris Fine Gael roinnt gealltanas a rinne sé sa toghchán deireanach. Fine Gael has broken promise after promise that it made in the most recent general election. Parents, students and disabled people were all told that help was on the way, but those election commitments were swept under the rug once the Government was formed. There is palpable anger and frustration with the Government’s failure to deliver on its word. At the 2024 election, Fine Gael promised affordable childcare costing €200 per month. It quickly forgot that promise. Fine Gael promised to phase out third level fees. Does the Minister remember that? Instead, those fees were increased. Fine Gael promised a €500 cost-of-disability payment. Instead, in the last budget, it cut the income of disabled people by up to €1,400.
The Minister's party leader, Simon Harris, promised to pass the occupied territories Bill within the first year of the Government and yet, days, weeks and months pass with no sign of the Bill in the Dáil. The occupied territories Bill was initiated in 2018. We are waiting more than eight years for the Government to progress this Bill. Last year, the Tánaiste promised that the occupied territories Bill would be brought to the Dáil by the end of November. We are now half a year past that deadline. That is yet another promise made by Fine Gael that has been broken.
The horrors in Palestine continue. The killing has not stopped and the illegal occupation is intensifying. Two weeks ago, Aws al-Nasaan, a 14-year-old boy, was murdered. While he was standing at the gate outside his secondary school in the West Bank, he was shot dead by an Israeli settler. This was part of a wave of settler violence in the occupied West Bank, primarily targeted at schools and children. Palestinian children are being murdered as they go to school while Ireland is still doing business with the companies profiting from this illegal occupation. We have a duty to stand up for the Palestinian people. We have a legal obligation to act when a genocide is taking place. Why does Fine Gael keep on making and breaking promises? When will the occupied territories Bill be brought to the Dáil?

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-05-07/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:46+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-07