Hear, hear.

Every single one of them.

Who is the greatest misleader now?

The Labour Party believes that football is one of the most effective anti-poverty, anti-racism and anti-addiction tools we have at our disposal. This morning we understand that Türkiye has withdrawn from the proposed hosting of the 2028 European Championships and that Ireland and the UK will now host this tournament in 2028. Many football people in Ireland, however, will not celebrate this decision because, as the Taoiseach may be aware, the level of facilities we have in Ireland is very poor. For example, 38% of c…

I welcome the introduction of the Bill. The Labour Party fully supports the legislation and the intentions behind it. We will look to propose some amendments to strengthen and enhance some of the protections for victims as the legislation moves through the Houses of the Oireachtas. In April this year, the CSO released the results of the sexual violence survey, SVS, conducted in 2022. The results were stark. One in five women in Ireland had been raped and more than half of women had experienced some form of sexual v…

Today, the criminal justice system has, effectively, collapsed under the Taoiseach's watch. Fine Gael has held the Department of Justice, in an unbroken manner, for 12 years. Today, the criminal courts are not sitting because criminal barristers have withdrawn their labour. This was notified to the Government on 12 July. Fine Gael has nobody else to blame because it holds the Ministry of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform and the Ministry of Justice. The Government was notified on 12 …

Any community, barrister or garda will listen to what the Taoiseach has said and feel as if it is somebody else's responsibility, not the Taoiseach's. The Taoiseach knew about this dispute coming since 12 July and he has let the criminal courts of justice fall today. The Bar Council states it has had no engagement. It falls completely and utterly on the Taoiseach, as the leader of Fine Gael, which holds the Ministry for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform and the Ministry for Justice, …

The legislation say it has.

Did she ask it?

There is no process.

The purpose of the Bill is to establish the domestic, sexual and gender-based violence agency as a stand-alone statutory body under the Department of Justice with responsibility for tackling domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. The establishment of this agency is welcome and the Labour Party very much welcomes it. It is in line with the State's international treaty obligations on the Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence. Domestic, sexual and gender-based violenc…

We in the Labour Party welcome this Bill. Exorbitant revenues and profits have been taken in by energy companies over the past number of years, while more and more people have been plunged into energy poverty. Coupled with the broader cost-of-living crisis in the areas of housing and grocery prices, the situation has been dire for far too many people. All the while, the cash kept rolling in for energy companies. It has taken nearly two years for the Government to take serious and meaningful action since the Labour …

I thank the Minister of State for being here to discuss this matter, which has gone on for years. It relates to Clongriffin DART station on its Baldoyle side and the Myrtle estate at The Coast. I will share an email with the Minister of State that I received on Monday. This does not just go back to this week. I visited the site in August 2018 and, since then at least, issues have constantly been raised by residents. The email reads: Today Monday September 18 marks two weeks since the lift access in the stairwell fr…

I appreciate that there are limits to what the Minister, Deputy Darragh O’Brien, can do in this regard, but he does have the soft power to discuss this issue with Irish Rail. The Minister of State can appreciate that residents are completely exasperated and have no trust in any private provider that is providing what is essentially public access. We have a situation where a private entity is in charge of public access to the public transport system. It is not working. We are not just talking about a period of weeks…

You did that yourselves. Answer the question.

It does not allow for statements.

I move: That Dáil Éireann: recognises that: — football, the "beautiful game", is the most popular sport in the world, and the number one participation team sport in Ireland with 220,000 people playing for Irish clubs and schools, but Ireland has historically never invested in our domestic league, and exported our best players abroad; — football has traditionally been a working-class game in Ireland, but has suffered over the last 100 years from poor leadership and chronic underinvestment; — football was excluded fr…

It is rare for me to contribute to debates of this nature. I am speaking on behalf of my colleague, Deputy Howlin, who is unable to attend. In speaking to him earlier about the nature of this debate, it struck me that for such an important subject to be relegated to a Thursday afternoon slot, with less than an hour for the debate, does it no service whatsoever. Students of history might cast their minds back to the 1918 election, which came after the 1916 Rising and, we are often told, was a demonstration of Irelan…

I want to raise the issue of St. Michael’s House. I have become aware of a letter sent to families of those referred to St. Michael's House on 27 June telling them that it has no resources available to accept the referrals. As can be imagined, we are dealing with some of the most vulnerable individuals possible. Their families are distraught and bereft as a result of receiving this communication, which was sent last week. I am meeting a number of these families tomorrow to see if we can find a way forward. Staff at…

I thank the Acting Chair for allowing me to contribute on this question. These processes are being set up to fail. Two processes in my constituency have failed because, even though the Minister promised that the parents of potential pupils in the areas around the schools would be consulted, that did not happen. The archdiocese can press all the buttons it wants and then get what it wants, which is the status quo . In a ridiculous situation, someone whose child is in sixth class has more of a say in the future of th…