Oh, really.

He loves the money.

The Deputy loves the rent money, doesn't he?

He loves the landlord rent money.

I would never use a phrase like that, and I have not.

I never did.

The Deputy does not know what he is talking about.

The Deputy has not a clue.

I am being-----

I thank all those who have contributed to our debate on housing today. It is the great civil rights issue of our time, the ability to live in safety and security. We thank the Minister of State for not opposing the motion and for his comments on the Labour Party. The Minister of State referred to solutions on a European level. I believe that is where the housing Minister is now. We agree. The Government needs to be working on a European level to find pan-European solutions on affordable housing. We need to change t…

Is féidir a rá go bhfuil na cainteoirí diúltach ach is féidir linn a bheith diúltach ó am go chéile agus muid ag caint faoi stádas na Gaeilge sa tír seo. Ba mhaith liom a bheith beagáinín níos dearfaí, áfach. Táim lonnaithe i mBaile Átha Cliath agus, chuile oíche, téim amach ar na doirse i mo Dháilcheantar féin agus casaim le duine amháin ar a laghad atá sásta an Ghaeilge a labhairt liom ag an doras. Cuireann sé ionadh ar bhaill de Pháirtí an Lucht Oibre nach as an gceantar go bhfuil an líon sin cainteoirí Gaeilge …

Let us return to what this topic is actually about. In a debate like this, when we discuss the road blockers, protesters and people who feel they get on buses to check passports, we are actually talking about domestic terrorism when we talk about people setting stuff on fire. While it is open season for people from the Government and, indeed, from the Opposition to start talking about the immigration system, we need to get back to first principles. What we have seen over recent years is a spate of fires, arson atta…

-----and cracking down and have stated we are going to see an awful lot more deportations. What have we dealt with over recent years? As has been said, in 2018, the Caiseal Mara Hotel, Moville, County Donegal, where 100 asylum seekers were proposed to be accommodated, was burned out. The Shannon Key West Hotel on the Roscommon-Leitrim border was set on fire and a second fire was lit a month later, in February 2019. Later that year, two fires were set over plans to accommodate asylum seekers in a 25-unit apartment c…

I want to get a sense of the state of prison figures, prison capacity and overcrowding currently evident within the system.

We have too many people in prison. I know politics will tell us we should not care about people who are in prison, but we should. We have more people in prison than we have beds available. Some are lying on mattresses close to toilets. I would not spend a night lying on a mattress close to a toilet and I do not think the Minister of State would either, so I do not think we should expect anybody in the prison system to do that. Those in the prison system say there are far too many people with addiction issues and me…

We also have people out on temporary release in order to relieve pressure on the system. Some of those are violent offenders. Last November, there were 4,641 people in prison, 126 more than there were beds available. The Midlands Prison was at 106% capacity and Clover Hill was at 110% capacity. We do not have space to treat people with dignity. People who are not treated with dignity they will not respect the system and will reoffend. That is patently logical. We have too many people in prison who do not need to be…

Hear, hear.

The Minister of State will appreciate that this is extremely serious. This is the third time I have raised this. I raised it with Deputy Gannon the other night in oral questions and with the Taoiseach yesterday. We would not be raising this if it were not for the deluge of schools making contact with us. They are horrified about what these changes will mean for them. They cannot get their heads around why complex needs have now been taken out as a criterion. In presenting this as a positive adjustment, the Minister…

It seems from the Minister of State's reply that because one element of Government is making a bags of how it treats children with additional needs, the Minister of State has to take up the slack because children are languishing on waiting lists for assessment and, therefore, the Department of Education has to change its allocation model because the data is not available. It is a complete failure of the entirety of Government. It appears the Minister of State's view is that she is right and everyone else is wrong, …

There was a remarkable admission last night during oral questions to the Minister for Education when the Minister of State with responsibility for special education said that the new allocation model for special needs resources will mean that 33% of schools will now have less special educational needs resources. She admitted this on the floor of the House last night. This is because complex needs are now being taken out of the criteria for the allocation of special educational needs resources. She said that she had…