There has not been one vetoed

Nonsense. Then leave the triple lock in place.

I welcome the Sinn Féin motion and the opportunity to discuss in the House again the cost of living and the impact it is having on people. Tomorrow, Social Justice Ireland will give a presentation in the audiovisual room. It would be well worth going to as Social Justice Ireland always has sharp analysis of what is happening to people at the bottom of our society. It is a measurement that often gets ignored when we look at the figures churned out by the Government. We are still in a cost-of-living crisis. According…

What are the Minister's general plans for increasing childcare places? Will he make a statement on the matter?

It would be lovely to hear the exact figures for the number of places that the Minister plans to increase by. It sounds like he has a plan, but to me and to all childminding organisations, it is complex and cumbersome. The Minister will be aware that in the Dublin area, almost 60% of providers have reported that they have severe waiting lists for childcare places. After housing, it is probably borne out statistically that this is one of the biggest political issues for most people who have children. Often both pare…

I am aware of all the problems individual childcare centres have in increasing capacity and keeping going. I am also aware of how poorly paid and treated many childcare workers are, albeit that improvements are taking place. The last woman who contacted me about this prompted me to ask the question. She was stressed out of her mind about the fact that she could not get a place for her 17-month-old child. It looks like she will have to give up her job. She is a relatively young woman. She wants to keep her career. W…

I hope this will expand on the conversation we have just had. Will the Minister and his Department establish a national, publicly run, funded and owned childcare service?

I argue the national childcare scheme is not fit for purpose. It does not fit the demand and it does not fit the need we have in this country. Parents will say to us it is the most convoluted, confusing and unfair system. I will give one instance, and I am picking up on a thing that comes to my attention regularly. Parents are penalised for wanting to spend more time with their children, if the children attend a school or use a childcare service. If parents collect their children early on occasion, it can trigger a…

I am afraid that in my experience, and a lot of Deputies have spoken about it in different ways tonight, the mishmash of services we have are not keeping sufficiently on top of the demand for childcare. A lot of providers are feeling pretty desperate about the sort of administration challenges they face. The reason I asked the question about the provision of a national publicly funded and publicly run childcare system is that Ireland is particularly low in terms of its overall spending on childcare. Out of the 38 O…

In the same week that there was another serious warning about climate change from the EU’s Copernicus programme, which told us about the catastrophic challenge we were facing, is it not extraordinary that the Green Party’s leader – a member of the Government – would take a legal challenge against the Swiss women activists who won a court case and showed that the high emissions governments were responsible for were a threat to their health because of their gender and age? I fall into that category. Is Eamon Ryan afr…

I am sharing time with Deputy Mick Barry.

What did you call me?

In that case, I thank Bríd for her contribution. More seriously, the last point the Minister of State made about the optional protocol was very much Civil Service-speak. I refer to this being a matter of complexity, the need to progress the issue, have meetings and all the rest of it. How many years have disability campaigners, like those outside the gates now, been campaigning? They are celebrating the scrapping of the Green Paper and campaigning for the optional protocol to be instituted. It cannot be rocket scie…

On the Taoiseach's first day of Leaders' Questions, it is quite a coincidence that he is being questioned by both the previous speaker and me on the abortion legislation. Last night's programme exposed the ongoing denial of abortion rights to a significant number of women in this country six years after repeal. It was interesting that it opened with a clip of the Taoiseach in Dublin Castle on that historic day when the massive "Yes" vote was announced. He told the crowd, “Under the eighth amendment, [we said to] wo…

Marie O'Shea has said courage is needed. Will the Taoiseach use his famous slogan about new energy to implement a review immediately?

I do not think it is fair to frame the history of what happened to the Bill as there somehow being a minority voting for it. Only approximately nine Deputies abstained that day. There was not a huge number of Deputies who abstained. I want to pick up on a few things the Taoiseach said. The 28-day limit is really the crucial thing in terms of how fatal foetal anomalies are treated and in stopping the harrowing and tragic testimonies we saw last night. The 28-day limit on when doctors can say there is need of a termi…

I repeat my contention that the Government is sitting on its hands.

I did not accuse the Taoiseach of not doing anything. He failed to regulate-----

We echo the call for a debate on the European migrant pact, obviously for different reasons. We do think we have to have the debate. The issue I want to raise is the question of the use of Shannon Airport by the US military. I was there on Sunday at a protest. There is great concern in the country about the escalating and increased use of Shannon Airport by US military flights. As the situation in the Middle East becomes more precarious with the possibility of an outright war, it will mean the increased use of one …

As my mother used to say, brave are the chancers. You are some chancer.