There is record homelessness.

On behalf of the Social Democrats, I express our continued solidarity with the people of Ukraine. The horrific bombardment of civilians and civilian infrastructure by Putin and his forces over the past four years has been utterly reprehensible, as has been the abduction of children. The ordinary people of Ukraine are suffering day by day because of this needless war, whether that is the loss of life, the disruption of lives, the maiming of lives and people being cut off from power and heat in the depths of winter. …

Donald Trump's Board of Peace was billed as a body that would oversee governance and reconstruction in Gaza. However, its proposed charter does not even mention Gaza. Instead it gives a broad mandate to resolve global conflicts. Given the list of people who have signalled they will join it is clear the outfit should be renamed the board of autocrats and war criminals. Included in their number are Netanyahu, Putin and Lukashenko. To highlight the absurdity of this travesty, Netanyahu is unable to attend a signing ce…

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Tánaiste. The stated position, therefore, of the Government on Trump's so-called Board of Peace is that it is considering its response. That has been the stated position up to now. Will the Tánaiste rule out, unequivocally and categorically, that Ireland will not be involved in any shape or form with this travesty Trump is putting forward? Will he do that and do that now? That is what I am asking him to do. Let us not have any ambiguity about it. The Tánaiste should say on behalf of the Iri…

What about the occupied territories Bill?

I welcome to the Gallery healthcare assistants from Northside Home Care. They are workers who do incredibly important work. They work antisocial hours, on evenings and weekends. Many of them worked on Christmas Day and despite their Trojan work for our elderly, they receive only the minimum wage or just above it. Their pay levels are effectively below what they were paid in 2009. They received pay cuts then and have never received pay restoration. They have been excluded from a pay increase for the social, communit…

The handling by An Garda Síochána of a domestic violence complaint against Garda Trevor Bolger is hugely concerning. His ex-wife and victim, Margaret Loftus, had to compile her own case file and fight for the case to be taken seriously. Furthermore, it has now been revealed that a Garda investigation was launched into journalists reporting on the case. Having dragged its heels investigating Bolger, no such hesitation was shown in investigating journalists. This is disturbing. The Minister for justice should make a …

I wish to begin by welcoming a number of representatives from different disability organisations who are in the Public Gallery with us today. I thank them for the strong and powerful contributions they just made in a briefing for all Oireachtas Members in the audiovisual room. They told us about the extreme hardship being faced by many disabled people. We heard about people who had had to stop getting their dialysis at home because they could no longer afford the electricity bills. This has a huge impact on their q…

The ask is very simple; it is a modest ask. Will the Government introduce an emergency €400 winter payment to disabled people and will it introduce that now?

Does the Taoiseach recognise that disabled people are €1,400 worse off as a result of the budget and the decisions the Government made? Can he imagine what it would be like not to be able to leave your home because you cannot afford to charge your electric wheelchair or mobility aid? There are people in that situation now because the Government took away income supports and did not replace them. Of course, income supports should be permanent, not once off - there is no disagreement on that - but to take €1,400 off …

The decision by Paschal Donohoe last April to give €10 million in additional funding over and beyond what was initially recommended by his officials to the World Bank raises a number of questions about what his intentions were at the time and whether he was aware that he would be taking up a senior role in the World Bank later in the year. The Minister for Finance, Tánaiste and leader of Fine Gael, Simon Harris, should come into the Dáil and answer questions on this.

I would like to say fáilte to the British ambassador agus roimh na daltaí freisin. I want to begin by wishing the Tánaiste, his family, all Deputies, people watching at home and all the staff in the Oireachtas, who do very important work, a very happy and peaceful Christmas. I also want to take this opportunity to highlight the plight of Oireachtas broadcast workers who will now be laid off for the Christmas period without pay. This is completely unacceptable treatment of a group of workers who carry out a vital ro…

What do you say to the record number of children and their families who will spend Christmas in emergency homeless accommodation?

There will be more children spending Christmas in homeless emergency accommodation this year than ever before in the history of the State. When Fine Gael entered office, there were 641 children in homeless emergency accommodation. That was too high. There are now 5,247 children who will spend this Christmas without a home. This has a detrimental impact on each and every child involved. It can often mean missing key developmental milestones. Yet, the Tánaiste did not even acknowledge the damage homelessness does to …

Child homelessness has increased tenfold since Fine Gael entered government.

There is a significant problem with Irish banks charging very high interest rates to mortgage holders, especially in comparison with UK banks and the spreads in the UK, while at the same garnering record profits. What is the Tánaiste doing about this? Cad atá ar siúl?

Irish banks are making huge profits from charging high interest rates on mortgages. Research by RBC Capital Markets shows that Irish banks are making more than three times as much on mortgages as UK banks by charging higher interest rates. It is the last thing people who are struggling to buy a home need. At the same time, profit levels in Irish banks are at a record high. AIB and Bank of Ireland last year made a combined profit of almost €5 billion and these same banks paid virtually no taxes on these profits. Doe…

Of course interest rates have fallen in the past year. The European interest rates have fallen. Why on earth would they not? The issue is that we have record bank profits and Irish mortgage holders are being over-charged in interest rates compared with other countries. I gave the example of the UK. The spreads in Ireland are more than three times higher than those in the UK. Does the Tánaiste find that acceptable? Is he going to do anything about it? He is simply talking about more banking competition. That has bee…

I thank the Chair. I have never been grouped with myself before. Má chaitheann muid ár súil siar, we will recall that huge economic damage was done by property tax reliefs that were not well designed or indeed well researched. In relation to recently introduced property tax relief measures, what research and analysis was done in advance? Will the Minister publish that research and analysis and share it with us?

I am aware that there have been reports on housing, viability, financing and so forth and that there has been research in the area; that was not my question. My question was on the tax measures that were introduced by Government and by the Minister's predecessor as Minister for Finance in the budget on property. What research or analysis was done before those tax measures were decided on? The Parliamentary Budget Office, which is independent, has been highly critical of the Government for introducing measures like …