A key function of the local property tax is not simply to collect revenue, but to fund local services. That has been clear from the outset. If the point is to fund local services but people do not get those services where they live because the local authority has not taken their area in charge, then of course there is a strong rationale for the way the local property tax is designed to reflect that. The intention of this amendment is not to create a significant tier of housing that is subject to this reduced rate f…

That would be telling. People move in and think it might be a year or two. There is a lot of frustration at local meetings in my constituency that I have attended. People moved in when they had no children and their children are now getting to the stage where they will be moving out soon and there has been no progress. This has to be tackled.

I, too, welcome the Little Blue Heroes and the gardaí and commend everyone involved in that. Listening to the Taoiseach's answers, I wonder if he gets it at all. He was presented with the stark reality people face in terms of grocery prices and he rattled off a list of numbers and inflation rates rather than acknowledging the real difficulties people are facing when they do their weekly shop. I do not know if the Taoiseach even notices or acknowledges the problems people are facing. Some 70% of people are either ve…

Well, if the Taoiseach were listening, the question was whether is he going to act-----

-----to ensure all supermarket chains have to declare their profits in full detail.

The Taoiseach did rattle off a range of figures about inflation but did not acknowledge the real hardship people face in terms of grocery prices. I ask him to acknowledge that. Last week, his Government took the decision to lift the pay caps for senior high-paid bankers. Newspapers reported that means, for instance, the annual package of the head of AIB could go from €500,000 to €2 million. Those are the kinds of decisions the Government has taken that may have an immediate effect for people at the very high end of…

I move: That Dáil Éireann: notes that: — Israel Sovereign Bonds, known as Israel Bonds, have, since 1951, raised funds for the Israeli Treasury for use across the Israeli economy including the Israeli military and the illegal settlements; — Israel Bonds have since October 2023, been advertised as war bonds with the slogan "Stand with Israel – Israel is at War", and the website marketing the bonds contains a video by Israeli President, Isaac Herzog who lauds "the crucial role of Israel Bonds during this time of conf…

I have a right to come in as well. The Ceann Comhairle cannot cut our speaking time like that just because the Minister went over his speaking time.

It is not right.

It is completely unfair that the Ministers went over their speaking time and we have been cut off.

We have six minutes of our speaking time left.

That has never happened before.

I thank everybody who contributed to this cross-party motion and spoke on it today. Let us be very clear about this. The Minister and the Government are hiding behind technicalities and standard arguments that are wheeled out to justify inaction. The Government could act on this if it wanted to do so. The Central Bank is independent; that is correct. However, as Deputy Connolly pointed out, it is not independent of the law. We, as Members elected to Dáil Éireann by the people, have a role and mandate to enact legis…

Renters are already in an incredibly stressful situation having seen their rents doubled over the last decade and the Government is now not helping the situation by sowing confusion. It did that yesterday. The launch, as regards the understanding of it and the contradictory messages coming out, was an absolute shambles. The Taoiseach is at it again today. He told the Dáil just a few minutes ago that new tenancies after March 2026 will be capped at CPI. There was no mention of a reset every six years. Is the reset e…

That is not true.

The Taoiseach knows that we put forward proposals to bring extra financing into housing. His criticism is that it is going to take a couple of years but his party has had decades at this and it cannot get the situation right. If it takes a couple of years to get more financing into the system, it is absolutely worth it. The fact is that most renters are going to face huge rent increases. The Taoiseach will not even mention the six years. Most renters are going to be facing huge rent increases at the end of six year…

They are going to enter new tenancies and the Taoiseach will not even acknowledge that. He will not acknowledge that in what he is saying.

Tell us how many renters-----

What proportion of renters over the coming years will not face this reset to full market rents? Tell us that. Most are going to face that. When they end a tenancy, they are going to be in this new system where, effectively, the RPZ rent regulation is ripped up on them and they are going to face full market rents.

Until-----