I put a couple of questions to the Tánaiste that he has not answered. The key issue is that EU humanitarian aid is not getting into Gaza because the actions that need to be taken by the international community to ensure it happens are not being taken. People in Gaza cannot wait any longer; they need action now. The Government must do everything it can to stop munitions going through Irish airspace. According to The Ditch , Israel's national carrier brought 1,500 kg of arms through Irish airspace last year labelling…

I am sharing time with a couple of colleagues. I thank my colleague, Jen Cummins, for all her work on this motion. I also acknowledge the huge work done by parents across the country who are campaigning to get an education without religious instruction for their child. Parents should not have to campaign to get the basics for their child. I thank the Minister for attending and for her contribution. She said parents choose the school they send their child to but, of course, many parents cannot choose the school for …

Energy prices in Ireland are extortionate. Annual gas bills are €120 higher here than in other EU countries. When it comes to electricity bills, they are €350 higher. These sky-high prices, on top of extortionate and exorbitant housing costs, are causing real hardship for people. As we speak, a whopping 440,000 households around the country are in arrears. The previous Government introduced a tax on windfall profits. A total of €189 million was collected, but it is just sitting there. It was supposed to have been u…

Yesterday, the Social Democrats put forward a real solution to increase the finance available to build affordable homes. I hope the Taoiseach will look at that seriously. Not content with creating a new €430,000 post for the housing tsar, this Government now wants to increase pay for senior executives in semi-State organisations. Yesterday, the Minister, Deputy Chambers, announced plans to change rules, which will see salaries soar. The heads of 30 semi-State bodies, from Horse Racing Ireland to RTÉ, are now potent…

A living wage is not just good for low-paid workers; it is also good for the local economy. Money that is put in the pocket of workers gets spent in the local economy and boosts local businesses and jobs. There is a very strong economic case for it. Can the Taoiseach not see that it is an absolute kick in the teeth for people on low pay to hear about Government proposals to increase pay for those at the top while excuses relating to tariffs, global headwinds and economic conditions are cited when it comes to delayi…

-----on the living wage? Will it bring forward the living wage, as it has promised? Why can the Government do it for top-paid workers but not for people on low pay?

I was hoping the Government had learned its lesson when it was caught out deliberately misrepresenting last year's housing delivery numbers. I was wrong. When the figures for affordable housing were finally published last week, something was clearly off with them. Cooking the books was the only way the Minister could pretend the targets had been met. The target was 6,400 new-build affordable homes, but only 2,806 - less than half the target - were actually delivered. No amount of spin or attempts to inflate the fig…

The Taoiseach knows well that increasing the funding sources for housing will increase the construction of housing. In fact, he has often said that the reason the Government relies on investment funds is because of a lack of alteratives. The situation is that there are now 15,418 people living in emergency homeless accommodation. There are 4,675 children growing up without a home. Rents have never been higher, house prices have never been higher and homelessness is at record levels. This is causing incredible stres…

They are not an affordable home.

They are not a new build affordable home.

The Government is painting them as a new build affordable home.

Medical experiments were conducted on children in our major paediatric hospital. Corrosive springs were inserted into the bodies of extremely vulnerable children. No ethical approval was sought for the use of the springs and the families did not give informed consent for these procedures. This was not an isolated incident. The litany of failures raises serious questions about whether Children's Health Ireland is fit for purpose. Despite this, yesterday in this Chamber, the Taoiseach ruled out a public inquiry into …

Government has a role here when report after report shows that recommendations are not being implemented. Government has a role to ensure that those recommendations are implemented. If that had happened in this case, we would not be in this situation. If the Government will not set up a public inquiry into the cases of the families affected, who are calling for that, what is it going to do to sort this out? I asked the Taoiseach whether the Minister will meet with the families affected, as they have requested. Coul…

Will the Minister meet them?

I wish Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett the very best in the coming weeks as he undergoes his treatment. He has been a vociferous campaigner both inside and outside this Dáil for many decades. I very much look forward to him resuming that work. Last night, senior UN humanitarian officials released a joint statement pleading with the international community to act on Gaza. For over a month, no commercial or humanitarian supplies have entered; no food, no water and no medicine. Al-Aqsa hospital, according to one report, i…

In just the past week, The Ditch has reported that Lufthansa illegally transported more than a tonne of munitions through Irish airspace to Israel. Facilitating supply of key components to fighter jets that are dropping bombs on Gaza is utterly reprehensible. Have reports that Lufthansa illegally transported munitions through Irish airspace been investigated by the Government? Is the Taoiseach going to act to stop these illegal transports? When is he going to enact the occupied territories Bill?

I welcome the Taoiseach's strong condemnation. I agree that all hostages should be released immediately. I also welcome his condemnation of air strikes. However, I asked the Taoiseach about the issue at hand, which is that parts of fighter jets are being transported illegally through Irish airspace to Israel. These fighter jets are then being used to drop bombs on people in Gaza through the air strikes which the Taoiseach has rightly condemned. These are bombs on men, women and children, on paramedics and on aid wo…

I agree with those two proposals. The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, said that the pre-election promise of 40,000 homes did not damage trust in the Government. That is an incredible statement to make and a slap in the face to the tens of thousands of people looking for somewhere affordable to live. I propose there should be time this week for the Minister to come into the House to make an apology for that.

On child homelessness and the 4,653 children growing up out of home, I want to mention one such young person. Arash is just 14 years old and has spent the last three months in emergency accommodation with his parents and baby brothers. He is 21 km away from school, with no direct links to it. Arash told me that he is 14 years old and should not have to fight this hard to get his family a proper home. What is the Taoiseach doing to help Arash and his family and the thousands of children like him?

Yes, priority questions cannot be grouped.