That is encouraging but, again, when commercial interests impact critical public services such as what should be operating out of Baldonnel, the State needs to act and look at those structural problems. One of them is the Coast Guard contract. It has been well debated here and in committee in the last Dáil and will be again. We have nearly €750 million of public funds helping to underpin a commercial enterprise at the expense of Baldonnel. That will need to be looked at. I accept, and I think the Tánaiste accepts, …

In the programme for Government, there is a commitment to publishing a national policy on adult safeguarding in the health and social care sector. The Taoiseach states a considerable amount of work has been done. Given the revelations in "RTÉ Investigates" about our older and more vulnerable residents in nursing homes, can we please have a debate this Thursday on the issue, when the Taoiseach can outline where he is with this and when we will see legislation? Can we please all acknowledge that the outsourcing of ou…

I move: That Dáil Éireann: condemns the actions of the Israeli Government in Gaza, and the destruction and conditions of famine they have wrought on the Palestinian people, resulting in starvation, disease and death; repeats its condemnation of the brutal attacks by Hamas in Israel on 7th October, 2023, its declaration that the taking of hostages is unconscionable, and its call for the release of all hostages by Hamas; deeply regrets the failure of the global community to intervene to force the occupying force to l…

Notwithstanding the announcement that the occupied territories Bill will go for pre-legislative scrutiny soon, the timeline articulated by the Tánaiste whereby this would not be passed until later in the year is, quite frankly, unacceptable. I ask for this to be revisited and that time be made at committee and in the Dáil to ensure this is put through before the summer recess.

I welcome Her Excellency, Dr. Jilan Wahba Abdalmajid to the Public Gallery for this debate. My colleagues and I missed the start of the debate because we were meeting the ambassador, so we are just catching up with what the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste said. We know that a bomb is dropped on Gaza every four minutes, on average. Since this debate began, approximately 15 bombs have fallen. Another 35 bombs will fall before the end of the debate, making 50 in total. More destruction, more war crimes and more death. We w…

The Labour Party will not be supporting the Government motion to cut the accommodation recognition payment from €800 to €600, nor will we be supporting the Sinn Féin amendment, which I call on its members to withdraw. Sinn Féin should support the parties of the left in opposing the motion and the €200 cut to the payment. Since the outbreak of the Russian war of conquest against Ukraine, we have been proud to stand in solidarity with Ukrainian people. When the Dáil last discussed this motion to extend the scheme in …

There is an unbelievable lack of legislation from the Government, which is a huge problem. Will the Taoiseach state when we will see the occupied territories Bill and the timeline to enact it? Is it the Government's intention to have it enacted before the summer recess?

On the same issue, we believe a cross-party motion from the Government and the Opposition in this area would be most suitable. The schedules as presented in the last couple of weeks have been modest on the Government side. We think it would be a good offer if this came through the Government's time.

The Green Party is only out of Government a wet week and we are already seeing-----

-----an increase in public transport fares. The new Leap card zonal fare is harshly and dramatically impacting commuters travelling through zones 2, 3 and 4 especially. This impacts the Tánaiste's own constituency. I got a response from the NTA that said it is going to begin a scoping exercise of the impact of the new fare structure. I have schoolchildren in my constituency going from Donabate to Balbriggan who have to pay an extra €25 weekly due to these fares. The scoping exercise should be cancelled, the fares s…

It is a national embarrassment that we are without detection systems in our skies and waters and must rely on the Royal Air Force, RAF. We have outsourced that element of our sovereignty for a long time. The Tánaiste brought a note to Cabinet on a radar detection system that he wants to bring on board. Will he provide to the House more details on the timelines and costs involved?

I thank the Tánaiste. We are so far behind in our capability. Is it envisioned that what is going to be provided and online for the State will be of the highest technical standard compared with other states? Will we be bringing in equipment to a specification that is perhaps ten or 20 years behind other states? We must improve our national security. Only when we are minding our own shop can we promote our positive neutrality. State actors who were previously allies of ours are no longer trusted so we need to invest…

The provision of modern fit-for-purpose capabilities is important. There would be more trust from this side of the House if we were not having the parallel debate on the triple lock and what is coming down the tracks there. There are places we can land on in terms of the extraction of Irish citizens and ensuring that capability can be raised but the multilateral backup of the UN for peacekeeping missions is still vital. I am concerned that debate will impact on issues like this or investing in our cybersecurity. I …

Europe Day celebrates peace and unity in Europe, but as we know and are witnessing there is no peace in Gaza and the occupied territories at this moment. This is a huge responsibility and weakness in the foreign policy of the European Union and how it operates in its neighbourhood. It is now more than 50 days since any food or medicine has been allowed into Gaza. Europe, with a few exceptions - Ireland being one and Spain another - has, by and large, remained silent. If not silent, it has tacitly supported Israel's…

I for one do not doubt the Minister of State's personal bona fides in terms of his approach to this role, the success of which everyone in the Gallery and beyond wants to see. If the Minister of State is successful, it will improve the lives of families and children that need special education. However, one of the first acts that the Minister of State could do today is to encourage the Minister to withdraw this insulting amendment to our motion.

It is not insulting to us as such, but to the families, the parents, the SNAs and the activists in the Gallery, outside and throughout the country. It is insulting to the 126 children who are without a school place now, one of whom, Frankie Edgeworth in my constituency, has been refused 83 different forms of education from preschool to primary school. He is six years of age and severely autistic with intellectual disabilities. He has a huge array of ancillary needs and is still without a school place. It is not the…

The proposal for a so-called housing tsar will be one of the most egregious of this Government. The details in the programme for Government stated it would be under the Minister for housing but it is emerging that the pay would come from the Department of Finance. We are still unclear as to the remit or powers this new, well-remunerated role will have. As the Government dragged its heels on setting up committees and we probably still will not have them in two weeks, we think there is an urgent need for clarificatio…

I am sharing time with my colleague, Deputy Marie Sherlock. I was taken with the comments of the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, in his contribution earlier. The Minister has been Minister across the finance briefs for many years, through a number of crises. His general approach to things is one of calm. He is not one for hyperbole. He spoke about global economic activity increasingly fragmenting along political lines, about storm clouds and about how tariff-related issues will interact with other structural …

There is no excuse as to why we cannot roll out the committees this week, and I fully support that.

I turn to CHI. The HIQA report published today is a matter of historical significance. We will now enter a two-week recess for Easter, and we think we should have a full debate this week on the HIQA report into CHI, the subsequent resignations and all the associated issues.