I congratulate the Leas-Cheann Comhairle on his election to his position. We were seven-plus months seeking a debate in this House on this matter, which is incredible. I hope the Leas-Cheann Comhairle, in his role, can assist all Members who request speaking time so they do not have to wait seven months for a debate on something so important as the Housing Commission report. I would like to use my time to focus on the tenant in situ scheme. There are a couple of elements to it. The first is the most pressing: there…

I will be sharing time with my colleague, Deputy Robert O'Donoghue.

I acknowledge and thank Ambassador Gerasko and I welcome members of the Ukrainian community to the Gallery today. For three years we have seen horrors in continental Europe that we hoped we would never see again. In 1918, we hoped we would never see trench warfare again. In 1945, we hoped we would never see tanks roll across the sovereign borders of another European nation. We hoped that we would never see the ethnic cleansing happen again that we saw in the Balkans in the 1990s. Unfortunately, all three and more a…

Notwithstanding the arrangements we have for Dáil reform this week and then next week, given the deteriorating security in Europe, the Arts Council issues and the overspend on the children's hospital, I think we need to expedite the setting up of the Oireachtas committees. I do not think there is any reason we should delay any further, because there are a number of issues that we need to tease out. I sincerely ask if we can work together to get that done as soon as possible.

I am glad it is the Minister of State, Deputy Higgins, in the seat for this debate. I know it is the luck of the draw but the matter I raise - pensions - relates to her Department, the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform. I would like her to take account of the contributions from me and my colleagues, Deputies Wall and Kenny, over the next 15 minutes. We are having statements on the programme for Government. What I will be speaking to is what is not in the programme for G…

They are not agreed.

Given the unprecedented number of junior Ministers being assigned by this Government, and also in trying to start this Dáil on somewhat of a better foot, it is a poor precedent to have pre-legislative scrutiny waived in respect of this Bill. On another note, with regard to the restoration of Bills, we received the list some 20 minutes before we sat but we really should have received it a lot earlier, notwithstanding what happened in the past couple of weeks.

I thank Sinn Féin for introducing this motion, which we fully support. That the last Private Members’ business of the Thirty-third Dáil, a motion by the Social Democrats, and the first Private Members’ business of the Thirty-fourth Dáil are on the issue of Palestine sends an important message out from this Parliament on how important the issue of genocide in Gaza is to the Irish people and their Parliament. In the debate on the last item of Private Members’ business of the Thirty-third Dáil, my then colleague Brend…

It needs to be said that at the Business Committee yesterday, all Opposition members registered their dissent to the arrangements and to the matter of the speaking rights for the technical groups. The proposal is for us to come back on 5 February, in two weeks. That proposal cannot proceed until we have resolved the issue of the technical groups' speaking rights. Notwithstanding what she said in her few words before we heard from the Government Chief Whip, I ask the Ceann Comhairle to state on the record of the Dái…

They are really angry about it. I would like the Ceann Comhairle to commit to a deadline as to when she will make an adjudication on the joint submission from the Opposition on this matter and to make a decision that is for the good of the entire Parliament and every Member of this House. We in the Opposition believe there is only one answer to that question.

I thank Sinn Féin for bringing this very important motion to the Dáil this morning. The Labour Party believes in a society that values care and invests in it from cradle to grave, so that people have access to the services they need when they need them. In our election manifesto, we will outline our proposals for a new social care contract to support family carers and care workers. For many years, the Labour Party has campaigned for family carers and care workers, with motions passing in the Dáil and Seanad in 2023…

I move: That Dáil Éireann: acknowledges that: — understaffing in the public health service is impacting the ability of staff to provide safe care and this will put patients at risk and damage efforts to retain existing staff; — the health recruitment moratorium has continued through new recruitment caps, and positions are being left vacant in acute hospitals and community care; and — thousands of frontline health positions that were suppressed during the recruitment moratorium were "decommissioned" by the Pay and N…

I wish to raise the issue of the lack of bus services. BusConnects, which has gone through multiple public consultations, is now in its implementation phase. However, there are still pockets of areas that are not being served by the BusConnects plan, even as it is being rolled out. This is particularly the case in north County Dublin and I want to raise the area of Holywell in Swords. At present, Holywell is only served by a private bus service, Swords Express, for journeys into town. It is a huge residential area …

The Labour Party will be supporting this legislation, as we have previously. Risk equalisation, which the Bill provides for annually, ensures costs will be constant across a lifespan for an individual. It seeks to ensure that, where possible, age, gender and health status will not influence the cost of an insurance product. Let me be clear, though. Our support for this Bill is not an endorsement of the current two-tier system, where so many people are reliant on private health insurance for their basic health needs…

I thank Deputy Ó Broin of Sinn Féin for bringing forward this motion. When it comes to housing as a public good, the Labour Party believes in three pillars of a housing system that will work for all. The first is social and truly affordable housing, the second is security of tenure for renters, and the third is a truly ambitious home building programme. The marker for us of the success or failure of the Government's Housing for All policy is whether it strives to achieve those three aims and, of course, whether it …

I will ask a different variation of my question.

That is fine.

I wish to discuss this issue further and put on record my and our deep appreciation for the valuable work Irish peacekeepers do as part of the UNIFIL force. In the Tánaiste's view, where do we go in terms of UN peacekeeping? It feels that we may be at a tipping point with this mission and the direct attacks from Israel, which may be geographically in the Middle East but culturally places itself with its allies in the West. With attacks on peacekeeping forces such as those mentioned, where are we going with UN peace…

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle. We have all been ranging from disappointment to being aghast in this country at the continued support for Israel, either militarily or politically, over the past year as its massively disproportionate response to the attacks on 7 October continues to bring death and destruction for the people of Gaza and now Lebanon. If the burning of people alive in the Al-Aqsa hospital and all the other atrocities were not going to kick the western allies of Israel into action, then maybe attack…

Revelations published on the front page of The Sunday Times that a Member of the Oireachtas has been recruited by Russian intelligence have been scoffed at, laughed at and dismissed by many since, but this is a matter of the utmost importance and seriousness. I have not seen anything, either internally from the Oireachtas or politically, in terms of how we are actually going to counter and deal with this. I would like to hear something either from the Ceann Comhairle or the Taoiseach as to how we are going to manag…