We are reeling from the report of the Kenneally commission, which was released this morning. There are a number of serious outcomes from that. Will the Taoiseach give serious consideration to a debate on one particular aspect, the absence of an offence of misconduct in public offence, an issue outlined in the commission's report? It is not the only thing to come out of the report but is an issue of ethics in public office that this Government has been dragging its heels on.

I thank and commend Sinn Féin and Deputy Byrne, in particular, on bringing this motion forward. There is another motion being brought forward tomorrow by the Social Democrats and I am thankful it is being brought forward as well. Football is like no other sport. It is the world's game. It is the global game. It cuts through class, identity and borders like no other. It unites people. It has a long history of expression and political expression, whether it is the troops in the fields of Flanders in 1914 or the numer…

The Labour Party will be supporting this motion, as it has supported similar motions at six-month intervals going back to 2021, to allow continued outdoor seating and socialising in our towns and cities. It was born out of a necessity during the Covid period but it has ushered in and accelerated a positive culture of dining and drinking in this country. I have seen at first hand the impacts of good policy when it comes to outside dining in my constituency. In Malahide, the pedestrianisation of New Street, where I h…

The Taoiseach is making a charge of some kind of economic illiteracy in opposition in terms of the implications of the occupied territories Bill when he knows that during pre-legislative scrutiny last summer we had a number of chapters interrogating the economic impact of the occupied territories Bill. Still, there was cross-party Government and Opposition consensus on that committee to bring forward the occupied territories Bill with goods and services yet the Government is bringing forward this watered-down, unac…

I ask for the Government to follow what it did in the Autumn in relation to the flotilla. We have 12 Irish citizens kidnapped, including the President's sister and Luke McMenamin, from my own constituency. This Government provided time in the past to have a debate on the flotilla. We need to do it again. Some 12 citizens and maybe three more, have been kidnapped by the Israeli state. That is not acceptable.

I am sorry but I do not believe that the Minister is committed to progressing the occupied territories Bill; I just do not. She said, quite rightly, that it was June 2025 when it went through pre-legislative scrutiny. It is now May 2026 and there is no sign of it. Deputy Boyd Barrett, Deputy Gibney and I, and others, ask every Thursday at the Oireachtas Business Committee about the occupied territories Bill but there is no answer. We get silence or "we do not know". We know where the Government's emphasis lies beca…

No, I am sorry.

I am sorry but until I see the Minister standing there delivering a Second Stage speech on that Bill, I will believe in my heart that it has been abandoned because that is how it feels.

I find this totally improper. A couple of months ago, the Minister launched the maritime strategy, a very substantial document. It is the way we should be going. There are a number of issues with it but we should be debating this in the context of a defence amendment Bill. With these amendments, we are amending the Defence Act 1954 in three substantial ways: helping to protect and defend our territorial seas and internal waters and protect the sovereign rights of the State and our exclusive economic zone; making pr…

We have had three Leaders' Questions in relation to the National Ambulance Service strike. Given the gravity of this industrial relations dispute, we need to have a debate in the Dáil on this matter.

A couple of weeks ago, I raised with the Taoiseach the need to repair the swimming pool at Portmarnock Sports and Leisure Club, PSLC. The PSLC is a vital piece of local infrastructure across Fingal and 90% of its users are not-for-profit community pool or non-members of the leisure centre. Fingal County Council has stepped up to the tune of €500,000 towards the overall cost of repair, which is approximately €1 million. The Government has not yet committed funding. There is talk of about €100,000 coming from central…

Yes.

Portmarnock Sports and Leisure Club. We have spoken about it before. It is the pool there.

I thank the Taoiseach.

We await with bated breath the occupied territories Bill being progressed. Will the Taoiseach make it a primary objective of our Presidency of the EU for this country to advocate on behalf of the Palestinian state? Will he place that front and centre with our EU partners? Does the Taoiseach think our underinvestment in Garda resources is going to come back to bite the Government during the course our Presidency? I have a letter from Garda HQ which states that the development of new Garda stations in the Swords and …

The world is changing, and national defence is becoming more important by the day. The Government is slow-walking change, though, to the pay and conditions of our Defence Forces, particularly for our cadets. It is simply unacceptable. The question I want to ask the Minister today is about the timeline for the increase of cadet pay in the Defence Forces.

Those improvements in accommodation and other physical places, such as barracks, etc., are welcome. I and Deputy Ó Laoghaire have just come from the Joint Committee on Defence and National Security, and that came up and was complimented. It simply is not enough to talk about action when it comes to pay. I accept the Minister's bona fides in terms of wanting to improve this but it is worth putting on record that cadet pay remains the lowest in the Defence Forces at just €503 per week compared to €550 for a recruit. …

Certainly, we are trending away from the recruitment and retention crisis that we have seen in the Defence Forces. We are not quite there yet and still have a bit to go. In terms of cadet pay, the long-term impacts of it and why it needs to be resolved, it can become financially illogical to become a cadet. Under the single pension scheme, earnings are averaged across an entire career meaning that paying cadets the existing poverty-level wage does lasting damage to their pension entitlements. It is not as enticing …

I ask the Minister to comment on the fact that Ireland remains stubbornly at the bottom of the EU table for defence and security expenditure, and what plans she has to ensure that Ireland does not remain at the bottom and continues to improve its investment in this area.

Successive Governments, for decades, have underinvested in our Defence Forces. Beyond that, wider politics needs to take some responsibility. We have used our commitment to military neutrality as a reason not to invest in our Defence Forces and our national security. We do need, at this time, a greater degree of sophistication in terms of how we discuss this. I hold our military neutrality very dear. I do not ever want to see Ireland join NATO, a common defence union through the EU or any other composition that wou…