We are asking the Government to listen to this Chamber, the people's Chamber. It should listen to its own senior backbenchers if it will not listen to the Opposition, follow the data and change its drug policy. We know it is listening to tech bros running op eds about trying to rebrand itself as a government that can deliver on infrastructure. It needs to deliver on people suffering with drug addiction. The data is there. If it is going to be the government of delivery, then it needs to prove it and deliver what we…

Since the Business Committee last met the company, Fastway Couriers, has gone into receivership resulting in the loss of 1,000 jobs in almost every constituency in the country. We need urgent statements because, as tragic as every job loss is, there are a number of competing factors here which point to huge gaps in our workers' rights legislation that need urgent debate. When will these workers, many of whom are on unusual franchisee contracts, get compensation?

The Minister will know from his time on Fingal County Council that Donabate-Portrane is one area where the State is delivering houses at scale. Despite the population increase, there is only one direct bus service to Dublin city centre, the 33D at 7.20 a.m., and one back at 5.45 p.m. I have a sheaf of emails from the NTA and Dublin Bus that committed to one extra bus service in the morning and one in the evening, to start in October or by 3 November. Last week, the NTA pulled the rug. People are left behind on the …

Hear, hear.

I fully support what my colleague, Deputy Kenny, said regarding supporting the Minister on her work in this area. It is very important that work takes place on that side of the House, as well as the Government being held to account. I was present in the Chamber when the Minister made one of the most impactful speeches to the House I have ever seen. We will not allow this to stand in our Parliament or out on the streets regarding what has been done on trans healthcare. I would like to use my time to talk about the i…

Our party strongly echoes those concerns, as raised previously.

It feels odd asking a question about a peace plan and a ceasefire when we see continued attacks perpetrated by Israel on Gaza but we are ostensibly in a peace plan space. I met the Palestinian ambassador last week who was looking forward with hope that we can move towards a real and just peace. There is a long road to go but what is Ireland doing now that we have moved to - hopefully - a phase where we can look forward regarding Gaza?

What pressure are we able to exert on our European allies and on Israel to ensure that UNRWA can get back up and running as best it can? In fairness, we in Ireland tried to continue to fund UNRWA over the last couple of years when others were pulling back and bowing to Israeli pressure. In calmer times, Ireland has been able to assist and help deliver structural aid in Gaza, such as a solar farm, wastewater treatment plants and desalination plants. We are still at a point where we are hoping to get trucks in to del…

The US Vice President has been in Israel and has been talking about this peace plan albeit 153 tonnes of bombs were dropped by Israel on Gaza yesterday. The US Vice President spoke about a stabilisation force and a peace force. We have a proud tradition in that region of peacekeeping. However, given what we are debating in the coming weeks and months in terms of the triple lock and the future of our peacekeeping - I am conscious that we are very early - have there been discussions in relation to peacekeeping? I hav…

The Bill before us is not complicated. It makes a small, focused change to the way in which the National Training Fund can be spent. We in the Labour Party have long advocated for better use to be made of this fund. For too long we have seen huge surpluses built up with little in the way of ideas, imagination or indeed a mechanism being put forward on how to spend this money. In the years ahead we will all need to adapt our skills and training as the world, and particularly the world of work, goes through rapid cha…

I echo what Deputy Mac Lochlainn said. At all the Business Committee meetings I have been at, we have seldom had such a direct discussion about needing time as last week - it was on the fisheries issue - and the Chief Whip came down strongly, saying the schedule was full, there was loads of legislation and there was no time for anything. Yet we are engineering a parliamentary schedule that has never happened before, a week in advance of a potential no confidence motion. It is making a mockery of this Parliament. We…

While I will not be calling a vote on this, I believe that, given the significant developments in Palestine in the past couple of days, it would be of relevance to the House if we had an update on the overall situation in Palestine, particularly in relation to the provision of aid, both emergency and structural, and Ireland's role in that. What does the Tánaiste mean by having an open mind on peacekeeping?

I want to raise the early years sector with the Taoiseach today. Much has been made of the Government's failure to live up to its pre-election promises in this area. I want to focus on a specific area, that is, the community not-for-profit and voluntary sector for early years. In the wider Fingal area there are 291 early years service providers but only 16, or 5%, of them are from the community not-for-profit sector, with 95% being for profit. This is the youngest and fastest growing county in the country. It is le…

This was not a budget for the ordinary worker, the fleeced generation or the hoodwinked masses whom the Government fooled into voting for it last year. I got an e-mail from a constituent of mine in Malahide yesterday afternoon. It might interest the Minister because this individual is not a voter of mine. She is actually a voter of the Minister's party. This constituent wrote to me and said she wanted to express her "immense frustration with the lack of improvement to childcare costs in the budget despite the high-…

We have no issue with the increase in price on tobacco, but it is worth stating on the record in the debate on this financial resolution that 2025 was supposed to the year that the policy target of a tobacco-free Ireland would be met and that tobacco prevalence would be at 5%. It has been a common thread through the last four Governments - this Government and previous governments, with Fine Gael being one of the common threads in the last three Governments alongside Fianna Fáil - that they have failed. We have 18% …

It cannot be lost on us what we have done here today, in terms of adapting Leaders' Questions to deal with this issue. I commend the Government Chief Whip on allowing this today. I cannot remember a precedent for this, given all the crises we have had before. It was right to do it but it shows that this House can act, adapt and be flexible. I have to bring the Tánaiste back to the occupied territories Bill. In my time in this House, I have often had promises that Bills are going to be brought about in a particular …

In light of that, would the Tánaiste be confident it will be before the end of November?

Okay. We will have it before the end of November.

At least that is something. Is there any update on the potential suite of measures the Taoiseach announced at the UN General Assembly, to include sanctions on the travel of Israeli Ministers? Has anything new been put in place? If not, when will they be put in place and what exactly is the full extent of such new sanctioning measures?

I do not want to go over the answer with regard to vessels, observational vessels and individuals, in terms of going as far and being turned back, but we have the flotilla continuing. This could happen again and again. Is the Tánaiste open to engaging with like-minded EU states to come up with contingency plans for the protection, observation - whatever you want to call it - or engagement for humanitarian aid flotillas, or something that might continue into the future? Is he open to coming up with something a bit m…