When the former joint leader of my party Róisín Shortall founded the cross-party initiative that resulted in the Sláintecare report, there was a real sense that the ambition that people hope for but rarely see in the political system, a real effort to deliver a transformative change in healthcare, would be founded on enhanced State capacity and international best practice. While delivering such change might involve shifting timelines, one thing we should never shift is that ambition, which is why the Government's a…

I thank Deputy Gannon for bringing forward this amendment. I am deeply concerned to listen to the contributions here and what is being put forward and proposed by this Government. The use of violence by the State - detention is a form of violence - should have a very high bar. It should be taken extremely seriously. I have very real concerns about not just the thoughtfulness that has gone into this but also the direction of travel and what it means for human rights and natural rights and the concept of justice in t…

It is relevant, a Cheann Comhairle. In this book they start closing the borders and detaining people from one tribe going to another. They start saying the refugees are no longer valid refugees. They start digging their heads into the sand. I read fiction to try to escape the non-fiction of our work, but sometimes there are certain echoes in fiction that tell a really important story. There is a real question here about a Government and a State that are putting their heads in the sand as to their human rights oblig…

But not human rights.

I thank the Taoiseach for his indulgence on this. The trade between Ireland and the UK is worth about €100 billion, while our total trade is worth about €350 billion. The gross value added of our creative industries is about €8 billion whereas that of the UK's creative industries is £124 billion. That is a little disproportionate in light of our population. It is no wonder. I have some concerns about our investment in the arts more generally. The basic income scheme is capped at 2,000 applicants and there are certa…

I have a constituent who has a daughter with complex behavioural needs. She has severe ADHD and a mild learning disability. They recounted their story to me on Monday. It really drove home for me how much parents have to fight and advocate for everything for their children, the very real risk for too many families who are not equipped to do so and the subsequent gaps in how this Government and the State support children with special needs. In this particular case, it took nearly two years for early checks to be don…

The Tánaiste is the Minister for Finance and the leader of Fine Gael. In the budget for 2027, there is a promised cost-of-disability payment. In budget 2025, there was a disability support grant of €400 but in budget 2026, there was no one-off payment. In fact, disabled people are €1,400 worse off as a result of the budget in 2026. Many disabled people have said they are choosing between heating and eating. One person with a spinal injury told me that since 1999, he does not remember it being this bad. When my part…

They do.

I extend my sincere sympathy to everybody who has experienced flooding in the past few weeks and even going back months. In my constituency, Ballsbridge, Rathfarnham, Terenure and many communities and houses were affected by the bursting of the banks of the Dodder. It was particularly devastating for those people and families. I have seen the devastation that flooding causes to people's homes and livelihoods. It can be an extremely traumatic event for people, so they have my deepest sympathy in this respect. On ave…

I thank Deputy Lawlor bringing this important legislation forward. I have never been very good at striking a good work-life balance, it has to be said. I doubt many in this Chamber are. I have always been a hard worker, perhaps even obsessive, but one of the great things about being human is the opportunity to grow and evolve, to develop the ability to rest and experience joy, to cultivate relationships and to enjoy life to the full. That is what this Bill is about. There are, of course, jobs where remote working i…

The previous Government enacted the Health Assisted Human Reproduction Bill 2024, nearly two years ago. Vital components of that Bill have not been commenced, leaving families who have used surrogacy in a vulnerable state of limbo without any of the vital legal protections that the Bill sought to give them. I understand that the Assisted Human Reproduction Regulatory Authority was established last year, but there has been no announcement regarding the appointment of a CEO or other staff or any further necessary leg…

I thank all the Deputies who submitted amendments to this Bill. I have to agree it is a terrible Bill. The Minister said he is solving the housing crisis. I do not think anyone buys that. I do not think anyone out there buys that. I do not think the electorate buys that at all. The Minister and the Government are failing, like every Government before it. I find it scurrilous that he would accuse Opposition TDs, when they are giving scrutiny to a Bill he has introduced, by saying it is spaghetti words or that they a…

In the late 19th century, a young man left his native east Clare and climbed aboard a ship bound for the United States. When he arrived, he was unvetted and of military age but met no restrictions to his entry. He went on to become a butcher at Macy's in New York city and was naturalised as a citizen in Manhattan in 1899 at the age of 34. A copy of that certificate hangs in my office. That man was my great-grandfather. He returned in the early 1900s and bought and built the farm in Limerick where my father was born…

In June of last year, I asked the Taoiseach for a Government policy on a flood reinsurance scheme. He said that insurance companies have to do more. The Minister of State, Deputy Troy, corresponded with me on the issue. I thank him very much for that. Essentially, he said a State-backed scheme was impossible in a market like Ireland. Imagine my surprise to read his announcement for businesses and not residential properties last week in the Business Post saying: "It's fair to say that it will require State backing".…

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit. With respect, I am not asking about flood defences. I am asking about the reinsurance scheme and a State-backed reinsurance scheme. The article I referenced stated: "Businesses and homeowners within certain pockets of Dublin, such as along the River Dodder, where several flood defence schemes have been developed in recent years, remain unable to obtain insurance." This is a real issue. In the letter the Minister of State sent to me last year, he said: In terms of the provision o…

They are not working in my constituency.

The residents of Sandymount, Ringsend, Merrion and coastal communities across Dublin cannot afford another disaster and delayed action from the Government. A Financial Times article from last year and University of Galway's studies have noted that Ireland's coastal cities face huge risks during future storms. Sandymount would have been submerged in approximately 5 m in Storm Éowyn if a high tide occurred at the time. It is time for reinsurance models that include not just businesses but also people's homes to prote…

I cannot tell the Minister how many times I have marched in the streets protesting about housing. I have done it against what feels like every single one of the Minister's predecessors. A huge reason I have been so frustrated with Government parties and why I joined the Social Democrats was the utter failure in housing for my generation over multiple governments. Today, years after I first started political activism in protesting on housing, I find myself in this Chamber as a private sector rental tenant with the u…

I echo the other Deputies' thanks to Deputy Healy for bringing forward this motion. It is very well written and comprehensive. It articulates a lot of what is wrong in the country right now and the cost-of-living crisis. I attended a conference late last year, hosted by the European Council on Social Rights, on the cost-of-living crisis. At that conference, I and many others heard that the bottom 20% of households are the most vulnerable to cost increases. Cost inflation for that cohort in Ireland is at about 5%, n…

I move: That Dáil Éireann: notes that: — disabled people in Ireland are among the most socially excluded and disadvantaged in the State, with some of the highest poverty, deprivation, and unemployment rates in Ireland; — one in five disabled people live in consistent poverty, nearly four times the national average, while nearly 40 per cent live in enforced deprivation; — in the context of escalating costs in energy, food and housing, disabled people are particularly vulnerable to cost pressures, especially as they …