I welcome this motion and commend Deputy Harkin for tabling it. It recognises carers’ invaluable contribution to society and highlights their mistreatment by the State, something I hope we can all come together in this Chamber to rectify. I echo the call made in the motion for an increase in the income disregard for the carer's allowance to €900 per week per household, or the equivalent average weekly earnings for 2023, in budget 2024, while increasing it to at least €450 per week for a single carer. Fundamental re…

I appreciate that there is so much going on in the world, particularly in respect of Russia's inhumane invasion of Ukraine and the migration crisis, which I hope to get to shortly, but it is impossible to avert our gaze from what is occurring in Palestine right now. I find it quite lamentable that the Taoiseach did not mention it in his opening address and I would like to understand that a little more. Last year was a deadly year for the Palestinian people. According to the UN, 2022 was in fact the deadliest year f…

The Taoiseach recently spoke of the responsibility of all politicians to fulfil the promise of the Good Friday Agreement not only in the area of peace but also when it comes to reconciliation. I do not for a moment disagree with that assertion but I will add that, as we approach the 25th anniversary of the agreement, we have much to do when it comes to the implementation of the goals contained in the accords. Much of the discussion will rightly focus on the fact that we are on the sixth collapse of the Stormont Ass…

The recent UN climate change report has warned us once again that if we do not speed up our climate action goals, the damage sustained by our planet will be irreversible. However, we still have time to prevent an all-out climate disaster if we begin taking these goals seriously now. The UN is urging wealthy countries, such as ours, to speed up our climate action goals by ten years, to 2040. Without doing so, the UN states that our future generations will remain under threat. The ask is not unreasonable. Finland, fo…

One strand of the well-being framework is dedicated to improving the mental health of the population in their workplaces, schools and homes. However, it was reported this morning that there has been a drop since the pandemic in the number of people who believe it is okay to ask their employer for a mental health break. St. Patrick's Mental Health Services in Dublin have shown that 22% of people have experienced discrimination at work due to a mental health difficulty, while over half of those surveyed were not awar…

I ask the Tánaiste to report on his recent visit to the United States of America and the efforts he made to regularise the status of undocumented Irish living there and if he will make a statement on the matter. I appreciate that my question is quite similar to the previous one but I will try to place a different dynamic on it in response to the Tánaiste's answer.

I appreciate that. I followed events quite closely and understand the importance of the visit. I should give forewarning that at the end of my contribution I will turn my attention from the situation of the undocumented Irish in the US to the situation of undocumented people here in Ireland. This time last year the Minister for Foreign Affairs made it clear that the situation of undocumented Irish immigrants in the US was a key priority for the Government. He said that the focus was on securing legal pathways for t…

Only for six months.

Yes, exactly. That was wonderful. Should we not continue with that?

No, no.

I agree with about 90% of the Tánaiste's contribution. We are on the same page in many ways. Every year we see the Irish Government, including the Tánaiste and the Taoiseach, go to the US to try to create pathways and to advocate for Irish people who have gone to the US, who are contributing to that country through their work and through raising their families and who have made and continue to make a substantial contribution. What of a Georgian person coming to our country who also wants to work here and to raise a…

They are valid.

There are people who were born here who have not been regularised.

The Tánaiste is responding to the Social Democrats this time.

The Government has voted them all down.

Ending the eviction ban is simply reprehensible. To end it now, during this time of crisis, while announcing schemes which the Government has no details of or dates for the necessary legislation is an abdication of duty and people will suffer. Renters are bearing the brunt of one of the harshest cost-of-living crises in the history of the State and the Government is going to offer them first refusal on a property which it knows quite well they will not be able to afford. If the Tánaiste's phone rings in four weeks …

I did not say I had a monopoly. I asked a question. Answer the question.

What evidence?

Show us the evidence.

People's lives are on the line.