The land value tax measures promised in the Housing for All strategy have yet to be delivered on. We have been told now that we will have to wait until next year for the implementation of those plans. Land value sharing was a key recommendation of the Kenny report and we resurrected those principles in a Labour Party Bill from last year. It is, effectively, as the Minister of State knows, a mechanism to allow the State to realise the benefit of an increase in land value when land is rezoned. The aim is to ensure th…

Significant amounts of money are being made and have been made over the years by developers simply flipping land. Nothing speaks to the issue of the financialisation of housing more than the practice of land being bought, flipped, literally overnight sometimes, and nothing being developed. Genuinely radical measures, such as those called for by my colleague, Senator Rebecca Moynihan, must be introduced to address the issue of windfalls arising from the rezoning of lands. I read yesterday in the commercial property …

I thank Deputy Bríd Smith for allowing me to use some of her time. I did not realise it was a case of first-up, best-dressed. I thought the usual way we apply party slots would be operative. In any case, I thank Deputy Smith. It is much appreciated. I agree with many of the perspectives the Deputy presented and those of others here. From a workers' perspective and a broader fiscal perspective, there is no clear rationale for the kind of rises in the pension age that are planned. This is not 2012. The fiscal situati…

The convicted serial sex abuser, Michael Shine, will be released from prison tomorrow. He may have served his prison sentence but there is no end in sight for the survivors. Up to 100 men were expected to receive compensation but a legal dispute between the Medical Missionaries of Mary and the HSE over the indemnification of the HSE for legal costs and related matters has thrown the compensation scheme into doubt. This is a case of lawyers differing while survivors continue to suffer. I have worked with the Dignity…

I did not have the opportunity to engage in pre-legislative scrutiny of this legislation, which I regret. That said, it is not the case that I have not taken a keen interest in the passage and progress of this legislation, given the history of my own party's involvement in the development of what became the 2014 Act. Deputy Buckley articulated very well a lot of the concerns that have been expressed across this House about how the 2014 legislation has been operated. The reality is that all of us in this House have …

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion on behalf of the Labour Party. The Minister knows that we are in the midst of a real cost-of-living crisis. The reality is that we have faced an affordability crisis in our housing and rental market for far longer. Over the past year alone, we have seen house prices in County Louth experience double-digit growth with young couples from places like Drogheda, Dundalk, Laytown, Bettystown, east Meath and all across the constituency unable to settle down close to their …

It is 13 days since the Government voted down a comprehensive Labour Party motion on the cost of living, 13 more days lost as the bills piled up. We have tabled a range of comprehensive proposals on energy taxes, VAT, social welfare and wages. Bills are up more than 30% for fuel, electricity and gas. Prices for other utilities and food are rising sharply. The Taoiseach knows that the rate of home ownership has fallen significantly among young people. More and more are stuck renting at unaffordable prices. For years…

The Taoiseach will be aware the cost of living in Ireland, and the fact that practically everything is more expensive than in comparable countries, reduces the value of our minimum wage. For some time now, since 2016, the previous Government, which the Taoiseach supported from the Opposition benches, missed its minimum wage targets. There is a commitment in the programme for Government to move to a living wage. I ask the Taoiseach to change the legislation governing the Low Pay Commission to instruct the commission…

Last year, the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, said he wanted to see the introduction of a new form of annual TaxSaver ticket for commuters. The Taoiseach and the Minister will be familiar with the concept. It would benefit commuters in places like Louth and east Meath by bringing down travel costs and reflect the new hybrid model of working we have seen operate well over the last year. The National Transport Authority, NTA, confirmed to me last week that this model is not yet available and ready to go l…

I move: That Dáil Éireann: notes that: — the annual rate of inflation in Ireland has risen for fourteen months in a row reaching 5.5 per cent in December, the highest in over twenty years; — the rise in inflation is being driven by increased costs for electricity, home-heating oil and gas, higher rents, housing costs and mortgage payments, and rising prices for food and fuel; — the National Minimum Wage only increased by 30 cent per hour, or 3 per cent, in January, which is well below the current rate of inflation;…

Get off the hobby horse.

Pay the money you owe back to the State.

Are you enjoying the dividends?

Deputy Healy-Rae is like a stopped clock.

That is unparliamentary.

Pay back the money you owe to the State.

The Deputy is an empty vessel.

The Deputy abused his position.

Take a left and become a right winger.

There is a motion before the House.