My question relates to the murder of a seven-year-old boy named Rayyan Suleiman who was chased to his death by the Israeli army. Has the Minister spoken to the Israeli ambassador in Ireland in respect of that murder and the countless others that have occurred in the past year?

I have here a photograph of Rayyan Suleiman. He was a seven-year-old boy whose only crime was being Palestinian. That was his crime. The Israeli army took that young boy from his family. He is not the only one. Some 20 children have this year been killed by the Israeli army. The Minister does not have to listen to me. He can listen to former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms Michelle Bachelet, who said that Israel on a constant basis is breaking international law and is combining that with an al…

What the Minister has said is all well and good but Israel is not a normal state. This year alone, 100 Palestinians have been killed by excessive force and collective punishment by the Israel Defense Forces. As I said, 20 children were among the dead. This is a policy that runs through the Israeli state to crush any Palestinian resistance. That is how states such as Israel exist and continue. They have to use excessive violence to exist. When Palestinians fight back, whether armed or peacefully, they cannot be blam…

I wish to share time with Deputies Boyd Barrett and Barry.

I welcome this very important motion on free transport. I think there is a very valid argument in regard to public transport being free, accessible and of top quality. All the evidence suggests that where we have such a system, people will use it. I always remember going to Europe for the very first time and being amazed by the system of public transport. It was the thing that stood out most to me when I went to parts of Europe, in particular the accessibility and the fact it was relatively cheap. It got even bette…

Over the weekend at the Fianna Fáil Ard-Fheis, the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, claimed that health service waiting lists have been stabilised. The reality is very different. The reality is that more than 900,000 people at present are on some form of public health or hospital waiting list, which is completely unacceptable. Can the Taoiseach justify what the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, said given the reality of people waiting for simple medical procedures?

I want to raise an issue regarding the shortage of public health nurses in early childhood development. These are vital services for new mothers. Several parents have contacted me and other Deputies in Dublin Mid-West to inform us there are no public health nurses whatsoever. They have been told by the HSE that they will not have one for at least 18 months. This is completely unacceptable. The problem is acute, not only in Dublin. Of the 240 public health nurse vacancies, 62% are in Dublin. The services are vital b…

I want to acknowledge the work done by the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, and the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman, on the issues they have acknowledged in their speeches. It is welcome that there is progress on those issues. I want to start on a positive note because sometimes there is a lot of negativity around here. I will get to the negative part later. A lot of money was splashed out in yesterday's budget. In my time here, this is an unprecedented financi…

Earlier this year, the Government announced a pandemic recognition payment, broadly welcomed by this House, for front-line workers who worked during the pandemic. However, a whole section of workers have not received this payment. They are largely HSE staff but they also include section 39 voluntary workers, members of the fire brigade and workers in private nursing homes. They have not got the pandemic payment, which is quite incredible after nine months. What gets even more bizarre is there is now a tendering pro…

I am sharing time with Deputy Boyd Barrett. We welcome and support this Bill. It is amazing to think that the Brexit referendum, which led to many anomalies, happened six and a half years ago. As a consequence of Brexit, there has been a correction in regard to medical interns studying in Britain or the North of Ireland to come back here. That is a good thing. If we can attract professionals back into the Irish health system, it is a good thing. There is also a downside to this. I am probably preaching to the conve…

I will ask the same question. The pandemic recognition payment was broadly welcomed, but it is ludicrous that workers who do not work directly for the HSE have still not received their payments. The goodwill that greeted the bonus has largely diminished because of the delay. Workers want to know when they will get their payments.

My question centres on the fuel allowance thresholds and the qualifying criteria. This will be a very important issue in the coming months. I want the Minister's opinion on the thresholds by which people will qualify.

I thank the Minister of State. We can all agree that the fuel allowance at the moment is targeted in a certain way to a certain number of social welfare recipients. I believe this needs to broaden out to much more than the cohort of people who currently receive it. If a person is on illness benefit he or she does not get it. A person on disability benefit does not get the fuel allowance. There is a whole cohort of people who do not qualify. For example, a person may be on a small private pension along with a State …

This winter we will see the apex of the cost-of-living crisis, particularly in energy prices. There have been 35 price hikes by energy companies in the past 12 months. The cumulative effect has been a 60% to 70% increase in electricity and gas prices. That is a fact. Another fact which the Minister will have to address is that since February this year, 20,000 people were refused fuel allowance. That is an enormous number. There is a lot of confusion in social welfare offices regarding those who are long-term unempl…

Landlords have never had it so good, to coin a phrase. Corporate landlords are having it really good. Corporate landlords were brought here after the crash by Fine Gael for one reason only, which was to make huge amounts of money. This is what they are doing. They own huge portfolios of apartments and houses throughout the State. In some cases they are getting paid by the State after getting a huge reduction in the cost of some of these houses. It is sickening to see it. There is a terrible legacy with regard to la…

The Business Post reported that there was a lack of oversight in regard to procurement of personal protective equipment, PPE, in 2020. The figure referenced in the article was €770 million. In the HSE response to a parliamentary question I tabled last year, the figure was €1 billion spent on PPE. We all understand that, at that time, PPE was very difficult to get and it was needed in the health system. In the reply to the question I tabled, it was broken down that most of the PPE was unsuitable. It cost the State €…

Was Michael Collins in Fine Gael?

I am sharing time with Deputy Boyd Barrett. I see the Minister is leaving the Chamber.

I was about to let loose. I wonder whether the Minister has ever thought for one minute that the current housing policy and others that preceded it are and were wrong. I would like somebody on that side of the House to say, "You know what, I think we have got it wrong." I am not getting that sense and I do not think it will ever happen. To deal with the housing crisis, we must look at what happened 20 years ago. There is a historical legacy of commodification and marketisation of homes. In fact, it is a basic need …

My question relates to a report commissioned five years ago, namely, Cannabis for Medical Use - A Scientific Review, which was commissioned from the Health Products Regulatory Authority, HPRA. One of the main recommendations was an access programme. That was five years ago. The programme has been extremely restrictive and has omitted many people who could benefit from medical cannabis. I want to get the Minister's views on the programme itself.