I will not acknowledge it again. I will not be so kind again.

They should have done so.

The Tánaiste has been very inconsistent. We have called for the expulsion of the Russian ambassador and the Israeli ambassador. Both of them should be expelled for the war crimes they are committing. The Tánaiste needs to go beyond words. One of the things we have been calling for is enactment of the occupied territories Bill. Can the Tánaiste imagine if the Government had done that? It is a very limited move against the Zionist state but can he imagine the signal that would send to the European Union and the world…

How could you have diplomatic relations with a murderer?

That is trivialising what I said.

The Tánaiste does this to everybody. Every single time, he tries to trivialise what we are trying to say.

I thank the Acting Chair for this very important debate. It is world mental health week and today is World Mental Health Day in the workplace. I read an article before I went out which stated that 37% of all people surveyed who came through the services of St. Patrick's hospital, Dublin, experienced work-related stress and work-related incidents in their workplace. Stress-related situations in our workplaces are very noticeable, including bullying, which can have a very insidious effect on a person's mental health.…

My question is about the provision of childcare in the State. This is a burning question for the upcoming general election and has been for the last number of decades, related to childcare provision becoming unaffordable for many parents. What measures has the Government taken in terms of increasing childcare provision in the State?

We acknowledge there has been progress in terms of childcare provision but we also acknowledge the disparate nature of childcare in the State where the majority of childcare provision is privatised. The Scandinavian model is a better model as it is publicly funded and childcare provision is essentially free. That is a better model than the disparate nature of what we have at the moment. Does the Minister accept we should have that model rather than the model we have at the moment? Our model is arbitrary in terms of…

In terms of cost, childcare for some families is costing over €1,000 per month and that is cheap in some ways. That is a huge cost which is almost like a mortgage. What would the Minister consider a manageable fee if there is still a model where parents have to pay? Those costs should not be accepted. They are crippling for parents. While there are community-based crèches that are free and on-demand, there is also a huge cohort of people who have to pay a huge amount of money. How does one address their childcare n…

This budget is certainly not about the lack of money. There is a lot of money washing around at present. The level of surplus in the financial coffers of the State is probably unprecedented. It got even better for the Government when €13.8 billion landed on its table, even though the Government spent €10 million trying not to get it. It is a very good day for the Government. Particularly in the past three or four years, the cost of living and inflation have eroded a lot of workers' income and their standard of livi…

Yesterday, thejournal.ie published a very detailed article on an accident that happened in 1979 on the Glen of Imaal military range. On that day, three children were killed and ten other children were really badly injured. Since the publication of the report yesterday, new information has come forward as to how this accident could have been avoided. According to the article, this accident could have been easily avoided if precautions had taken place. The families of the children never got an apology from the State.…

We have had this debate continuously during my time in the House, and I have been a Deputy for eight and a half years. Unfortunately, we will continue to have this debate until the issue is resolved. It has not been resolved by any means. The brutal truth is that more than 120 children had no school place in September. A state providing a child with a school place seems elementary. I will not make this personal, but at a time when the State is awash with money, someone has to ask whether, if this is not about money…

I welcome this Bill. It was a long time coming. It is about two and a half years since it was before the Sub-Committee on Mental Health and I do not know why it has taken that long to come to this juncture, but I am sure the Minister of State has her reasons. It was 23 years ago that we last had a comprehensive review of mental health care. The Bill was probably cutting-edge, to a certain degree, 23 years ago but there is obviously very antiquated treatment practices as well as phraseology and terminology we would …

My question relates to the ongoing slaughter in Gaza. Has the Tánaiste or his Administration had any contact with the American ambassador here or with Joe Biden about the continuing arming of Israel and that country's absolute genocide in Gaza?

International law has gone out the door. In the past ten months, over 45,000 people have been murdered by the Israeli state, including 15,000 children. It is hard to believe. What we see daily on our news screens is almost impossible to comprehend. This is akin to what the Nazis were doing in occupied Europe. Joe Biden was welcomed with open arms in this country, in some ways embarrassingly. His hands are dripping with blood because 70% of all arms that go to the State of Israel come from the United States, 25% com…

I want to see all hostages released. We all want to see peace and a settlement in the Middle East. The Minister may not agree with this, but those resisting Israeli occupation in Gaza and the West Bank have a right to engage with the Israeli Defense Forces. They have a right because they are being occupied, murdered and slaughtered. It is an incredible statistic, but since 7 October $23 billion worth of American armaments have gone to Israel. It is unbelievable. We have not seen this level of destruction since the …

Yesterday, representatives from Alone were before the health committee speaking about the home care sector. One of the contributors said that a statutory home care scheme was first mentioned in this House in 1968. I looked back and that is correct. A scheme like this was first mooted back in the late 1960s. We have been talking about this for a considerable amount of time and it still has not been done. It was promised in the programme for Government but has still not been put in place. We will all agree that home …

What has this got to do with the debate?

I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to establish a legal framework for assisted dying in Ireland. Three and a half years ago, I introduced the dying with dignity Bill. With that Bill, I tried to start a profound discussion around the issue of assisted dying. I understand this is a complex issue which can pose a lot of questions about one's mortality. With the introduction of this new Bill, I believe we can go beyond a discussion and discuss legislation. As a member of the Oireachtas Jo…