I thank the Ceann Comhairle. Time is pretty much up for this Government. When Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael’s alliance started they were the Civil War parties, but now it seems they are more like the phoney war parties. For weeks there has been sniping in the media. It is not about policy, because it does not seem like there are many policy differences between them, but about personalities. Political debate has been reduced to petty insults and desperate jostling for position in advance of an election. It is a fairly r…

The thing that is difficult for me to believe or that I do not really buy or that, to be honest, is not really credible is that somebody who was the Minister for Health with responsibility for disability when nothing improved and things got worse then comes in as Taoiseach and sets up a Cabinet subcommittee when we have already had loads of committees and reports and know all the things we need to do. Then, when he is pointing at things that have happened, he says now we are offering more private solutions rather t…

The Taoiseach can have all the new energy in the world but without any new ideas, nothing is going to change. I think we are all hearing it on the doors that some people feel despondent and feel like there is no other choice.

This election is about choices, and we can choose differently. We can choose to vote for parties that will invest in public services and not splash the cash around in a giveaway budget to try to buy an election. There are parties that will invest in services like these and I hope people will use their choice.

A one-off payment will evaporate quickly.

The energy credits for holiday homes.

On the same issue, we have just about 48 hours until this Dáil is dissolved and we should make those hours count. With only a few days left in office, the Government has finally said we can enact the occupied territories Bill, but claims it has run out of time. Not only does it underestimate the strength of feeling on the need to enact this Bill, it also underestimates the public's understanding that the Taoiseach decides whether we have run out of time by virtue of when he calls the election, not to mention that t…

On behalf of the Social Democrats I want to acknowledge the passing of David Davin-Power. Our thoughts are with his colleagues, his family and his friends at this time. The Cabinet finally agreed to increase the housing targets. The housing Minister was supposed to do this back in 2023. Two years late and 48 hours out from the election, he finally gets around to doing it. People can make up their own minds about the cynical way this Government is doing business. I want to know how many of these homes in these revis…

Since being elected, wastewater treatment has been a recurring issue raised by communities across Cork South-West. I am focusing on the issue of the wastewater treatment plant in Ballydehob this morning but almost every area of west Cork is feeling the pressure from crumbling water infrastructure. From an environmental and health perspective, the very least people should expect is the proper treatment of wastewater and household sewage but years of underinvestment in water infrastructure has left communities and ar…

I thank the Minister of State. I appreciate the reply and accept that there has been an infrastructure deficit over years, which means that Uisce Éireann is playing catch-up. Issues like this are concrete and need to be addressed. In addition, this case illustrates how communities do not feel heard. The local community and the EPA have raised concerns about this plant for nearly 15 years, but nothing has been done. It is nice to hear that the Minister of State will take the necessary steps. This is affecting the lo…

It is now more than a year and a half since the expert report was published recommending critical reforms to our abortion laws. Marie O'Shea was clear that the current legal regime is failing women in numerous ways. Her recommendations were equally clear. Among them were to remove the mandatory three-day waiting period, end the criminalisation of doctors and provide clarity in the provision of care in cases of foetal abnormality. Since the report was published in April 2023, those recommendations have been endorsed…

What is your position for the general election?

The Taoiseach has confirmed we will have an election in a matter of weeks, and with that, this Government’s disastrous handling of the housing crisis will be on the ballot. A vote for this Government will be a vote for record house prices, record rents, record homelessness and over 500,000 adults living in their childhood bedrooms. Every week, this crisis deepens and deteriorates. House prices are now rising by double digits, 10% per year. Nationally, first-time buyers are facing median house prices of €345,000 and…

The figure the Taoiseach gives of 40,000 homes is disputed by the ERSI and the Central Bank. We know commencements are one thing and completions are another thing altogether. For the first six months of this year, completions are down nearly 10%. That is the reality. He mentioned the help-to-buy scheme. On this, the ESRI has stated that if this scheme was scrapped, house prices would fall. While we can all understand it can feel really supportive in that moment when house prices are so high to get that grant, it is…

-----not banning the bulk-buying of homes, not addressing these issues has not worked.

I will speak on the same issue. As we speak, genocide is happening in Gaza. We will probably never know the full extent of the death toll of the people lying under rubble. It is shameful that this State maintains economic, diplomatic and travel relationships with Israel, a state that is unashamedly committing war crimes by the second. The people of this country have wanted action for a long time. The Government has finally accepted that the occupied territories Bill is lawful, with amendments, but there will not be…

Greyhound racing has been in decline for decades but the Government has handed the greyhound industry €94 million over its term in office. It has increased funding this year by €4.1 million. This year, like every other year, I have to ask why. Why is the Government so insistent on propping up this industry? Why is it so insistent that greyhound racing is an integral part of our culture when race tracks are virtually empty around the country? Ireland is one of only seven countries in the world where commercial greyh…

I have run out of words to describe the horror unfolding in Gaza and now in Lebanon. This week, I and millions of other people, watched a young man in a hospital tent burn alive. He was still attached to an IV drip and was reaching out his hand for help. The Israeli army had targeted a missile strike on tents in the grounds of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. Not content with destroying all the hospitals in Gaza, it is now bombing the ruins. The name of the man who died was Shaban al-Dalou. He was 19 years old and a compu…

I know the ICJ ruling on the illegal Israeli settlements was extremely important and welcome, but I repeat that we did not need it to act. I presume the Tánaiste agrees with that because if I am correct, Fianna Fáil brought forward the Bill in 2019.

However, because the Government waited, we are now running out of time. I heard the Tánaiste on The Irish Times podcast say that we would have an election after critical pieces of legislation were passed. Does that mean there is an army of lawyers in the Attorney General's office and the Department of Finance working morning, noon and night to try to get the occupied territories Bill over the line? The Tánaiste said it needs amendments. Are they being drafted as we speak? Is this hugely important legislation being …