Last night this Government voted against supporting South Africa’s case against Israel in the International Court of Justice at the earliest possible opportunity. Instead it amended the Social Democrats motion to say the Government will only consider supporting the case at some point in the future. We now know the preliminary ruling is due tomorrow. But even then the Government has said it will not act and that its decision will only be made after South Africa submits its substantive case. Am I right in thinking it…

I am asking that he signal his intention and start the preparatory work to intervene now because we all know that you do not signal your intent and walk into the ICJ tomorrow. There is a lot of work that goes on in advance of that. When bombs are being dropped indiscriminately in densely populated areas, a man-made famine and aid cannot get in and when 250 people are being killed every day there is no time to waste. This wait-and-see approach is not proportionate to the atrocity that is unfolding in front of our ey…

I said at the earliest opportunity.

I said signal intent. Read the motion.

It is also not what is in the motion.

Speaking down the clock and talking about how I am apparently being disingenuous really says it all. I literally said at the beginning that the Government voted down our motion, which called on it to intervene "at the earliest possible opportunity". I literally highlighted, in my speech just before the Tánaiste spoke, that we want the work to start now. We do not signal our intent and walk into the ICJ tomorrow. There is preparatory work that needs to take place. We are calling on the Government to do that now - to…

Will the Tánaiste answer the question?

It was €2.

I move: That Dáil Éireann: notes that: — nearly 100,000 Palestinians have been killed, reported missing or wounded in Gaza since Israel began its military operation three months ago; — among this number are nearly 25,000 people who have been confirmed dead, two thirds of whom are women and children; — 85 per cent of the population has been displaced, mostly to areas that have faced repeated bombardment from Israel by land, air and sea; — Israeli missiles have targeted schools, universities, hospitals, United Nation…

I was not expecting much from the Government today, but it actually managed to sink beneath my already low expectations. I am shocked it decided to amend our motion in this way. Not only did it amend the motion, it rewrote it in its entirety. I would encourage people to read our motion. It contained a series of indisputable and horrifying statistics about the depths of the slaughter and depravity being inflicted on the Palestinian people. It noted some facts about the Genocide Convention and the International Court…

I want to raise the issue of many of our restaurants and cafés around the country that are closing their doors. Many more are at tipping point. A restaurant near me, Budds of Ballydehob, put out a post about this on social media, and the outpouring of support was immense. As the Taoiseach knows, in towns and villages in Cork South-West the café might be the heart of the community where people gather. It provides employment. There are so many benefits outside of it being a café that are difficult to put into words. …

When will the Government act to prevent a genocide in Gaza? In just over 100 days, more than 25,000 people in Gaza have been killed. As a result of a man-made famine, 80% of the world's hungriest people are now in Gaza. Contagious disease is sweeping through the nearly 2 million displaced people. The healthcare system has been obliterated. Not only are senior Israeli Government officials making regular genocidal statements, but they are also explicitly rejecting a two-state solution. Yesterday, Israel's foreign aff…

It is interesting that the Taoiseach mentions the case of Ukraine. The Tánaiste had no such reluctance when it came to Russia. Less than two months after Russia's brutal invasion of Ukraine he labelled it a genocide. The double standard beggars belief. Israel claims that it is doing everything in its power to protect civilians in Gaza. It says that while it is dropping 2,000-pound bombs on densely populated residential areas. These enormous bombs are not being used sparingly either. They have been dropped in their …

A Leas-Cheann Comhairle, on a point of order, I ask the Taoiseach to correct the record. He said we did not mention Hamas in our Dáil motion. That is incorrect. We did and we referred to its acts on 7 October as an atrocity. Please correct the record.

Last year more than 21,000 Irish citizens were granted Australian working holiday visas. This was the highest recorded figure in 16 years. Even during the 2008 crash just 12,847 visas for Australia were issued. A figure of 21,000 last year when we have full employment in this country is extraordinary. It is something we should be talking about in this House because clearly it is no country for young people. Those young people are now voting with their feet. Many of them do not want to leave but they feel they have …

The Minister's defence is, quite frankly, pathetic. All he does is come in here and mislead the Dáil about housing objections. He knows that what he said is not true.

It says a lot about the absence of a real defence on this.

The Minister tries to bamboozle people with figures when he comes in with his replies. Here is a figure: the Minister promised 55,000 affordable homes in 2023. He delivered 4% of that by October.

That is what the promise was. The Minister comes in here and sets targets but does not meet them.

The Minister speaks about putting things in context and the reality of how long it takes to build homes. Everyone recognises that it takes time to address this. We have had 12 years of Fine Gael in government trying to address this and it is simply not working. The Minister says we are making no suggestions. I just made a suggestion to try to stamp out the bulk buying of homes. We need an effective ban. There is a suggestion. Other low-hanging fruit include tackling vacancy. At a time when house price inflation was…