What is the Taoiseach going to do------

-----to ensure radical action on climate and renewables that we need for energy security?

I commend the amazing Lelia Doolan, the long-time neutrality activist and human rights campaigner. She is outside the gates of Leinster House right now having completed a mammoth 220 km walk from Shannon Airport. Lelia is 91 years of age and has been walking in a gentle, peaceful protest for a fortnight. She is protesting the use of Shannon Airport by the US military. She has asked for a meeting with the Taoiseach and Government TDs. I think she is right. I want to express the support of the Labour Party for her. A…

I will bring that back.

A Cheann Comhairle, Labour has no confidence in this Government. This Government has failed to tackle the cost-of-living crisis. Its members have shown a total disregard for the mounting pressures facing households and businesses across the country. The Labour Party warned in March when the first package of measures was announced that workers and families would continue to face impossible cost burdens. We warned then that Government needed to adopt robust policies on renewable energy, transport costs and remote wor…

As protests began, there followed a week of dithering, confusion and mixed messages. Bombastic statements were issued by the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste on Wednesday night, but with no real follow through. On Thursday morning the justice Minister ratcheted up the tension by announcing that the assistance of the Defence Forces had been requested. In his rush to get on the airwaves, it appears he neglected to consult with the Minister for Defence. His intervention only inflamed the situation further. Not to be outdone…

At best, one might hope this was a cynical attempt to distract from a disastrous week for the Government, but at worst, and in seriousness, it is a Minister resorting to sinister threats against the national broadcaster because it was doing its job of reporting fairly on events around the country. Yet as bad as last week was, the real crisis has yet to properly hit us. The International Energy Agency, IEA, has been warning for weeks that the world now faces the most severe energy crisis ever recorded, a supply shoc…

It has consistently rowed back on climate action commitments. It has arrogantly dismissed and consistently voted down constructive proposals from Labour and others in opposition on taking action on housing, workers’ rights and on the cost of living. The Government stopped sick pay increases and rowed back on a living wage. It voted down our Labour Party Bill on the right to remote working. It sneered at calls for stronger State action on housing or the development of a State construction company. The budget last Oc…

I commend Deputy Kelly on this Labour Party motion. I believe it is the first on policing in the lifetime of this Dáil. It reflects our long-standing interest in criminal justice, including my personal interest in criminal justice, and our concern to ensure a robust policing system for our country. I want to pay tribute, as did the Minister, to the vital work of gardaí across our communities and the country and in my constituency and that of the Minister. I welcome the high-visibility policing plan in Dublin city c…

Yesterday Conor Gallagher in The Irish Times , working with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, revealed shocking details about the supply chain linked to the Aughinish Alumina plant in Limerick. His report outlined how significant quantities of alumina from this facility are being exported to Russia, where they are being used to make aluminium, which is then sold to a trading company supplying over 100 Russian weapons manufacturers. It is deeply alarming to see that shipments of Irish alumina to …

Come back to me on it.

The illegal war on Iran launched by Trump and Netanyahu is now in its fourth week. Households across the country are reeling from the energy crisis. Petrol and diesel prices are now well over €2 per litre and those reliant on home heating oil are particularly badly affected. They are facing massive price increases, with the cost of refilling a 1,000 litre tank getting to €1,800. In the face of this, the Government's package of measures to support struggling households, which the Taoiseach has described as generous,…

Of course, the Labour Party supports the introduction of short-term measures to support struggling households. I think everyone does. Everyone here acknowledges that but this package is just not enough. The Government could do more. Look at it this way: the full-year cost of the tax cut the Government gave to the hospitality sector, the burger barons Deputy Nash speaks about, in last year's budget is €680 million. That is the three times the value of the package the Government is now offering struggling households …

A real right for remote and flexible working.

It is not the way to manage it.

Less than four weeks into the Government's new rental regime, we are already seeing the effects. The Government is now presiding over the highest level of evictions since the Famine. Last week, Residential Tenancies Board, RTB, data showed the number of eviction notices issued rose by 41% in quarter 4 of 2025. Just over 20,000 people received a dreaded notice of termination through their letterboxes last year as landlords were already leaving the market in anticipation of the new reckless rent rules. Now we are see…

Landlords are confused.

I commend the great Oscar wins at the weekend for Jessie Buckley and Richie Baneham and, of course, the win for the Irish rugby team. Yesterday, we watched the White House ceremony while the Taoiseach sat silent, utterly sidelined while US President Trump ranted and raved-----

-----about Europe, NATO, wind farms, Keir Starmer, immigration and much more. It is deeply disappointing that the Taoiseach did not push back harder against Trump's delusional ramblings, in particular to condemn Trump's illegal war on Iran.

To be fair, however, one thing we can be glad about is that the Taoiseach did push back against some of Trump's comments on immigration. I was pleased to hear the Taoiseach defend Europe and European migration policy and, indeed, say that Ireland benefits from our migrant communities and the skills they bring here. It was entirely appropriate for the Taoiseach to bring that message on St. Patrick's Day from a nation of immigrants because for generations the Irish national story was about our people finding refuge a…