This country has resources that are the envy of our neighbours. I refer to the Apple billions, record surpluses and low unemployment. However, in the Ireland of 2024, even workers with good jobs and their own homes suffer from a lack of public infrastructure and a cost-of-living crisis. Those without homes are suffering most. They are at the sharp edge of our housing disaster. It is not just that we do not have enough homes. We have overwhelmed health services, a lack of childcare places, creaking public transport …

Hear, hear.

Hear, hear.

It is certainly positive to see an increase in the level of stamp duty on the bulk purchase of homes, which I concede, but this simply does not go far enough. The Government resolution simply does not do enough to dissuade the bulk purchase of homes by institutional investors. We in the Labour Party had put down an amendment to increase the stamp duty rate to 20% on the bulk purchase of homes and, crucially, to remove the specific exclusion of apartment blocks. That is something that absolutely should be done and w…

If I can just finish on the point on our amendment, we have no idea how many apartments are covered.

I am sorry we not did not get to put our amendment on this.

This morning, the well-known 14-year-old disability rights campaigner from Ardfinnan, County Tipperary, Cara Darmody, held her monster meeting rally outside Leinster House. Many of us attended and there were many parents there expressing their incredible distress and dissatisfaction at the Government's failure to provide their children with timely assessments of needs and proper services and appropriate school places. Cara is calling on the Government to give a State apology for the pain and suffering that families…

-----and she has been tireless in her campaign. I am asking for commitments on her behalf today.

Yes.

I want to return to an issue I raised yesterday, namely the Taoiseach's comments at the weekend which appeared to draw a connection between migration and homelessness. I know the Minister made a statement rightly pointing out that international protection applicants do not have a right to HAP or State housing supports. The reality is that the principal reason for homelessness is the lack of houses, the lack of homes. It is certainly not helpful to hear Government Ministers appearing to scapegoat migrants. Nor is it…

-----that will see at least some aspect of the Bill come into law?

I want to ask about political accountability for what is happening with the children's hospital or, rather, what is not happening. I read the coverage of the letter sent by the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, to the Taoiseach about the latest delays relating to the building of the new hospital. Perhaps that correspondence could more accurately be described as a letter from the Minister to the RTÉ newsroom, copied to the Taoiseach. Clearly, there are questions to be asked and answered about the purpose of that letter and…

Clearly, children need this hospital built. We all need and want to see it built. We want to see it open and delivering the necessary services. It is just not good enough, however, for Deputy Donohoe, as Minister for public expenditure, or for the health Minister to simply say what the board is doing and not to reassure people what the Government is doing to ensure an outcome here. I think what is frustrating people is the lack of outcome, the lack of accountability and the constant impression of passing the buck a…

The Taoiseach has said in recent days that homelessness is heavily impacted by the fact that many people are seeking asylum and protection here. This is wrong and I want to express my concern about the language. What is impacting most heavily on homelessness is Government policy and the Government's failure to provide enough homes for people. That needs to be acknowledged by Government Ministers. As the Minister, Deputy Roderic O'Gorman, rightly pointed out, asylum seekers are not counted in official homelessness f…

I want to return to the desperate situation unfolding in Lebanon and the ongoing carnage we are seeing in Gaza and the West Bank. I heard Munier and Gadier Zabad speak on "Morning Ireland" this morning. They are among the Irish families fearing for their safety and are now trapped in Lebanon with no way out while under brutal Israeli bombardment. We are seeing an horrific escalation of the awful conflict in the Middle East and more unthinkable levels of civilian casualties. Israel continues, it appears, to act with…

Mine is a simple question today. How can the Minister say his Housing for All policy is working when over 4,000 children are homeless? Everyone deserves the dignity of a roof over their head, and the basic responsibility of the State to provide shelter and homes is even more pressing when it comes to children and young people. On the formation of the First Dáil, the first document produced was the first Democratic Programme for the new Republic. Labour's significant contribution to that delivered the strong commitm…

I listened carefully to the Minister's response but no matter how many figures he throws across the floor at me, on the key metrics his housing policy is failing. Rents, house prices and homelessness are all up. The Minister said the number one challenge is ensuring that people can exit from homelessness, but the number of exits is simply not keeping up with the number of entries into homelessness. I gave him the figure of 23,000 notices to quit in the 12 months between the second quarter of last year and this year…

And the targets?

We continue to see appalling loss of life in the Middle East and a really concerning escalation over recent days with the awful killings in Lebanon. All the while, Israel's brutal bombardment of Gaza and horrific human rights abuses in the West Bank continue. If Israel is behind the deaths in Lebanon, as we all assume, there must be consequences. We believe that stronger action is needed from the Government. We very much welcomed recognition of the State of Palestine but we believe that the Government should adopt …

I welcome the Government's commitment to establish a commission of investigation in the wake of the awful revelations about abuse of children in religious-run schools as illustrated in Mary O’Toole’s scoping inquiry. I also pay tribute to Mark and David Ryan. Can we have clarity from the Taoiseach on the timing of when the Government will introduce the terms of reference, given that we are all conscious that this Dáil has a very limited time to run? When will we have those terms of reference? Furthermore, can we ha…