I hope those individuals, and they know who they are, are reflecting today. There is no one in this country who did not anticipate that the far right might seek to orchestrate unrest in our capital. On Thursday, what we saw was a perfect storm, a complete collapse of order on our streets through a combination of failures, namely, failure to tackle the far right and failure to address the triple crisis of morale, recruitment and retention within the Garda. There were failures at operational level, for which the Comm…

What we need to see from the Government is action. We need to see three actions in particular. First is conducting an independent and urgent review into what went wrong in order that we can see proper accountability. A Policing Authority review is not enough. We need to see the inspectorate going in. We need an independent review of what went wrong. We also need to see a real commitment from Government to tackling and targeting the far right and ensuring intelligence-led policing is taking it on. Third, we need a c…

This is the sort of language that just goes on to-----

It was a desperate week. Due to the horror of the attack and subsequent riot in Dublin on Thursday, undoubtedly the homelessness figures were pushed down the political agenda, but I also want to raise the matter because it was a very sad milestone for our country to see over 13,000 people now recorded as homeless, nearly 4,000 of whom are children. I too ask what the Government is doing about it because there is a sense from the Government of almost a helplessness and a lack of control. Just as policing was out of …

The prospect of a temporary end to Israel’s brutal bombardment of Gaza and the expected and hoped-for release by Hamas of women and children hostages including, we hope, Emily Hand, offers a glimmer of hope in what are very dark days. However, we all appreciate that work must continue and diplomatic efforts internationally must intensify until a permanent ceasefire can be agreed. We have heard from the Israeli Government that it has two stated aims, namely, the release of all hostages and the elimination of Hamas. …

We must use all the diplomatic tools at our disposal to bring about a ceasefire in Gaza.

The Tánaiste’s comments on sanctions are welcome and I hope we will hear more about that. He is right to commend the UN aid workers and the UN role in Gaza. But it is undermining of the UN to suggest that because of flaws in the UN that we should somehow abandon our triple lock. That was not the recommendation that was made by Professor Richardson or her forum. She acknowledged the matter was contested and her report had other recommendations that are vitally important, including more spending on the Defence Forces…

We are not.

What is the alternative?

It is imperfect but what is the alternative?

Thank you because I was not part of the pathetic shouting earlier.

With the updated homeless figures to be released tomorrow, I raise the issue of vacancy. It is a national disgrace that we have such a scourge of vacancy and dereliction across the country when nearly 13,000 people are homeless. I raised the issue with the Taoiseach yesterday. I pointed out the enormous shortfall between the number of properties recorded as vacant in the census and the paltry figure of 3,000 homes that will be subject to the new vacant homes tax. The Taoiseach came back and criticised me, and said …

I will take a trip down memory lane on the subject of vacancy and dereliction. On 28 September, I raised with the Tánaiste the scourge of vacancy and dereliction across cities, towns and villages. On that date, he told me my question would be better directed to local councils. It seemed it was not a priority for national government. The following week, news broke that the HSE is hoarding hundreds of empty properties across the country. Subsequent replies to parliamentary questions I tabled confirmed that other publ…

I wish to join in the welcome to Ms Ruth Jones MP from our sister party, the British Labour Party. I note reports today that the gender equality referendum will be held in March. Will the Taoiseach confirm to the House when the Bill for the referendum will come before the Dáil and Seanad and whether that will be before Christmas? I am conscious that time is of the essence if the referendum is to be held on International Women's Day on 8 March next year.

I want to return to the gender equality referendum. I thank the Taoiseach for giving some indication on the timing of the legislation for that referendum and for indicating that it will proceed in March, which is welcome. It is of concern to see reports about the wording proposed and that it will apparently deviate from what we proposed in the Joint Committee on Gender Equality and what the citizens' assembly recommended. In particular, we are concerned to see that, rather than offering a meaningful recognition of …

We heard today the testimony of 76-year-old Liz, who was supported by Threshold when she was handed a notice of termination. She stated: "Every hour I’d be wondering ... whether I’d be locked out. I’m too old and too sick for the streets." This is just one story out of more than 12,000 households that accessed Threshold’s services in 2022, as we saw from its annual report, which was launched this morning. Threshold saw a 12% increase in just one year. This shows just how weak renters’ rights and protections are. As…

I welcome the Bill. I note that, like many others, I pushed for the Bill for many years. Back in 2018, when we were making the case for safe access zone laws, none of us thought it would take five years. It is a shame it has taken so long. However, I commend the Minister and his officials on getting it to this point and I note that groups such as Together for Safety and others have welcomed it and have pushed for it to come into law swiftly. I do not want to delay matters further. Deputy Smith has brought forward t…

First, I thank the Minister for his kind words. Certainly, it has been a long road. I was just calculating that it was 34 years ago that I and a group of other students were threatened with prison for giving information on abortion to women in crisis pregnancies. We have come a long way since then but I certainly never thought at the time that it would take so long. Five years on from 2018, there has been a long delay in putting in place the necessary safe access zones. Other Deputies have spoken about the need for…

This is Report Stage.

I welcome the doctors in the Public Gallery who are engaged in the provision of serves to women and have a very strong interest in this legislation passing, as do all of us who fought for many years to secure women's access to reproductive healthcare and rights to safe, legal abortion in our own country. It is so important we ensure this legislation is passed because, as I have said, its purpose is to ensure women will have safe access to healthcare services that women and girls so badly need in this country. It wi…