I thank the Tánaiste for that positive response and his acknowledgement that the Government will have to provide a response for those who, through no fault of their own, are living in this twofold fear in these apartments, the fear of debt and the fear about fire safety, in particular. Following the horrific Grenfell fire in London, that is uppermost in all our minds. The scale of this problem is immense. It is thought that up to 80% of apartments built between 1991 and 2013 may be affected by these construction de…

On behalf of the Labour Party, I thank the Ceann Comhairle and all of the staff in Leinster House for all of their immense work over the past term and I hope that everybody enjoys a well-earned break over the recess. I raise concerns about accommodation for those who have come here to our shores seeking refuge, particularly from the brutal war in Ukraine. There are concerning reports today that the transit centre at City West Hotel is accommodating more than 1,000 people and has no longer any further capacity. We k…

I commend Deputy O'Rourke and his colleagues on bringing forward this important Bill on the last sitting day of the Dáil term. I support it on behalf of the Labour Party and I am glad we are having such a constructive and collaborative debate on it. The Government's proposal to adjourn the Second Reading of the Bill for six months has been accepted by the proposers. This is sensible given that a public consultation is under way and it is such an important issue on which a good deal of preparatory work needs to be d…

Yesterday, I spoke of the Government being long on ambition but short on delivery in a number of areas, notably on the climate catastrophe. Europe’s temperatures are reaching record highs this week across the Continent. Human activity has warmed our planet at a rate not seen for 2,000 years. The consequences are unthinkable and the imperative to act is indisputable. Last week, I asked the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, if negotiations on sectoral emissions targets were being jeopardised, specifically by the Departmen…

Some words jump out from the study published today on unplanned pregnancy support and abortion care conducted by Dr. Catherine Conlon and her colleagues at Trinity College Dublin. The purpose of the study was to discover the experiences of women who have sought to access abortion under our abortion legislation. The words expressed by women include "awful", "draining", "arduous", "harrowing" and "distressing". This really shows just how inadequate our current legislative structure is to meet the real needs of women …

I thank the Taoiseach for confirming the date. He said the end of the year is when the review will be complete and that is useful to hear. I acknowledge that the legislation that we passed was, indeed, done on a cross-party basis and many of us banded together to facilitate the passing of that very important change in the law. However, as the Taoiseach acknowledged, there are still certain inadequacies, which could be addressed even pending the publication of the review. Geographic coverage and availability of serv…

I too have serious concerns regarding the way the Order of Business has been scheduled. Last week, I criticised the Government for having shoehorned five Bills into five hours on Wednesday afternoon. It is now proposing that six Bills be shoehorned into six hours tomorrow. Even worse, there are significant numbers of amendments to some of those Bills, including significant numbers of Government amendments. There are 73 amendments to the Electoral Reform Bill alone, yet only 45 minutes of debate planned. Most seriou…

Yes, for 45 minutes in the morning.

Since this Government took office, rents have increased by 15%. Media reports last weekend showed that a legislative loophole in rent pressure zone laws has enabled cuckoo funds to contribute to this problem, charging exorbitant rents, for example, €2,140 per month for a one-bed apartment and up to €5,220 per month for a three-bed. Until the Government reins these funds in, it is difficult to see the situation resolving itself. While we are due to rise for the summer recess this week, struggling renters cannot affo…

As we know, the summer economic statement was published last week in a context in which we are seeing the living standards of hundreds of thousands of people fall because of prices rising beyond their control and the soaring inflation rate, which was nearly 10% in June. Will the Taoiseach confirm whether the budget will increase social welfare payments in line with the rate of inflation? Will he introduce a windfall tax on the profits of energy companies at a time when, according to the ESRI, one third of household…

The premature leaking of aspects of the final report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes caused great anger and distress for survivors of those homes. It is 19 months since an investigation was launched into that leaking and all of us want to know when we will see the outcome. Will the Taoiseach indicate whether the legislation for the payments scheme will be passed in the autumn? I raise the separate matter of the case of thalidomide survivors in light of a number of reports over the week…

As we know, Davos is the world's most exclusive lobbying forum. Yesterday, The Irish Times published a series of extraordinary articles about how Uber apparently went about trying to tear up regulations covering the taxi sector in Ireland and did not disclose contact with the then Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, at Davos 2016 in its own lobbying returns. Will the Taoiseach tell us what companies were lobbying him at Davos this year? Looking further at the Uber reports, it appears that what Uber wanted was a race to the bott…

This afternoon, the Government is asking us to vote confidence in it. We in Labour cannot do that. We have never had confidence in the Government to address the housing disaster, the childcare crisis, the spiralling cost of living or the climate catastrophe. In 2020, we did not support the election of the Taoiseach and we now believe in the need for a change of Government. We believe the project of Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and the Green Party has been unsuccessful. Despite their stated aims, they are simply not deliv…

We need a Government that will integrate economic planning with a stronger climate response to take us to net zero as quickly as possible, to make Ireland the renewables superpower that it can be and to support the creation of decent jobs through a just transition. There is a pressing case for change. The reality is that younger generations in Ireland are now growing up worse off than their parents who came before them. Young people are locked out, with no prospect of secure, affordable homes. Workers on low pay an…

I want to raise again the issue of the housing crisis, the crisis that our President has described as a disaster. Yesterday's Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, report has confirmed yet again the scale of failure over successive years to ensure that people have adequate homes and the right to a home. Since this Government assumed office, rents have increased by 15%, house prices have risen by 22% and homelessness has increased by 19%. There are outrageous numbers of individuals and families on the homele…

I agree with the Minister. It is about delivery. In fact, in this case it is about the lack of delivery. What I am hearing from renters or those aspiring to own a home but who cannot do so, and indeed from people who are seeking to build homes to deliver on housing, is that there is a lack of delivery and urgency in delivery by Government. Certainly, very welcome measures have been announced by Government. However, what is so frustrating for people is that we have not seen the impact of those measures. There has be…

I am sure the Minister received emails as I have this week from constituents alarmed at recent media reports about the negotiations on sectoral emissions targets. I met early this week with Friends of the Earth, which warned that any reduction in ambition in one sector would be the increase of targets for other sectors to impossible levels. Indeed, in the words of Professor Hannah Daly, implausible levels. In particular, we know that demands are being made by farming groups that agriculture’s target be no more than…

Families are being desperately squeezed by the cost-of-living crisis, especially the back-to-school costs that so many are facing. We saw a credit union survey this morning showing the cost per child being between €1,100 and €1,500. I spoke with a mother this morning who is budgeting for the school term ahead. She tells me that the cost of sending her two children to school this September has risen by €1,500 compared with this time last year. This is an enormous increase for any family. Amid rising costs of food, f…

We welcome any targeted interventions that will improve conditions and the situation for struggling families and households but it is simply not enough. There are families and households that had sufficient income last year who now require better, more urgent State intervention to support. As we see in Northern Ireland, the free school books scheme could make a real difference, as could reforms to the school transport system, which has many discrepancies. We in the Labour Party have been standing in solidarity with…

We know that there is a housing crisis, indeed a housing disaster. We know from today's ESRI report that there is a particular crisis for those who are renting and for those who are now facing the bleak prospect of having to rent at increasingly unaffordable levels right into their older age and therefore face no security of tenure, no security of accommodation. The ESRI report is just the latest in a litany of Government failures on housing. Will the Minister commit to adopting Labour's renters' rights Bill that w…