I thank the Independent Group for bringing forward this really important motion. Most families across the country have experienced pressures either from a childcare perspective or from an elder care perspective so this is really important. I will cover both aspects of this motion today. Regarding elder care, in January the ESRI found the 74% of all nursing home beds were provided by private providers, which is 14 operators providing 40% of all beds nationally. Those figures should have set off alarm bells in the De…

The Social Democrats also believe we need to have statements and a discussion in the Dáil on the process for asylum seekers and the tents that are cropping up around the city. All the Government's policies have done to date is move tents from one part of the city to another. The Taoiseach can shake his head but that is all that has happened.

What is the Taoiseach's plan? What is he going to do? Clearly, Government policy is failing the men who are in tents, the communities where the tents are cropping up and the local businesses. What is the Government's plan and when is it going to implement it? What it has done to date is not good enough. The Social Democrats called for a full audit of IPAS and Ukrainian accommodation to see if there were any gaps in the system. At the time, there was no objection from the Government to that motion. Where is that aud…

I thank my colleague Deputy Gannon who has very strongly and adeptly described the flaws and gaps in this legislation, and indeed the trauma still experienced by so many survivors in the State. I want to talk about another group of men and women who deserve recognition and the support of the State but who have been completely ignored by it to date, namely the survivors of Westbank Orphanage, which operated in Greystones from the 1940s until the early 2000s. Up to 50 children lived there and they ranged from infants…

I do not know how we have gone from this Bill that talks about the remit of Gas Networks Ireland to one that is now looking to transfer the functions relating to the Maritime Area Planning Act from the Minister for housing to the Minister for the environment at the very last Stage. It seems extraordinary the Government is tacking on such a significant change without any discussion with the committee or any notification. It has just been added on like it is a small technical issue, as the Minister of State says, rel…

I wish to raise the issue of the EU migration pact. It is a highly controversial and complex issue. It took eight years for the EU to agree these proposals and yet only half a day has been set aside at the Joint Committee on Justice to hear them. If we compare that with the amount of time given to the controversy in RTÉ in two different committees, we can see the disparity. These proposals will have far-ranging impacts. We are talking about potentially thousands of people being held in detention centres on our bord…

I welcome the rights of nature advocates who are in the Gallery. They and other environmental advocates have been working for decades to try to bring to the fore the needs of nature. Their work on this issue has been vital. As we are all aware, nature is in crisis. It has been dying on its feet for decades and that process has accelerated in recent years. Aligned with that is our knowledge and understanding as we have become much more aware of what is happening, what we have done and what we need to do to address t…

From one Wicklow TD to another, I wish the Taoiseach the absolute best in his new role. I feel like a broken record when I address this issue. The Taoiseach is familiar with it. It is the 20 or so students in Greystones who do not have a secondary school place yet for September. We have been repeatedly told that a solution will be found for them. We are only five or six weeks away from secondary schools closing and the primary schools will close a few weeks later. These students do not know where they will be going…

There are approximately 20 children in the Greystones-Kilcoole area who are in sixth class at the moment and still do not have a secondary school place for September. Their sixth class year will finish in ten weeks' time. Their peers are getting their yearbooks ready, going to open days in their secondary schools and picking their subjects, but these children still have no idea where they will go to school in September. It is wholly unacceptable to treat parents and children in this manner. It is the absolute oppos…

I welcome the opportunity to participate in today's debate. I will focus primarily on the climate and nature fund component of the Bill. It is getting more and more difficult to read news reports on our climate crisis and keep an eye on what is happening in the media. It is getting progressively hellish when it comes to what we see globally and across this country. The state of the climate report from the World Meteorological Organization confirmed that 2023 is the hottest year on record by a clear margin. We have …

In 2018, promises were made to have a new neurorehabilitation centre for the CHO 6 area, that is, east Wicklow. It was to be in Bray and was to come to fruition last year. A team of 13 posts were being pulled together. Funding was available and recruitment was to commence. Unfortunately, that is now all on hold because of the moratorium in the HSE. It is possible for this centre to go ahead if a derogation is provided. In light of the much-needed services this neurorehabilitation site would provide, will the Tánais…

I move: That Dáil Éireann: expresses concern that: — a humanitarian and public health crisis is intensifying because of the failure of the Government to provide accommodation to asylum seekers; — there are now more than 1,200 international protection applicants without accommodation in Ireland; — hundreds of international protection applicants are sleeping in approximately 150 tents around Mount Street in central Dublin; — there are no toilets, no running water and no sanitation facilities at this tent encampment o…

So there are 2,000 beds.

Check out the law. It is our responsibility.

This is a complete misrepresentation.

Deputy Ó Ríordáin should stay quiet.

We are communists.

This is an absolute disgrace. What was meant by that?

What does Deputy McGrath mean with his comment that he is waiting in the long grass for us?

And it is migrant men people say we should be afraid of.