Can I ask why, though? That does not normally happen. They normally try to guillotine it.

I thank Sinn Féin for tabling this motion. It is vital we come back to the housing emergency before the Dáil breaks up this week so that the Government is not allowed off the hook for a desperate situation thousands are facing throughout the country. The Government made the summer recess as long as it could this summer because it knows every moment we are not in here is another missed chance to hold the Government to account for its increasingly obvious failures with regard to housing, our health system, the cost o…

On 22 June, the Minister for Finance stated there would be core welfare package increases to improve the amounts given to people on fixed incomes. I am delighted to hear the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, say she will listen to stakeholders. In the most recent budget, social welfare increases for pensioners were below the rate of inflation. Age Action has called this a political choice to cut the living standards of older people. Will the Minister confirm that changes in budget 2024 will increase welfare payments in r…

I accept what the Minister is saying. However, we are in an unprecedented, once-off cost-of-living crisis. Inflation is up by 17.2% since January 2021. The consumer price index, CPI, for groceries is up at least 13.1% and may be up by as much as 17%. Electricity prices have risen 112% since 2020. The OECD has pointed to a sharp dip in living standards due to inflation. Fuel poverty is up 40%. Some 671,000 people in Ireland are living in poverty, of whom 188,500 are children. A total of 55,000 older people went into…

I accept what the Minister is saying. However, we are in an unprecedented, once-off cost-of-living crisis. Inflation is up by 17.2% since January 2021. The consumer price index, CPI, for groceries is up at least 13.1% and may be up by as much as 17%. Electricity prices have risen 112% since 2020. The OECD has pointed to a sharp dip in living standards due to inflation. Fuel poverty is up 40%. Some 671,000 people in Ireland are living in poverty, of whom 188,500 are children. A total of 55,000 older people went into…

It is becoming clear that Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and now the Green Party intend to end Irish neutrality and move towards NATO against the wishes of the Irish people. As of 17 April, 71% of the country supported neutrality. That is an overwhelming percentage of people. Ireland initially voted to reject both the Nice and Lisbon treaties. Both had to come back with clauses protecting Irish neutrality before they were passed. This agenda to erode our neutrality is happening drip by drip behind the scenes. If it were pu…

I am delighted to speak on this report containing the recommendations of the Committee on Budgetary Oversight because it is very important. The reports I have heard from workers are just shocking. There is clearly a problem owing to the exploitation of workers in the Irish film industry. It appears to be hidden away through dodgy financial and legal checks, but the bottom line is that there are thousands of workers in the country who are employed outside EU national law and who are without proper pay, conditions, b…

As has been said, the summer economic statement will be launched this afternoon. In May, I asked the Taoiseach about the Pension Promise campaign. The Government previously promised to benchmark the State pension. The Taoiseach said he would look into it and get back to me. He did not. In the roadmap for social inclusion, the Government made three commitments. These were to finalise the approach to benchmarking pensions; to develop any legislation necessary to implementing benchmarking; and to apply benchmarking to…

Benchmarking was promised.

I start by sending my solidarity to Palestinians worldwide in the face of the Israeli state's campaign against the civilians of Jenin. Bombs are hitting the city and its refugee camp as we speak. I condemn the murder of 11 Palestinians, including two children, by the Israeli state. I fear that we will see many more civilians lose their lives over the coming days. This is a campaign of bombing and attacks on an occupied city. It must be stopped and Ireland must step up now to recognise the state of Palestine, and re…

I am happy to be speaking on the Energy (Windfall Gains in the Energy Sector) (Temporary Solidarity Contribution) Bill 2023. I support the introduction of the windfall tax on energy companies. Despite the pressure the Opposition put on the Government a year or 18 months ago, it did not do so then. The Bill clearly does not go far enough. It applies a 75% tax on everything over a 20% annual increase which provides a built-in 20% increase in profit and the company gets to keep 25% on everything else. These are compan…

I wish to draw attention to two events in the news this week. First, I express my solidarity with the water services workers all over the country, in particular those of them belonging to Unite who will be going out on strike this Friday. We need to make sure these workers keep their pay, conditions and public service status. Guarantees around conditions such as allowances, regular and rostered overtime and the on-call allowance must be red-circled as they are pension-deductible. Their livelihoods are under threat,…

I thank Sinn Féin for bringing this motion to the floor of the House. I also welcome those in the Gallery who have come to listen to the debate. I hope they will get a resolution to this issue. It is clear from the PwC report that the current fair deal scheme, commonly known as the unfair deal scheme, is rapidly becoming unsuitable for our social care needs. Providers are warning of a tidal wave of nursing homes leaving the scheme. What does a tidal wave of nursing homes leaving look like? People are already strugg…

The Taoiseach all but refused to answer my question on promised legislation on the matter I am raising today and so I am going to try again. The question is about segregation of Part V council tenants. In light of the situation in the Davitt apartment complex in Drimnagh and others around Dublin and in light of the fact that Part V tenancies are set to become even more important for housing supply with the increase in Part V requirements in Housing for All from 10% to 20%, how will the Government ensure that there …

The Davitt complex is one complex that we are very clear on because we have heard it directly from the horse's mouth, the tenants living there. We know it has happened elsewhere in the city. We are going in a very serious direction if we are going to have segregation. Those in block D are all council tenants. Tuath Housing is managing the 26 homes in block D that do not have access to the basic amenities in that complex. That cannot be allowed to happen and it must change. It was raised at a meeting of Dublin City …

I welcome any additional apprenticeship placements. I also welcome yesterday's announcement of placements in respect of construction, nursing, etc. I wish to discuss the underlying economic and social conditions. In a general sense, we have a cost-of-living crisis and a housing crisis and we are facing an existential climate breakdown. Starting pay for workers who build the houses and infrastructure needed to fight these problems is €6.84. I do not know what world the Minister of State thinks we are living in if he…

Since the retailer Iceland in February sold its 27 stores to Project Point Technologies, a company directed by Naeem Maniar and with an address at 5 Old Dublin Road, Stillorgan, County Dublin, the workers in Iceland have experienced wage theft and deplorable conditions. As Deputy Cian O'Callaghan stated, the temperature in some stores was very high. The matter was raised in the Chamber a number of times, including by Deputies O'Reilly and Bríd Smith and possibly by Deputy O'Callaghan. I raised it two weeks ago duri…

It was pointed out to me that when the Food Safety Authority of Ireland withdrew all imported frozen food from the shelves of Iceland, there were health and safety inspectors literally crawling all over the place the following day. When we raised the issue of wage theft, we did not get inspectors from the Labour Court in those stores to see what was going on. This just shows what kind of response there has been in respect of the workers. Project Point Technologies shares its address with many of Maniar's other comp…

First, I will express solidarity with the workers in Iceland in the Northside Shopping Centre. I was on the picket line with them a couple of weeks ago. A number of workers were let go after that strike. I bring to the attention of the Taoiseach the situation of Part V council tenants. We have been dealing with a situation with tenants of a complex in Drimnagh, the Davitt. It is a build-to-rent development of 265 apartments with a basement car park, a gym, internal and external play areas and a community events ven…

It has to do with planning applications and the planning process.