First, I would like to thank the Labour Party for bringing this important Bill before the Dáil today. Yesterday, the Government pushed forward two amendments to our Constitution in the name of gender equality, ignoring all opposition, to set-up a referendum on International Women’s Day. Today, it kicks the can down the road on legislation that would make a real, material difference to women’s lives and to gender inequality in the workplace. It really lays bare what this Government cares about, namely, symbolic expr…

I thank Deputy Doherty for tabling this Private Members' motion. The current housing strategy where we see more investment funds buying up blocks of new housing or huge build-to-rent developments is a clear example of how this Government’s policy on housing has been an unmitigated disaster for ordinary people. Faced with a generational housing crisis the only political will the Government has shown is keeping wed to the idea that no matter what the cost, the most important thing in our housing market is that the bi…

I am not a barrister or a solicitor in any shape or form; I am a lay person. I thank the members of the Citizens' Assembly on Gender Equality for the time and effort they took to produce such a comprehensive and progressive report. The report is certainly a lot more progressive than the Government's proposed amendments. I welcome most of the measures in both the 39th and 40th amendments. I have lived with my partner for 35 years. It came to my attention only during the Covid pandemic that my name was on the house a…

Greyhound's bin charges have increased from €16.50 to €24.47 in 18 months. Panda is increasing annual charges by 8.4% less than a year after it increased its general waste bin charge by 12%. You would expect to see the rest of the waste collection companies following suit soon. The privatisation of our bin service is bad for households but it is also bad for workers. We saw the wiping out of a steady unionised workforce across the country. This is a failure of privatisation. People campaigned against this during th…

What we have to do here is set the principle, and this must be done by the Government, that waste collection must be remunicipalised. Very important issues are at stake here. One is the overseeing of waste management. Waste has a great effect on pollution, water quality in our seas and rivers, and the spread of microplastics, not to mention the waste we export for other countries to deal with. We need public management of waste for the environment as well and I would like to hear this from the Minister of State.

I welcome the fact that the Government is accepting this motion in principle. I would like to hear a reply from the Minister of State on whether the Government will amend the Fossil Fuel (Amendment) Act 2018 in a manner that will widen its reach so it is applicable to all funds within the ISIF by means of the removal of the exclusionary clause within section 49A(1) regarding financial derivatives and instruments, exchange traded funds or hedge funds. That is an important part of this motion and I want clarification…

Deputy Collins is the one who is miles away from reality.

It is now eight months since the Government lifted the eviction ban and took away the only thing keeping thousands of people from facing eviction. It was a political decision to allow a level of homelessness in this country that has not been seen in modern times. Time will tell the full damage of lifting the no-fault eviction ban, but we know that since the Government took away the ban, in excess of 15,000 people have been given notices to quit. That is a greater number than what was seen in the Famine. That is a q…

I ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will consider raising employers' PRSI to the EU average. I am surprised that the question is being taken now. I had submitted it to the Department of Finance, which rejected it and said it was not under its remit, and it has turned up here.

I hear what the Minister of State is saying. There was an agreement to increase employers' PRSI in relation to State pensions. Research by SIPTU shows that increasing employers' PRSI to the EU average would provide an extra €10 billion, similar to what we spend on education each year. The Nevin Institute has said the tax revenue from employees exceeds the EU average while employers are undertaxed. It went on to say that the Republic's low overall implicit tax rate on labour arises because employers in the Republic …

I am glad the Government has brought forward a Bill to make our planning system clearer in the aftermath of repeated calls from the Opposition at the committee on housing and by interest groups. I echo my fellow Deputies' concerns over the lack of: a proper explanatory memorandum for the Bill; adequate speaking time on the third-largest Bill in the State's history; and time for Members to read through the 700 pages plus of the Bill before it came into the House. I have not had the opportunity to sit down and go thr…

This motion is nothing but fake concern. It has no solutions. We have seen a chaotic response to increased numbers of asylum seekers and refugees. We have a failing health system, a failing housing market, and failing services. If the Government thinks it is dealing with the homelessness for people in Ireland, Ukrainians, and IPAS arrivals, I would hate to see what failure looks like. However, these attempts to point the finger of blame at powerless people rather than at those in power, lets the successive Governme…

I welcome that the Cabinet has agreed to hold two referendums on International Women's Day next year, although the detailed wording will have to be scrutinised. When is it intended to hold referendums on the Thirty-fifth Amendment of the Constitution (Water in Public Ownership) (No. 2) Bill 2016 and the right to housing? The water in public ownership legislation has been buried on Committee Stage since March 2018. That is five and a half years we have been waiting for it to move on. In a letter to me in November 20…

I thank Sinn Féin and Deputy Ó Broin for bringing this motion to the floor of the House. It is important that we keep discussing and raising these issues with the Government. Renters are very much at the coalface of our housing crisis. The vast majority of those entering homelessness are renters. Focus Ireland found 70% of families becoming homeless came from the rental sector. The severe lack of rental properties, combined with little or no protections for renters against eviction, has created a situation where ma…

I send my solidarity and that of the Right2Change party to the victims of last Thursday's horrific violent attack. There are no words to describe something like this and I wish everyone affected a full recovery. I thank the heroes who responded to the attack and I condemn the violence against gardaí, emergency services and workers in the city on Thursday evening. The children and community around the school need support in the aftermath of the serious attack. I would like the Minister to outline exactly what Govern…

This is pretty clear and simple as far as I am concerned. The Irish people are proud of our history of neutrality and do not want that to change. It offers Ireland a unique place and voice internationally. It allows us to serve as neutral peacekeepers in conflict. It reflects our history as a former colony that rejects wars of aggression and domination. Poll after poll shows Irish people want no change in our neutrality. As of last year, two thirds of voters agreed with keeping neutrality and the triple lock. The i…

I will not be taking the full 20 minutes for once. I welcome any increases that have come through this Bill and the once-off payments, and I know the hundreds of thousands of people depending on social protection welcome them as well. I welcome the change in the policy around carers and around teenagers at 18 holding onto child benefit when going to university. That has a huge impact on families. The €12 addition to core social welfare rates is better than nothing but with this increase the Minister has made a poli…

I thank People Before Profit for bringing this motion to the floor of the House. I welcome the announcement of a possible ceasefire and the release of hostages and for humanitarian aid to get into Gaza. I hope the people of Gaza can find some peace while the Israeli bombardment stops. Over the past few weeks, we have been watching a genocide unfold before our eyes. More than 14,000 people have been killed, including 5,000 children. More than 1.7 million people have been displaced and one in every 200 residents has …

My question relates to new guidance given on the General Medical Services, GMS, scheme regarding the tax treatment of GPs' income. This will have a detrimental effect on GP practices, especially community practices. I put a question to the Minister for Health, who said his Department and the HSE had been in contact with Revenue on the issue but offered little other information. A GP considered that reply to be very unhelpful. This is a move that massively complicates the administration of general practice. Will the…

I thank Sinn Féin for bringing this motion to the House. I am supporting it because my experience has been that there are serious issues in the health service. We are in this position because of a political choice by the Government to underfund our health services. We will now see plans to recruit an extra 7,000 needed staff scrapped. The recruitment freeze will continue into next year. That is what the Government’s decision to underfund the HSE by €1.4 billion looks like. The Government has reversed course. It rea…