I thank the Social Democrats for putting forward this timely and worthwhile motion. This is an important issue that affects everyone in the State at this time. Everyone knows that Ireland is one of the most expensive states in Europe for groceries. The gap between us and our European neighbours looks to be growing year on year. Some prices could be understandable but when we look at the EU Commission website and see that non-alcoholic beverages are the most expensive in Ireland, at 40% above the EU average, it make…

This week, we read more reports of starving Palestinians in Gaza being fired upon and murdered by the IDF as they made their way to Israeli and US-run aid centres for food. It really is the lowest of the low and I cannot think of another conflict where this has happened on a daily basis, with no consequences for the perpetrators or any real possibility of consequences. Israeli officials sought to shut down the pre-existing aid system run by 15 UN agencies and 200 NGOs and partners, and introduced the US and Israeli…

I rightfully expected the Government’s response in the amendment to this Private Members' motion to be the same dismissive smokescreen which has been thrown up whenever the future of the GPO and our historic buildings on Moore Street where the leaders of 1916 made their last stand is raised. However, let us be clear: this Private Members' motion is only in response to the Taoiseach’s statements. His plan is to turn the GPO into a mixed-use development and Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Lowry-Independent group will …

I welcome the Minister of State's comments about North-South co-operation and striving to build cross-community relationships. The amount pledged by the Government has been broadly welcomed in all corners of our country, along with the £50 million from the UK Government, the £62 million from Stormont and the £15 million from the GAA. Although the project is still some way short of the £260 million price tag and we expect that to rise due to inflation, the progress in recent weeks is welcome, despite the many delays…

The delays are regrettable. They are, unfortunately, a sign of the times in which we live. None of us wants this opportunity to slip away and to be left looking back with regret in the years to come having made no progress. I note and appreciate the Minister of State's collegial tone. I look forward to working with the Department and both the Minister and Minister of State to assist in any way I can, going forward.

I thank the Independent Technical Group for bringing this Private Member's motion to the House. I have to ask directly whether the Minister for Housing and this Government understand why all the Opposition parties are continually putting forward motions on housing so early in this new Dáil term. Why do the Government's amendments to those many motions on housing all say the same thing? Why do the amendments to the many housing motions always deny the fact there is a housing crisis, which is in fact a housing emerge…

I thank my party colleague Aengus Ó Snodaigh for introducing this Bill, which he submitted to the Bills Office in the previous Dáil. He has done tremendous work on this Bill and the many others he has introduced to the House. I also welcome our party colleague the MP for Newry and Armagh, Dáire Hughes - he is here with us today - who raised the issue of geo-blocking last year and highlighted how unfair it was when RTÉ stopped broadcasts of its news bulletins in the North of Ireland, including news from the 2024 Oly…

I wish to raise the substandard and dangerous state of disrepair Drogheda ambulance station is currently in. I have over recent months raised this directly with the Minister and during a Topical Issue debate several weeks ago, I elevated major concerns around subsidence, mould, electrical faults and security and safety concerns among other things. I requested that the Minister engage with the National Ambulance Service on immediate works. I also asked her to seek an update on the long-mooted new base for paramedics…

There are many things I could speak about under this Private Members' business but I will stick to trains. Public transport will play a major role in the development of our regions. People must be able to work, live and commute from all over the country and that is why Sinn Féin is determined to deliver major rail projects that have stalled, fallen by the wayside, been left in a Minister's desk drawer or gone hugely over budget. The all-island strategic rail review includes the electrification of the line, new line…

I will begin by reiterating that, for the common good, I want every Government housing and homelessness policy to work. For every person on a housing list, for every one of the hidden homeless, for every family in a homeless hub and for all of those in emergency accommodation, I want the Government's policies to work. However, I do not know what way it needs to be communicated to the Minister for him to accept there is a housing and homelessness crisis and to the Government for it to understand that the housing and…

I read the press release issued on Monday by the Minister, Deputy McEntee, which detailed the 28 schools that will undergo major energy and decarbonisation retrofit works this summer under the pathfinder programme. It is welcome news for those schools and I have no doubt they are delighted to be selected. I understand the pilot inventory covered schools in counties Kildare, Meath, Offaly, Wicklow and Wexford, with 40 schools participating in the planning and design stages of the programme. However, there are other …

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit. The school has applied for emergency works funding. It is also in the process of applying for the climate action summer works scheme this year. However, getting multiple grants at various times and doing the required works piecemeal is time consuming for primary school teachers who are already overloaded. It is almost unfair to ask them to take that route, but they are actively doing so. Work that fixes one thing in one part of the school risks being undone by not having an all-…

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I hope the Minister will withdraw his amendment killing this Bill and support it as it stands. We ask those on the Government benches to also support this Bill as it would do what all parties agree needs to be done and bring RTÉ under the remit of the Comptroller and Auditor General. I have read the media reports that the media Minister, Deputy Patrick O’Donovan, has outlined to his Government colleagues that it is his opinion that this Bill does not go as far as t…

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachtaí who contributed. I thank the Minister and Minister of State for their responses. While I appreciate everything we received from the Minister and Minister of State this evening, there is a simple thing being lost with regard to the Bill that has been presented. The Bill simply puts RTÉ accounts under the oversight of the Comptroller and Auditor General. There is no need to lump this one simple change in with an omnibus Bill that includes the transposition of the European Media Freed…

The Government never built any.

I commence tonight by mentioning and paying tribute to 14-year-old disability rights campaigner Cara Darmody, who began her 50 hour sleep-out protest outside Leinster House this morning. She is here to battle for her two brothers who have autism and profound intellectual disabilities and for the thousands more children like them whom this Government is failing. Despite its denials, it is failing them. It is an indictment of this Government that a 14-year-old who should be studying for her exams and looking forward …

I will take a moment to mention Kyran Durnin who should be celebrating his ninth birthday with his family and loved ones today but who instead is subject to a major Garda investigation to try to determine his whereabouts and whether he is even still alive. I know Kyran's family is holding a candlelit vigil in Drogheda this evening. Our thoughts and prayers are with them. There is a need for additional funding and resources for the three housing adaptation grant schemes in County Louth. Last week, just over a third …

Today, we put forward a detailed motion on housing and critical infrastructure. Examples were given and statements from bodies involved in the delivery of homes, such as Uisce Éireann, the Irish Home Builders Association and the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, were given, but the Government's amendment to this motion is a rinse and repeat of its response to all motions in this new Dáil term. It ignores what has been said, it ignores the examples given, it ignores expert opinion, and it gives lots of flowery…

This question is to ask the Minister to provide details for all agencies under his Department's remit of capital projects costing more than €500,000 that were either abandoned or materially failed to be delivered, and if he will make a statement on the matter.

I commend the Minister on instructing his Department to initiate this exercise and on providing transparency regarding what may be a huge waste of public money by multiple bodies under the aegis of his Department. Unfortunately for him, these wastes of money seem to follow him. When he was previously Minister with responsibility for the OPW, there were issues with money being wasted, such as the €1.4 million spent on a security hut and the €330,000 spent on the Leinster House bike shed. He will say he is not respon…