The Minister has come in here and said he is only a month in the job. I hate to remind him that he has been Taoiseach over the past two years. That speaks to the lack of urgency and seriousness the Government has given the major crisis within the Defence Forces. The Minister's comments hit the nail on the head. He said that of the 38 early actions, two thirds have been implemented, as if that is some sort of major achievement. The reality is that one third have not been implemented within the Government's own timef…

As we approach the first anniversary of the illegal Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, when war once again became an instrument of policy in Europe, I reiterate my commitment and support for the territorial integrity of Ukraine and national self-determination of the Ukrainian people. Ireland must continue to offer its support to the Ukrainian people. The need for humanitarian assistance has never been greater, particularly as Russian forces continue to deliberately target civilians and civilian infrastruct…

First and foremost, I congratulate the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, on his new position. This is my first opportunity to question the Minister of State on the floor of the House and I will try to be brief. I have a couple of questions and we can take them one at a time in the first slot. As we approach the first anniversary of the illegal invasion of Ukraine, I want to talk about the refugees who have been forced to flee Ukraine. Some 8 million, at this point, have fled the country in search of safety acr…

It is really important that all perpetrators of war crimes are held to account for their crimes, for crimes against humanity, for butchery and grotesque murder of civilians in any circumstances. I welcome the EU push and the involvement of Ireland in the investigation by the International Criminal Court of all of the Russian atrocities. I genuinely welcome that and note that the Tánaiste spoke about the special tribunal that is being looked at to advance justice for all of those who have lost loved ones as a result…

That dialogue has not worked up to now.

I was beginning to think the Tánaiste had forgotten he had taken on the new role of Minister for Foreign Affairs.

As it is my first opportunity to question the Tánaiste as the new Minister for Foreign Affairs, I would like to congratulate him on taking on that role. I look forward to our engagement over the next while. I will start off our questions with a question on foot of the new Israeli Prime Minister, Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu, taking office in an extreme right-wing Government. Unfortunately, we have seen a continuation of inflammatory language and, worse still, over 35 Palestinians being killed since the start of this year…

I ask the Minister whether he sees prospects of moving a peaceful dialogue forward jeopardised now as a result of this new right-wing Government.

This is the most right-wing government in the history of Israel. It came to power on the back of an agenda that can only contribute to the worsening violence and to the way in which Palestinians are treated. We have seen since the start of the year that more than 35 Palestinians, including eight children, have been killed. Unfortunately, that has led, as the Tánaiste mentioned, to the killing of Israelis in Jerusalem last week. We see a ratcheting up of tensions. That has come about following the inflammatory langu…

The Minister is right to be concerned about what is happening on the ground, but this has not just come about since the start of the year. It has been a systematic approach by successive Israeli Governments to displace Palestinians from their land, demolish and destroy their homes and disperse them into fragments of their land. We need to move beyond the rhetoric of concern. We need definitive action from the international community, the EU and, in this instance, the Tánaiste. This Dáil unanimously agreed to recogn…

The year 2022 was an unmitigated disaster when it came to the handling and issuing of passports. It saw many families, unfortunately, missing out on their holidays due to chronic delays in the issuing of passports. What lessons have been learned from last year's mess? More importantly, what actions will be put in place to ensure people get their passport in a timely manner and that we do not see a repeat of some of the scenes from last year?

First and foremost, I pay tribute to all the staff in the Passport Office who did exceptionally good work in very difficult circumstances. When I say "difficult circumstances" I mean the failure to prepare and foresee what was coming post Brexit. There was always going to be a surge in the number of people looking to travel post Covid and we did not have the proper people or resources in place to deal with what was a predictable increase in passport applications. I welcome some of what the Minister said in regard t…

What analysis has taken place? I asked the previous Minister a number of times about increasing capacity, that is, opening new passport offices. I appreciate that a lot of the demand is online and that is where we are trying to drive people, but there will always be the need for people to walk into a passport office. What analysis has been done regarding opening a new passport office somewhere in the State? What analysis, if any, has been done on opening one in the North? Last year saw for the first time a signific…

What actions is the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs prepared to take in order to hold Israel to account for its continuous demolition and destruction of EU-funded structures in Palestine?

On 24 November last year, Israel demolished Masafer Yatta school in south Hebron. That was one of more than 9,257 Palestinian structures that have been demolished illegally by Israel since 2009, displacing more than 13,345 Palestinians from their lands. This is a policy of destruction, demolition, displacement and dispersal of Palestinians to the smallest parcels of land, similar to the Bantustans in apartheid South Africa. The Minister referenced the application by the West Bank Protection Consortium. That has now…

I have 11,397 reasons I have no confidence in the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage. This is the number of homeless people who were in emergency accommodation in October. Many more are sleeping rough tonight on the streets of this capital and of towns right across the State. This winter, the past week of which has brought even more untold hardship, suffering and death on our streets, the housing emergency, crisis and debacle that the Minister oversees as the member of the Government responsible fo…

Members of the Government are funding judicial reviews of major developments-----

-----in Delgany, Enniskerry and towns right across Wicklow.

They are funding judicial reviews that are holding up thousands of homes in Wicklow.

Yes, that is what members of the Deputy’s Government are - serial objectors.