I move: That the Bill be referred to the Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform, Digitilisation, and Taoiseach pursuant Standing Orders 103(2)(b) and 184(a).

Tomorrow, the Committee of Public Accounts will return to its scrutiny of the extraordinary expenditure on IPAS accommodation last year of €1.2 billion. We return to this scrutiny on foot of a damning report carried out by the Comptroller and Auditor General who raised serious issues about governance, oversight and transparency. Contracts have been awarded to some of the largest criminals within the State. We see shelf companies being set up and established. People have become millionaires overnight on foot of this…

Where were you?

Last week figures provided to me confirmed that more than €400,000 of taxpayers' money was wasted on the failed IPAS accommodation site at River Lodge in Newtownmountkennedy, County Wicklow. This is a shocking example of mismanagement from start to finish. From day one I and the local community warned the then Minister that the site was completely unsuitable but the Government pressed ahead anyway, recklessly and over the heads of those affected and impacted. Tented accommodation was installed on a site that could …

Wasting.

This morning and every morning, thousands of Wicklow residents are stuck in lengthy and lengthening queues along the N11 and M11, which is having a serious and detrimental impact on people's quality of life. People are late for work and school. It is having a detrimental impact on the economy in Wicklow and a serious impact on the environment. In 2022, after going through a lengthy process, getting to phase 1 and with several million euro spent on the upgrade of the N11, funding was pulled from that scheme, which w…

Will that include the N11?

The Minister is not representing part of his party when it comes to taxes.

That is ridiculous. That is no defence.

You are not meeting your commitments.

Each year in Greystones, children are being left without secondary school places. This year, up to 29 students have no place, including one student who repeated sixth class after missing out last year. This student still has no offer of a school place and that is an absolute disgrace. We need a common enrolment policy, but there is another simple solution and that is building a post-primary school in Newtownmountkennedy. The Minister for education recently informed me that there are no plans for a school there, cit…

The Greystones Media Campus was hailed as a transformative €300 million project for Wicklow, set to deliver 1,500 jobs in a major boost to Ireland's creative sector. The Ireland Strategic Investment Fund committed €24 million to the project, and while some site work did commence in 2023, the project has since ground to a complete halt. This is not just a delay; it is a serious risk to one of the most important media infrastructure projects within the State. Now, with President Trump threatening 100% tariffs on non-…

There is State funding of €24 million.

I am talking in the whole about 1,500 jobs for Wicklow and the rest of the State.

I am asking about what hands-on action the Government is taking.

Clearly nothing.

Yesterday, I listened to an interview that should haunt every one of us. Dr. Victoria Rose is a surgeon working on the front line in Gaza. She told us of the 2,300 families who were completely wiped from the Palestinian civil registry - gone, annihilated. Not one member of any of those families is left. She spoke of the 42,000 children who are the sole survivors of their families. They are known by the chilling acronym, WCNSF, which means, wounded child, no surviving family. Over the past 599 days, 54,000 Palestini…

Double standards.

What about the genocide?

You have sat on your hands.