I move: That the Bill be referred to the Select Committee on Justice pursuant to Standing Orders 95(3)( a ) and 178(1).

I am glad to support the motion. It is very shortsighted of the Government - any government - not to embrace the opportunity to abolish this means test. It does not reconcile with our ability to dish out social supports hand over fist to people from other countries, mainly as a result of the Ukraine war, without any means test at all. Some of them are driving all sorts of vehicles and running businesses abroad. That is a matter of fact and something the Government has chosen not to listen to. Second, there should o…

Rather than thinking too locally or too prudently, for the first time, this and the next Government need to think strategically. We have talked for 50 years about balanced regional development and Deputy Harkin and others have raised the infrastructure deficit on the western seaboard. Never did we have a situation where we had money we did not want and, it seems, did not need, yet there is so much that we could do with it strategically. I appeal to the Government to devote it, in a positive discriminatory fashion, …

I appreciate that the Government was prepared to allow me to speak. I very much appreciate that. In fairness to everybody here - a lot of us have been around these Houses for a long time - it is clear what is happening. It is tactical. Numbers are tight. Let us get on and have a vote. If there was interest in giving me time, I would have preferred for that to have been decoupled from pushing the motion on until there were more generous Government Members available.

And a full house.

I thank the Government for facilitating this time. Whenever the vote is, I will be back to vote against the pact or our opting in at this time. As other Members have said, we are putting the cart before the horse. Some of us are old enough to remember the Amsterdam treaty in 1998, which we voted for, and our two outings on Lisbon in 2008 and 2009. It is worth noting that we looked for certain things in that and we have to ask ourselves what has changed since then for us to want to decide now, without consulting the…

The Minister of State will no doubt be aware, more than anybody, of the inordinate delays that are taking place in An Bord Pleanála at the moment where, within 18 weeks, the board undertakes through legislation to give answers to people. Sadly, there are flaws in the procedures there. I know there are staffing issues but the procedures are non-strategic and, I must say, well beyond the definition of mediocrity with regard to public service in the face of the greatest housing and accommodation crisis the State has e…

It is not personal but the parrot-like responses that have been prepared for junior ministers who come into the House are totally unacceptable. I have been in the Oireachtas for 22 years. I know what An Bord Pleanála does. The Minister of State started by talking of its independence and then he spoke better than any communications company procured by that company. He did not listen to anything I said about the tangible issues that are going on day to day with An Bord Pleanála’s strategic operation. It is not fit fo…

I did not ask the Minister of State to.

I did not ask you to.

The Minister of State does not set Standing Orders.

I highlighted this matter more than a year and a half ago in the first instance because of the problems it would inevitably cause. Unfortunately, many of those problems have now been realised. As the Minister of State will be aware, those poor people who are fleeing war and persecution from countries such as Syria, Somalia, Nigeria and elsewhere are being afforded accommodation, food and €38 per week, whereas those fleeing war in Ukraine under the temporary protection directive, although it is not prescribed in the…

I know the process and thank the Minister of State for outlining it. I acknowledge that he is here on behalf of other Ministers to give this reply. He said the difference "lies in the different legislative frameworks" but it is ourselves who are responsible for that. Whether it was a puritanical approach by the Cabinet committee responsible for the temporary protection directive, the reality is the discriminatory acts that we are taking in terms of this two-tiered system have been highlighted for almost two years. …

First, I want to express my best wishes to the victims who are continuing to recover following the attacks of two weeks ago and condemn the wanton violence and thuggery of those recent events. There is no excuse for them and they have no place in our society. I will support the Minister because, as I have said to a lot of media during the week, what I would much prefer us to focus on as a House is making the urgent adjustments the working people of Ireland in the centre want to see to our policies on justice and im…

We are well ahead of schedule.

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I thank the Minister of State for facilitating us. The Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, has been in contact with me to say the Government is not opposing the Bill. A lot of colleagues are supporting it and I am very grateful to them for that opportunity. Before I begin, I welcome members of the Institute of Professional Auctioneers and Valuers, IPAV, to the Gallery, including its CEO Pat Davitt and its president John Kennedy. I thank them for their vision in s…

I thank the Minister for not opposing and for taking a constructive approach in terms of referring it to committee. I thank the Sinn Féin Party. Other parties expressed support as well. We are all on the same page in terms of trying to achieve the outcome. Ultimately, to follow on from Deputy Ó Broin, it is all about consumers. While we are here in the presence of some of the professional bodies, if we do not have buyers and sellers there is no business for anybody and we are not generating taxation or anything els…

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, for his time this evening. We have seen the rapid escalation in the cost of living over the last number of years, much of it driven by inflation and coming off a low-cost basis. We have also had a lot of policy-driven increase of costs. As the Minister of State finalises, with his colleagues, the budgetary measures over the course of the next six days, I appeal to him to maximise the supports to hard-pressed families who have had to sustain huge cost increases in ener…

I thank the Minister of State. There is not an employment organisation in the country that does not agree with transitioning to a minimum wage, that does not agree with the economic measures that have been done for families - more are needed - and that does not agree with the additional issues around statutory sick pay and whatever, but it is to balance that against their rising costs in an appropriate way. As I said, employers' PRSI is one way. Other tax credit schemes are another way. A further extension to the t…

In line with our ongoing commitment to support those fleeing war-torn Ukraine, is it the Government's intention to continue to apply a different approach to those seeking international protection under our own legislation and those fleeing Ukraine under the EU's temporary protection directive? Is the Taoiseach aware that while we provide €38.80 per week for those seeking international protection, we are a complete outlier in the EU and neighbouring countries with the provision of €220 per week for those fleeing Ukr…