I thank the Minister. If possible, perhaps he could reach across the Cabinet table to speak about the Pobal funding, as that would be really welcome. The Clondalkin Equine Club is an oasis of tranquility in north Clondalkin. Young people are carrying on the tradition of urban horsemanship in a responsible manner. Its purpose is to develop the social, equine and vocational skills of young people and to provide recreation, education, training and employment opportunities. Services are delivered to a number of groups,…

The Government must step up to the plate on the ongoing Israeli slaughter of the Palestinian people in East Jerusalem and Gaza. The scenes witnessed in Palestine recently are horrific and absolutely heart-breaking. The escalation of Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people must stop. Israeli fighter jets have continued to pummel the Gaza Strip, flattening residential buildings and raising the death toll to at least 227. The dead include at least 64 children. These children's lives have been wiped out. Let …

I thank my constituency colleague, Deputy Ó Broin, not only for tabling this motion but also for writing a blueprint for how to fix the housing crisis caused by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. He has put forward solutions that will allow workers and families to put a secure roof over their heads. Only last week, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael voted against giving renters a break. To compound this, they also voted to allow vultures to continue to pick at the flesh of ordinary workers and families who are desperate for a home.…

On a point of order, I am aware there are changes to Questions on Promised Legislation. The instruction coming from the Ceann Comhairle's office is that Deputies would only be able to speak once. Deputy Higgins spoke yesterday, so it is only fair that-----

I have already contacted the Ceann Comhairle's office and he said he would rectify this, so in the interest of fairness the Deputy should cede and sit down.

I am not silencing anybody.

I thank my constituency colleague, Deputy Ó Broin, for tabling this important motion on giving renters a break. Fine Gael's disastrous housing policy while in government has left many workers and families in dire living situations. They face unaffordable rents, unaffordable house prices, whole estates being devoured by vulture funds, and public lands being sold to private developers. During the charade this country had to endure of the confidence and supply arrangement in the previous Dáil, Fianna Fáil Deputies huf…

I thank the Minister of State. I welcome many of the initiatives she announced in her opening statement, particularly regarding surge capacity. We have been calling for an initiative on surge capacity for a while. It is very welcome. I acknowledge the Minister of State's commitment to addressing eating disorder services but I wonder whether surge capacity can be used for people who are currently suffering from eating disorders while services are being put in place. That would be very welcome. I have three further q…

To return to the issue of eating disorders, will the Minister of State commit to examining the use of surge capacity in private mental healthcare on an interim basis while the Department is getting its ducks in a row in respect of all the other services that are coming down the road? That would be really welcome. Mothers and fathers have told me they are watching their adult children die in front of them. If something could be done, it would be fantastic. On the crisis de-escalation service, I attended a meeting of…

I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to amend the Proceeds of Crime Act 1996 and provide that the proceeds of crime be invested in disadvantaged communities in order to help alleviate the impact of crime and help prevent the reoccurrence of criminal behaviour. In response to a parliamentary question I tabled, it was noted the Criminal Assets Bureau, CAB, seized almost €65 million in cash and assets in 2019. This is a significant increase on previous years and welcome news. Most of the m…

I move: "That the Bill be taken in Private Members' time."

I have changed my question on the basis of what Deputy Higgins has just said regarding public land sold to a private developer. The Sinn Féin model is to ensure we get the best bang for our buck on public land for public homes, social and affordable. Therefore, I ask the Tánaiste to comment on Clonburris strategic development zone, SDZ, which has 8,500 homes planned for it. Deputy Higgins, along with the National Asset Management Agency, NAMA and other developers, appealed this decision to An Bord Pleanála, which d…

I move: “That Dáil Éireann: acknowledges that: — a mental health crisis demands an emergency response; — the World Health Organization recommends that a minimum of 14 per cent of a country’s overall health budget be allocated for mental health; — SláinteCare recommends a minimum mental health budget of 10 per cent; — the Government’s mental health spend in 2020 was reduced to 5.2 per cent of the overall health budget; and — the €10 million in additional funding committed to in the Government’s Covid-19 Resilience a…

I thank all Deputies who contributed to the debate. The Minister of State said she will not oppose the motion. That is all fine and well but what is needed is action. In response to her maiden speech as Minister of State, I said that I would work with her in opposition in a real, tangible and solution-focused way. I was talking about motions like this when I said that. It is time for her to stand up and be counted and to put the actions in place that are laid out in the motion. I am putting her on notice that I wil…

The plans have been agreed for the roll-out of a primary health care centre in Clondalkin, which is to provide speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, and a dental clinic among other services. These are much-needed services for which the people of north Clondalkin have been crying out. In response to a parliamentary question I tabled I was told there is a delay in transferring the land from the Department of Education to the Department of Health. This delay has been going on since 2015. It…

"There should be no further commercial development work in the vicinity of this site or in the [Moore Street] area. The strongest way to secure that is to designate it as a historical quarter." These are fine words and as much as I would like to claim credit for them, I cannot. They are the words of current Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, in 2015. It is not often that I find myself in agreement with the Minister but he was on the money when he said that. I urge him to ma…

The Land Development Agency will create the largest development company in the history of the State. This first raised its head back in 2018 when the then scheme proposed just 10% social housing and 30% affordable housing on public lands. It was the brainchild of the former Fine Gael housing Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy. When I was a councillor on South Dublin County Council I saw at first hand the lengths to which Fine Gael would go to scupper social housing and cosy up to developers. Clonburris is a site that r…

Because some of my time has already been eaten up, I will ask some questions and will appreciate if the Minister can get back to me in writing because he may not have time now. The delivery of the vaccine to our citizens is of paramount importance in getting people back to work, allowing families and friends to meet up, enabling our children to get back to sports and to school, and basically in getting back to everything we took for granted before this pandemic reached our shores. Teething problems cannot be used a…

We have seen for a long time the mixed messages coming from and the kite-flying engaged in by the Government. This is not a game between the Taoiseach and Tánaiste to get the message out first and then to undermine each other. The people are worn out with conflicting information and off-the-cuff announcements. People's mental health has been affected. There is a large audience every time the Government announces new restrictions. This is not because people want to see "The Micheál and Leo Show", but because people …

Funding for local drug task forces is €3 million less than it was ten years ago, despite repeated promises from successive Governments. As a former director of the Clondalkin Drug and Alcohol Task Force, I have seen at first hand how addiction services have tried to do more with less. Drug and alcohol task forces need multi-annual funding to provide the services their communities desperately need. In 2019, almost €69 million was seized by the Criminal Assets Bureau, CAB. This money originated in areas with high lev…