The answer to that question is "No". If there is concern around an entirely anonymised system, a halfway house can be found on that. The Government can give women and patients choice in respect of any future look-backs as to whether their sample or slide would be anonymised. I suggest, and my instinct is, that most people, when we talk about information, clarity, transparency and accountability, would prefer that the system not be anonymised. I am not convinced by the argument, and I have heard it rehearsed, that i…

I thank the Minister for this constructive approach. It is much appreciated and I acknowledge this, as others have. I again appeal to the Minister to at least keep an open mind on a programmatic audit. He does not need to convince anyone here on the learning, educational value or the need for metadata. We could have a much more progressive and nuanced approached to this in which the need to use the data speaks to a consent issue for patients and women, which can be catered for but, critically, there must be an elem…

The report published this morning by the Banking and Payment Federation of Ireland, BPFI, confirms what we already know, which is that the housing policy of the Government is failing abysmally. The BPFI analysis is stark. Since 2010, rents in Ireland have soared by a whopping 82% compared with an EU average of 18% for the same period. This rip-off of Ireland's renters has happened on the watch of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. Crazy rents are robbing tenants of any hope of getting a deposit together to buy their own ho…

Let me tell the Minister this: the Government's policies are driving an entire generation of our young people to Perth, Sydney, Toronto and beyond.

That is what the Government is at. I will tell the Minister what our policies will do: our approach will move heaven and earth to keep those young people at home or, if they have gone away, to give them an opportunity to come back. The Minister describes this as a significant challenge. Let us get the language right. This is an emergency and a disaster for families in their real, lived lives and the Government has dragged its feet-----

It comes in here week after week to tell fairy tales and make-believe, imagining its approach is working, when it is plainly failing. I drew the Minister's attention to the distinction between an 82% growth in rents as against 18%, which is the EU average and I asked how the Government would respond to that

I have given the Minister two ideas: one is a refundable tax credit for renters to put a month's rent back in their pockets and reduce rents; and a complete and effective ban on rent increases. Will the Minister deal with those two issues?

It is not working.

I want to raise the issue of the patient safety Bill. Members will acknowledge and remember that recently, at the time of the death of Vicky Phelan, the Taoiseach reiterated a Government promise to achieve full open disclosure. The legislation is to come before the House and the debate is to be guillotined. The Minister for Health has tabled 50 separate amendments but the one amendment we need to see to prescribe in law the absolute obligation for full open disclosure is not there. The legislation means that a disc…

In fact, it will still fall to the woman to require a review.

This is absolutely outrageous and totally unacceptable.

The fact the Government would seek to move flawed legislation in this way and, furthermore, to guillotine the debate is all the more insulting to the women who have suffered as a result of the CervicalCheck scandal.

And it will be guillotined.

They are not agreed.

Ireland is a proud, ancient European nation. In the new year, we will mark 50 years since becoming a member of what was then the European Communities in 1973. Since then, it has been quite a journey. There have been so many positive advances in areas such as equality, workers’ rights, environmental standards and economic progress. There have been many challenges too, including growing militarisation, deregulation and privatisation, to mention just some. However, on this journey, solidarity, fairness and a convictio…

Ireland has changed and is changing. Brexit is responsible for some of that. The EU took a significant decision when it stated to our then Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, at the outset of Brexit that, in the context of Irish reunification, the North will automatically rejoin the EU and the North’s citizens will become full EU citizens once again. That is a very important statement recognising that the Good Friday Agreement sets out the next step on Ireland’s journey; the ending of partition and the holding of referendums on…

Ireland is a proud, ancient European nation. In the new year, we will mark 50 years since becoming a member of what was then the European Communities in 1973. Since then, it has been quite a journey. There have been so many positive advances in areas such as equality, workers’ rights, environmental standards and economic progress. There have been many challenges too, including growing militarisation, deregulation and privatisation, to mention just some. However, on this journey, solidarity, fairness and a convictio…

Ireland has changed and is changing. Brexit is responsible for some of that. The EU took a significant decision when it stated to our then Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, at the outset of Brexit that, in the context of Irish reunification, the North will automatically rejoin the EU and the North’s citizens will become full EU citizens once again. That is a very important statement recognising that the Good Friday Agreement sets out the next step on Ireland’s journey; the ending of partition and the holding of referendums on…

The fiasco surrounding the delivery of the national children’s hospital continues. It is a saga that has rumbled on for two decades. We have already seen the cost for the hospital balloon and almost double. Despite all this investment, the children of Ireland still do not have their hospital. It was supposed to be open by 2014. Then it was August 2022. Now we are told it might open in mid-2024. Ten years after it was supposed to open, we still wait with real uncertainty, even around the 2024 date. If this debacle w…

Taxpayers’ money.