I support the Taoiseach's comments regarding the importance of population screening and the importance for women to participate in CervicalCheck. All of us who avail of the service are well aware of its absolute value. Vicky’s ambition to bring screening home can be achieved. It was a catastrophic error for the laboratory services not to be available and for screening not to be carried out in this jurisdiction. I want to put that on the record. Can the Taoiseach assure us that when the national laboratory opens - a…

The Alliance for Insurance Reform has stated that insurance companies are taking their policyholders and the Government for a ride when it comes to the insurance reform plan. Business and voluntary organisations have seen no reduction in their insurance premiums while a report published today shows that motor insurance has fallen by only 2% in the past year. The value of awards has reduced significantly but that is being pocketed by the insurance companies. All the while, as the Taoiseach knows, the industry has se…

I am delighted to see the Ceann Comhairle back in the Chair. The Taoiseach stated that energy and energy security were a significant focus of the Prague summit, and they continue to be for European political leaders. In that regard, I wish to raise our planning system, particularly An Bord Pleanála, which has been in crisis for some time. The difficulties run deeper than the behaviour of individual board members. There are issues around governance and organisational culture, but we are now at a critical point with …

The Taoiseach describes Housing for All as the most ambitious plan. He talks about significant impact and indicators of success, yet all the evidence on the ground in the real world is of a social emergency. There is catastrophic failure in the housing market that has implications for people's quality of life, their life options and chances and their mental health. Younger people are actively making the choice to go because they cannot get a roof over their heads. The depth and breadth of the failure of the Governm…

Are the 8,000 new builds?

Last night during a debate with Sinn Féin's Deputy Ó Broin, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy O'Brien, claimed that we do not have a housing emergency. It was incredible stuff and, therefore, I will share with the Taoiseach just some of the hundreds of accounts from people who have been in touch with us in the past 24 hours - victims of the housing emergency. Christopher tells us: I'm living in rental accommodation. I work full time in the defence forces, my partner works part time as …

The highest rents, highest house prices and highest levels of homelessness - that is the reality of the Government's record.

Here is Karen, who is in her early 20s. She says she has been with her boyfriend for six years and they are still living with parents in a box room. They just want to start their own life and are just waiting for something to get better. It is so hard, she says. Michael says: We are a working family with 2 children. Renting for 21 years. We’ve been given a notice of termination. We have no idea where we are going next. We can't afford to buy, and we can't afford to rent. We are not even eligible for council housing…

The Taoiseach is not going to put roofs over people's heads.

Your Minister-----

Speaking on "Morning Ireland" last Thursday, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Michael McGrath, conceded that the Government will not meet its housing targets for this year. He stated: In relation to direct social housing building, the target for 2022 is 9,000. ... We do not believe at this juncture that 9,000 will be met. I take it that he stands over that comment. His remarks at least shed some reality, in contrast with the assertions made by the Taoiseach and the housing Minister that the Go…

I noticed the glee on the Government benches as Members congratulated themselves on housing delivery. The Taoiseach was in attendance at one of those great launches, at which one of the families who got the keys to their home had been on a social housing waiting list for 14 years. That is a generation. That is the time it takes to raise a family. As we meet and speak here, there are families, as I said to the Minister earlier, who are raising their children in the box rooms of their parents' homes. There are kids a…

The Minister made reference to delivery in respect of the Taoiseach's contribution to COP27. We have to accept that we face a huge challenge to achieve a just transition and our 2030 carbon emissions targets are in real jeopardy. The story of Ireland so far has been one of targets set and targets missed. We now need urgency, common sense and action. We need action in respect of investment in our ports and planning system if we are to achieve the wind capacity the Minister talked about. Our retrofitting scheme is no…

The Government is breaking records for all the wrong reasons in our health service. For the first time in our history, we have had a summer trolley crisis, with record wait times. We have seen people aged 75 and over waiting for six or nine days on a trolley. The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, INMO, said just this afternoon that more than 100,000 patients have waited on trolleys so far this year. It is clear we need more hospital beds, yet one in four beds that are funded have still not been delivered. Ove…

We had a trolley crisis in the summer.

Rishi Sunak enters No. 10 Downing Street at a time of real strain between our two islands. That strain is caused by the Tory Government's orchestrated undermining of the Good Friday Agreement and its persistent attacks on the protocol. This self-serving agenda has seeped into the stability of Government and power-sharing in the North. The Tories facilitated the DUP in using the protocol as pretext for its boycott of the political institutions following last May's election. The appointment of a new British Prime Min…

I have absolutely no doubt Europe is ready and, indeed, has been ready and has shown remarkable flexibility in dealing with the issues of concern around the protocol. Just to reiterate, the protocol is widely supported and it is working, as the Taoiseach has attested to and has witnessed from his conversations with various sectors north of the Border. I, too, hope we get to a position where we have a functioning Executive, a First Minister for all and a functioning assembly. That is where this needs to land. Howeve…

There were 669 people on hospital trolleys yesterday, 28 of whom were children. This is the highest ever level of hospital overcrowding for the month of October. Some 15 hospitals across the State did not have a single bed available. My colleague, Deputy Cullinane, has information showing that the average wait in an emergency department this year is nearly 13 hours. It is nearly 15 hours for those aged over 75. As the Taoiseach will know, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, INMO, has repeatedly warned of a …

This week sees yet another disaster in Government housing policy as workers and families across Ireland continue to endure a worsening housing crisis and those fleeing a terrible war in Ukraine were left to sleep in Dublin Airport because there was no accommodation for them. Last March, the Taoiseach said the State would accommodate 200,000 Ukrainian refugees but he had no real plan as to how he would meet that commitment. The Irish people have welcomed some 60,000 refugees from Ukraine and the system is already ov…

There is no need to convince anyone of either the vile criminal actions of Vladimir Putin or the incredible generosity and warmth that has been displayed by the Irish people. Those are objective matters of fact. The difficulty is that the Taoiseach has not matched the effort by the Irish people with Government action.