Last January, the HSE published a review of a junior doctor’s treatment of child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, patients in south Kerry. That review found that 46 children suffered significant harm as a result of inappropriately prescribed medication and a further 181 children were put at risk of harm. The HSE confirms that it has commenced a review of the files of patients treated by this same doctor in north Kerry over five years. A five-year review is far too narrow and will not get to the bottom …

Does the Taoiseach have an answer to the question?

What is the number?

What is the number?

The Taoiseach has been asked for a number but he is not providing it.

What is that target?

How many?

What is the number?

One would expect a bit of decorum from the Taoiseach.

There are insults from the Taoiseach's side of the House.

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for that unparalleled vote of confidence; I am very touched.

Go raibh maith agat. I first acknowledge the presence of the British ambassador to Ireland. Cuirim fáilte roimhe. I extend again our profound sympathies on the loss of Queen Elizabeth II for the British people, in particular for Irish unionists for whom she has been a very significant figure of great affinity and affection. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a h-anam dílis. As the Taoiseach knows, workers and families are being hammered by unprecedented surges in energy bills. Households have been hit by more than 50 price hikes…

Not for the first time but once again, the Taoiseach is totally and utterly wrong in his response here. Our proposal is about helping families. It is about providing certainty so they can get through what will be very difficult winter months. Our proposals are time-limited. Interventions at European level are, of course, necessary and welcome, but they should not be used again as an excuse for the Government to delay and dither and sit on its hands. In fact, our proposal would work in tandem with the proposed EU me…

So may the Taoiseach.

Winter is not-----

I asked the Taoiseach about energy. He will not give people certainty.

As the Taoiseach knows, the ECB has hiked mortgage interest rates by a record margin. It does so at a time when Central Statistics Office, CSO, data released today show house prices soaring above Celtic tiger levels. There are increases of 10.4% in Dublin and of more than 15% outside the capital. I would like to know what action the Government is going to take in response. In terms of the interest rate hikes, annual mortgage payments will now rise by hundreds of euro and this will prove to be the final straw for ma…

Last year, the parents of 18 babies born at Cork University Maternity Hospital were informed that their children's organs were sent to Belgium for incineration, without their knowledge or consent. This happened on two occasions between March and April 2020. The bereaved parents had believed that the organs of their babies, who had been subject to autopsy, would be cremated or buried in a sensitive and dignified manner and that they would be contacted before this happened. As we now know, none of that happened. Thes…

I very much welcome that. I think we are of one mind across the Dáil that all this is completely unacceptable. As the Taoiseach has described, the families have been through losing a precious child, a loved one, and then experienced the horror of discovering that their organs were disposed of in this manner, alongside, as I said, medical waste. This can never, ever happen again. We need to have an assurance here in the Oireachtas, and in turn to reassure the public, that this is not current practice in any hospital…

Last month, President Michael D. Higgins described the housing crisis as a disaster. I believe that he gave voice to the hard realities faced by those desperately struggling to put an affordable roof over their heads because when people cannot afford a home, it does not just stop there; it has wide-reaching and deep consequences for our society. Today we read that schools in Dublin report that teachers are leaving and seeking employment in other parts of the country due to extortionate rents and soaring house price…