Deputy Mairéad Farrell will put the question.

Yesterday, I raised with the Taoiseach the real and serious concerns held by many regarding the ownership of the new national maternity hospital. The Taoiseach dismissed these concerns again and doubled down on his characterisation of this issue as a "red herring". However, last night in a letter to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health, two HSE board members, Professor Deirdre Madden and Dr. Sarah McLoughlin, restated their strong opposition to the ownership deal. In the letter, they describe the ownership deal…

As the Taoiseach knows, for a very long time, midwives, clinicians and all concerned - and women of course - have been very much in favour of a new maternity hospital and proper investment in maternity services. That should not surprise any of us. The Taoiseach said there is an unanswered question. Let me put this to him. He says that €10 a year for 299 or 300 years is effective public ownership. The question is this. That being the case, why is it that there has not simply been a clean transaction and a transfer o…

-----that he, the Tánaiste and the Minister for Health lead from the front and resolve this issue?

Why not make public ownership in all but name actual, legally certain public ownership of this land? That is actually the question.

I am not arguing there is a conspiracy; I am arguing for public ownership.

It should be a public hospital.

There is a long-established pattern of the Israeli state targeting journalists who are covering the brutal occupation of Palestine. This systematic targeting has resulted in complaints being filed with the International Criminal Court and the United Nations. This morning, we awoke to the horrific news that Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh is the latest victim of this. She was shot dead - shot in the face by an Israeli sniper while doing her job covering an Israeli army attack on a Palestinian refugee camp in…

Speaking on the radio yesterday morning, the Taoiseach described questions regarding ownership of the new national maternity hospital as a “red herring”. That is a very unfair characterisation of very genuine concerns that are grounded in decades of women’s experiences of healthcare in this State. The Taoiseach's dismissal of these concerns is particularly disappointing given that his comments pre-empt Oireachtas examination of the Government’s proposal. The process and debate to take place this week at the Oireach…

Yes, you do.

Let us have facts and honesty then, shall we? Holles Street is certainly not fit for purpose. It is not fit for purpose because of underinvestment by Government after Government.

By the way, it is even worse than just that. It is not just Holles Street. The Rotunda Hospital and all of our maternity services are similarly under pressure and, similarly, Government after Government looked the other way.

What makes it even worse again is that Government after Government in the history of this State colluded with religious dogma to deny us, as women, what we were entitled to by way of healthcare. When we raise these legitimate, well-founded questions in a spirit of honesty, we do that borne of bitter experience and a determination that that will never happen again. The Taoiseach has talked about a tenner a year for 300 years. He is trying to pass that off as public ownership. He says the land was gifted.

The crux of this issue is that the land has not been gifted.

Let me put my question again, a Cheann Comhairle.

I ask the Taoiseach, along with the Tánaiste and the Minister of Health, to go back to St. Vincent's Healthcare Group, which the Taoiseach says has no----

-----ulterior motive in the building of this hospital. Let us take it on its word and tell it to make this a clean transaction and gift and transfer that site to the State. In one fell swoop-----

-----all of our concerns would be resolved. Will the Taoiseach do that, yes or no?

How are we doing that?

I want to ask the Taoiseach about the Government's plan to pay big developers up to €120,000 per apartment they build. This has people shaking their heads in disbelief. Essentially, it means the Government proposes to give €450 million of taxpayers' money to a few developers. This is astonishing. What is more astonishing is that there will be no cut in the price of those apartments, which the developer will put on the market for anything between €400,000 and €600,000. This is way beyond the reach of ordinary worker…