Maternity care and healthcare for women has for too long been an afterthought and even taboo in this State. The roll call of victims of an aggressive religious dogma in healthcare settings is heartbreaking. Far too many Irish women have paid far too high a price. So the new national maternity hospital is absolutely vital for the delivery of modern, progressive healthcare for women in Ireland and everybody wants to see this hospital built and built quickly. But we also have to get it right. Yesterday, the Minister f…

Undoubtedly, all the documentation, the publication of which I welcome, will be studied, scrutinised and considered very carefully. However, I raised with the Taoiseach the ownership of the land and he has responded by reminding us we are looking at a 300-year lease at a cost of €10 per year. That begs the question as to why lease on those terms and why did the Sisters of Charity just not make a clean transaction of it and gift the land to the State. That would copper-fasten and clarify the absolute public ownershi…

I put it to the Taoiseach again that we work together to move from this convoluted leasing arrangement to simply a gifting of this land to the State so that we have a public first-class centre of excellence for women, publicly built on public land.

No. Legally, it is not.

Is the Taoiseach's answer to my question, "No"?

Jeepers, I did not think I could have been clearer.

I have raised the issue of the ownership of the land. I would have thought that was abundantly clear.

The Residential Tenancies Board, RTB, published its quarterly rent index this morning and it shows again that the Government's housing policy is failing dismally. In fact, it makes for fairly devastating reading, particularly for those in housing need and for those who now have their lives defined by this never-ending housing crisis. The report tells us that rents have doubled since 2011 - in a decade. We saw another big hike in new rents across the State for the last three months of last year and the average new r…

We seem to be going around in circles here. The Taoiseach does not dispute the facts in the report from the RTB as presented this morning. I am assuming he does not contest the fact that rents are out of control right across this State, that people are struggling to make these rents, that house prices continue to climb and climb or that homelessness is again at crisis proportions. All of these facts indicate that the policy the Government is pursuing is getting it wrong. The Government is getting it wrong. I asked …

Today the Dáil will vote on Sinn Féin's motion to stop the ban on the sale of turf. The Taoiseach has indicated that it is his intention to vote against the motion. He will do this despite the frustration felt right across rural communities. He will do it despite the fact that he could not even convince his own backbenchers of the merits of the plan. He will do it despite the fact that people in rural Ireland, particularly older people and people on lower incomes with no alternative, will struggle badly. I want to …

The days of the mass harvesting of turf are over. This is best underscored by the fact that Bord na Móna has moved from its traditional brown peat business to become a leading and profitable champion of renewables. The Government's proposed outright ban on the sale of turf has caused real distress and frustration for rural communities. The proposal is unfair, unworkable and should not go ahead. The timing of the proposed ban could not be worse, as people are being hammered by the cost-of-living crisis that has seen…

Did you not know that?

Of course, fair and balanced debate means we have to stick to the fact. The fact is nothing has been done in respect of home heating oil. That is a fact.

Do not attribute falsehoods to me by advancing a falsehood of your own. The cost of home heating oil has more than doubled in the past year and the Government has done nothing to intervene. In fact, its proposed course of action will drive the cost of home heating oil up further.

To return to the turf ban-----

The Taoiseach accepts what I have said. He has accepted that the ban as proposed by the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, is utterly wrong and utterly unfair and will leave people in rural Ireland, particularly older people and people on lower incomes in a really difficult place. I invite the Taoiseach again to clarify that there will be no ban and that the proposed ban, whether it is the finished item or in draft form, is officially from today ditched and assurance is given to people living in rural Ireland not alone t…

If the Taoiseach is not prepared to do that, I remind his backbenchers they will have the opportunity to take their stand this evening by voting in favour of the Sinn Féin motion that proposes the ditching, stopping and halting of this proposed ban in its entirety. That is what we need.

Will the Taoiseach answer my question?

It is turf.

I asked about turf.