Does the Taoiseach propose to answer a question rather than make attack points against members of the Opposition? That would be a refreshing change.

I put a question to the Taoiseach.

Sunday's National Day of Commemoration remembered all those killed during the Tan War and marked the anniversary, as the Taoiseach said, of the Truce. The all-party decade of centenaries advisory group has met just twice online. This group needs to be facilitated in playing a much more proactive role in developing a complete, and I would suggest more grassroots and community-driven, schedule of events. I state that because this period in our history will benefit from not just a broad consultation with all political…

Notwithstanding the parliamentary liaison unit and the work that is done by the three staff the Taoiseach identified, the level of confusion and disorganisation within his Administration is remarkable. We have seen this again in respect of the Covid certificate. It would be helpful if the Taoiseach could clarify the matter of issuing letters and the role or otherwise of GPs in that regard. I also raise the voisinage fisheries agreement between Britain and Ireland. As the Taoiseach knows, it has been in place since …

I ask the Taoiseach to clarify the role of GPs in providing certification on either recovery or vaccination because multiple positions have been put into the public domain. We need clarity from the Taoiseach on that matter. Sinn Féin will later bring before the Dáil a motion in support of families' calls for the Government to establish a public inquiry into the neglect and deaths of their loved ones in nursing homes during the pandemic. By May of last year, nearly 1,000 nursing home residents had died from Covid bu…

I have made the case to the Taoiseach on countless occasions that the half measures he has introduced to rein in cuckoo funds are woefully inadequate and simply will not work. Apartments, which are perfectly decent homes, are excluded from the Government's plans. This leaves ordinary workers and families, especially in Dublin but in other cities also, at the mercy of these funds that can snap up entire apartment blocks under the noses of people who wish to buy their own homes. Many others find themselves stuck in a…

Níl sé seo maith go leor. Níl plean an Taoisigh ag obair. Leanfaidh na cistí ar aghaidh leis seo agus tá sé sin náireach. These investment, vulture and cuckoo funds have not been reined in; far from it. The Government facilitates their actions. Not alone does the Government allow them to snap up entire apartment blocks and houses, it incentivises them by giving them a tax break for that behaviour. Do not try to pretend this will work in favour of people caught in the rental trap, or young people or families looking…

This is about big bucks and big funds muscling into the property market with the assistance of the Government. Meanwhile, our citizens, families and communities are left with no real chance to ever buy or own their own homes. The most despicable part of this is that, tonight, the Government will sneakily move this through, using the guillotine, with virtually no debate. It is the same old same old, the same old Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, the same old crisis and the same suffering for people who live outside the cos…

Not true.

The Government is failing and failing miserably.

The Government is failing miserably with its eyes wide open. It is shameful

Will the Taoiseach inform us what the final cost of the new national children's hospital will be? Just over €1.4 billion was the amount agreed at Cabinet but it emerged today at a joint committee that, of 900 claims in total, only a handful have been settled. It now seems inevitable that costs will overrun substantially. The committee was unable to get clarity on this point from the Department or the board. Can the Taoiseach, as Head of Government, tell us what we are looking at in terms of a project that will, it …

The disgraceful practice of so-called cuckoo funds snapping up family homes in bulk, under the noses of ordinary workers and families, is an issue we have raised with the Taoiseach in the House many times. Indeed, it is perhaps the most abhorrent aspect of our broken housing system. Of course, what is even worse is the practice of these funds snapping up those homes and then leasing them back to local authorities. That is a triple whammy. The funds get away scot-free, the taxpayer pays over the odds for social hous…

At a time of crisis, when so many people struggle to put a roof over their head, they deserve much more than the kind of incoherent waffle we are hearing from the Taoiseach as Head of Government. It is really quite disgraceful. I have the Minister's amendment here. It is written down, black on white, what the Government is proposing to do. It is proposing to incentivise these funds to buy up houses, lock, stock and barrel, pricing ordinary buyers out of the market because they cannot compete with these big funds. T…

I am asking the Taoiseach simply to be true to what he said in May, that is, that there should not be an allowance for these funds to snap up homes and lease them back to councils.

I want him to be as good as his word and to call a halt to this.

Does the Taoiseach propose to answer questions?

Does the Taoiseach propose to answer questions during Leaders' Questions? Are there answers to our questions?

They are not agreed. Tomorrow evening, a finance Bill that, on the face of it, deals with Covid provisions will be considered in the House. The Government has tabled an amendment to the legislation to insert a section 15. The explicit intent of the amendment is to exempt investment funds from a stamp duty surcharge when they bulk-buy homes to lease back to the State. This action is despicable. It is clear that the Taoiseach has no intention of putting manners on these big investment funds. It is lost on nobody that…

-----and then a guillotine to get this disgraceful law through.