In asking a previous question, I told the Taoiseach that the design of the new national childcare scheme was jeopardising early education opportunities for some of the most deprived and vulnerable children in the north inner city. I am sure this situation is mirrored across the State. The Taoiseach responded to me by listing investments made in education and childcare generally in the north inner city. In case he harbours the delusion that there has been deep investment in early education or, in fact, in any educat…

I extend my solidarity and good wishes to the two members of An Garda Síochána who were shot and injured in the course of their duties last night in Whitechapel in Blanchardstown here in Dublin. We are very conscious of the fact that members of the Garda put themselves in harm's way day in and day out to keep our communities safe. We express our appreciation for this and extend our solidarity to the two gardaí in question and to the community in Blanchardstown for which this is also a very violent ordeal. On Friday…

Workers and businesses have lost incomes. In his announcement on Friday, will the Taoiseach tell those in receipt of the pandemic unemployment payment and the wage subsidy scheme-----

-----that their payments will not be cut at the end of June?

I certainly reiterate the sentiments in respect of the gardaí. There have been, not just here but internationally, what the Taoiseach describes correctly as unprecedented interventions to support people in a context of an unprecedented, at least in our lifetimes, public health emergency and social emergency. What I am asking from the Taoiseach is not to reiterate the no "cliff edge" position. I want the Taoiseach to tell hundreds of thousands of people who are still relying on the pandemic unemployment payment, the…

I want to ask the Taoiseach about the CervicalCheck tribunal. As of this month, a total of 250 claims have been made against the State by women who were damaged and injured by the CervicalCheck scandal. Court proceedings have been issued in respect of 190 claims and 31 claims have been concluded. As of 12 May, there were 160 active court cases involving women affected by this scandal and, of those, only three have been transferred to the tribunal. The 221+ support group is very critical of the tribunal, as the Taoi…

The point made by Deputy Richmond about the North-South institutions functioning is essential. I see no good reason that the Minister for Health would not meet with his Northern counterpart. That meeting should happen as a matter of urgency. More generally, and particularly in light of the new leadership of the unionist parties, we need to recall that all the Good Friday Agreement institutions must work efficiently so I call on everybody to honour those commitments. I asked the Taoiseach about research commissioned…

The Taoiseach might be aware that the Oireachtas disability group has highlighted the data deficit and the limited evidence on unmet needs of people with disabilities. Its concerns are well founded as Departments plan for another budget without the data needed to properly inform budgetary decisions crucial to the lives of citizens with disabilities. I want to ask the Taoiseach about two reports that are outstanding and would go some considerable way to address this data deficit. The first is the Department of Healt…

Today, the Dáil speaks with one voice. Today, we condemn the illegal and ongoing annexation, the illegal seizure of Palestinian lands by the Israeli occupier. Today, we condemn the illegal displacement of Palestinian families and communities from their homes and from their land. Today, we stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people and assert their inalienable right to their homes, to their land, to their homeland and their right to self-determination - a right that can never be extinguished. Today, we condemn …

Israel is, of course, a serial violator of international law. It is currently in violation of 28 separate UN resolutions. It is a force of occupation and operates a system of apartheid. The world looks on in horror at the bombardment of the Palestinian people and the barbaric violation of their basic human rights by the state of Israel. The aggressive Israeli military onslaught on Gaza has continued for weeks now. The vicious attacks on the Palestinians in the West Bank and terrifying pogroms that have driven Pales…

The Government had two options last night - to propose a meaningful plan to stop cuckoo funds snapping up family homes and pushing ordinary homebuyers out of the market or to tinker around the edges with measures that would have no real impact on the funds and not fix the problem faced by people desperately seeking to put an affordable roof over their heads. The Government made its choice, and we again see that wealthy investment funds and big developers always come out on top with Fianna Fáil. People had low expec…

Let me give the Taoiseach some detail and move from the general to the specific to illustrate how flawed the Government's approach is. There is a sale happening as we speak that will see the largest private rental sector portfolio ever put to the market go to sale. It is being developed by Marlet and represents 2,000 homes across six locations here in Dublin: in Harold's Cross, Howth, Dundrum and Lime Street and on the south side docks at Grand Canal. These 2,000 homes will go to private investors. The process is u…

I will repeat our positive policies and I would like answers on them.

We propose to end the tax advantages to these funds. We want to ensure that apartments are included in any and all protections and make sure, crucially, that the protections can be applied retrospectively. If the Taoiseach does not do those things, then he is leaving people in the lurch.

Those are the facts.

Sinn Féin has been raising with Government the need to tackle the growing power of so-called cuckoo funds for years. We proposed measures to end the sweetheart tax deals that these funds have been gifted by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, but, time and again, Government has voted against these proposals. Last week, the Taoiseach came to the Dáil and expressed his shock that funds are snapping up family homes in bulk. He said that this was a new development and it was not Government policy. Of course, none of that is tru…

The reality for the Taoiseach is that he caused this problem. He caused this crisis and he is sustaining it. The reality is that, as a consequence of his policy, these investment funds come here. Not alone do they come here and snap up family homes from under the noses of home buyers but, in fact, his Government invests in these funds to the tune of hundreds of millions of euro. His Government's policy allows these funds, some of them the biggest residential landlords in the State. I will give one example. IRES, on…

-----and capital gains to apply. End the sweetheart arrangements and make absolutely sure that protection is afforded to every residential unit. Houses, apartments, duplexes-----

-----all of them are homes and all of them need to be kept away from these vultures, these cuckoos, these funds that the Taoiseach-----

-----has invited in to wreak havoc in the lives of our citizens.