Why will the Taoiseach not answer the question?

Never mind my party; you're the Taoiseach. The Taoiseach has no answers.

The Taoiseach has no answers for an entire generation. There are no answers, only spoof, from the Deputy from Cork.

We might expect answers. It is called Leaders' Questions. We expect answers from the Taoiseach.

That is why the taxpayer pays his salary.

I sincerely doubt that Deputy Mac Lochlainn ever looks plaintively at the Taoiseach.

As the Taoiseach will be aware, thousands of families in Donegal and Mayo have been devastated by the presence of mica and pyrite in the structure of their homes. I met many of these families last year. I would struggle to describe to the Taoiseach the level of stress and trauma they have endured. Unfortunately, rather than making available to them a fully funded scheme which would cover 100% of costs, as was the case with the pyrite remediation scheme, the last Government presented these families in Donegal and Ma…

The Citizens' Assembly on gender equality made a number of recommendations that complement and supplement the programme for Government commitments on tackling domestic, sexual, and gender-based violence and supporting victims and their children. Is it the intention of the Government to consider the implementation of these recommendations in tandem with its own work? The Taoiseach is aware that Tusla's review of emergency accommodation is due for publication. There are nine counties with no refuge provision. Communi…

We are nearly a week into the cyberattack on the HSE and the Department of Health. We are told it will take weeks to resolve this matter. Obviously, the operational capacity of the entire system has been completely undermined and patients will suffer as a result. The picture emerging from our public health system in respect of its IT capacities and technology is not a good one. Speaking to the media yesterday, the former head of the HSE said that while those working in the organisation's ICT team are highly skilled…

The legal framework to protect the State's investment and ensure the national maternity hospital remains in State ownership has still not been completed. Eighteen months ago, the Tánaiste told us the details of this transfer would be finalised in a matter of weeks. Yet significant questions remain unanswered in terms of the make-up and mission of the new hospital. None of this has been satisfactorily addressed, as colleagues have said. The Religious Sisters of Charity received conditional permission from the Holy S…

“All entirely innocent of any wrongdoing” - these were the words of the coroner last Tuesday confirming what so many had known for 50 years, that the ten people shot dead in Ballymurphy, west Belfast, by the parachute regiment in 1971 were all innocent civilians, all victims of British state murder, all ordinary people living their lives, all people with hopes and dreams for the future, all taken away from their families, friends and communities in the cruellest of ways. This massacre occurred against the backdrop …

The front of this morning’s newspaper editions reminds us again of the severity of the rent crisis and of how an entire generation is locked out of affordable, secure housing. Rents have doubled in the last decade. The average rent statewide now stands at an eye-watering €1,443 per month. That is, of course, a shocking figure but will not come as a shock to those caught up in the crisis. They feel it in their pockets every day. We now have the first generation of 20- and 30-year-olds who are worse off than their pa…

Let the House record that we are in the grip of a housing crisis, which is a social crisis and a social catastrophe for people up and down the length of this State. The Head of Government, the Taoiseach, instead of setting out what he and his Government propose to do to put a stop to the gallop of these investment funds that are deepening the crisis and causing so much hardship, reaches for bluff and bluster. Of course, builders have a role in building houses; no great prizes for the Taoiseach for figuring that out…

God help us.

You do realise you are the Taoiseach and the Head of Government but this is your response to the young people of this country.

You are a disgrace.

You are a disgrace. The young people of this country see you.

Exactly Taoiseach.

Yes, initiatives.

A number of the Taoiseach's colleagues objected to those as well.