The Taoiseach's friends in Fine Gael met their banking buddies. History will record what happened.

Is that the Taoiseach's single transferable excuse? It is pathetic.

The pandemic is hard for everyone but it has been a uniquely horrific time for victims of domestic abuse and violence. Demand for services has increased by at least 30%. I heard the Taoiseach when he was reflecting on level 5 and the gravity of imposing such stringent restrictions on citizens. He cited his concerns about child protection and domestic abuse and violence. What additional supports and resources will be put in place for victims in terms of refuge places, additional resources and funding for support ser…

I am sharing time. We are now well and truly at crunch time in respect of the Brexit negotiations. What happens in the next days and weeks will have a profound impact on the island of Ireland economically, socially and politically. On Thursday and Friday of last week, the European Council met to discuss, among other things, the status of the talks with the British Government as we fast approach the deadline for a workable, fair and, as the Taoiseach says, balanced deal. While we know there is no good Brexit for the…

The Ceann Comhairle will have to try to hide his disappointment and compose himself.

What happened to women and children behind the high walls of Ireland's mother and baby homes casts a long and a dark shadow. For decades, these homes were shrouded in secrecy and the awful abuse of single mothers, the forced separation of families and the horrors of what happened in places like Tuam is still hard to comprehend. Those who survived these institutions, those who did not survive and their families are entitled to justice and to the truth. I am sure the Taoiseach received thousands of emails and letters…

We all share the Taoiseach’s view and all of us find it difficult to reconcile that Ireland, not in the dim and distant past but in the recent past, was such a hostile place for vulnerable women and their children. I said in my opening remarks that that is a shared view and the correct view. This, therefore, is not simply data. This is information and testimony that relates, as the Taoiseach set out, to real living people who have been traumatised and are on a journey in search of information and truth. They are in…

The Taoiseach is attacking me, actually.

He is being very aggressive and it is entirely unnecessary.

The Taoiseach should go back and listen to himself.

When the Government came to draft this budget, it did so against the backdrop of great crises and challenges for Ireland. It was written against the reality of lost jobs and incomes and the tragedy of lost lives. This pandemic is undeniably the most serious crisis we have faced in living memory, and as Brexit looms large on the horizon, there is justifiably a great deal of public anxiety and uncertainty. This is an emergency budget and the emergency is real. Covid-19 and Brexit, two enormous crises in their own rig…

Covid has had a devastating impact on services for people with disabilities and dementia. Many people who were receiving a full week's support prior to the pandemic are now only receiving one or two days of services per week. The sector has warned that this is because it does not have the additional funding to restore services to full capacity with the Covid protocols in place. Last night, the Opposition tabled a cross-party motion to ensure that these services are able to reopen fully and offer the support that is…

I appeal to the Taoiseach that we would work together on this issue, all of us - the Government and the Opposition - to ensure that disability services get the adequate funding that they require in the budget next week.

There is an absolute desperation in the experiences that I have shared with the House. The forgotten people of this pandemic are "on the ledge", "on the floor", "on our knees". This is how citizens with disabilities, their families, carers and service providers feel. The moneys that have been allocated are just not enough. I raise this, not to have an argument with the Taoiseach but out of a sense of desperation because of the desperation of citizens with disabilities, the sons and daughters of the people whose exp…

I appeal to the Taoiseach that we do not see again crumbs from the table when budget day comes. The case has been made to the HSE. The business cases, as they are called, have been lodged. A very full explanation of what is needed has been made. I ask the Taoiseach, as Head of Government, on all of our behalf, to make sure that on budget day those very resources are delivered.

Today is day one of level 3 across the State and we have news of significant outbreaks of Covid-19 in nursing homes in Portlaoise and in Donegal. What happened in our nursing homes last spring was a scandal that cannot be repeated. Are our nursing homes prepared now for this second wave of Covid-19? Is there a plan and, if so, can the Taoiseach share it with us? I heard with great concern the remarks of Dr. Dee in respect of the regional public health departments and the fact that they are desperately struggling to…

I object to nine questions being grouped together. I raised four different, absolutely distinct areas in my questions and would like to register my objection and ask that it does not happen again. Question No. 4 concerns plans for public service reform to be driven by the Taoiseach's Department. I particularly want to raise again two long-running pay and pension issues. The community employment, CE, scheme supervisors and their trade union representatives have, as the Taoiseach knows, been engaged in a protracted c…

When the announcement was made about the appointment of additional special advisers for the Ministers of State there was something of a public outcry, not because people do not understand why Governments and Ministers need good advice but because the Government was, at the same time, moving to cut the pandemic unemployment payment. It did not recalibrate the payment but cut it. I want to place on the record, as per figures from the Taoiseach's Cabinet colleague, that those who will be in receipt of the reduced €300…

I add my voice to the 400 Welcomes appeal. Globally, we are living through difficult, chaotic and, for some, catastrophic times but none more so than for those people who have lost everything and have fled to look for the shelter of international law and the decency of the international community. The Irish people are more than fit to rise to that obligation and challenge. I would also like that the number of 50 be reviewed and that we demonstrate the genuine capacity and spirit of generosity that is a mark of Iris…

I am sharing time with Deputy Brady. The European Council meets next week as the deadline for a Brexit deal between the EU and Britain fast approaches. The British Government continues to pursue an aggressive and destructive approach to negotiations, at the centre of which is Prime Minister Johnson's dangerous and reckless Internal Market Bill. The Bill cleared its final parliamentary hurdle in the House of Commons on 28 September and, as the Taoiseach knows, the provisions of this Bill contravene international law…