Figures were released this morning to our justice spokesperson, Deputy Carthy, that make for very shocking reading. They reveal that suspects in 40,348 crimes carried out in 2024 were out on bail. This is an issue we have raised repeatedly with the Government, and I am raising it again this morning. The 2024 figure represented an increase of 5,000 on the figure for 2022. Astonishingly, the combined figure for the past three years for suspects implicated in crime while out on bail amounted to 114,655. This situation…

The figures are shocking.

The figures do not tell that story.

Hear, hear.

Hear, hear.

The right to feel safe in your home, in your community and on the streets is precious. As a TD for Dublin Central, I represent communities who could write volumes on how that right has been systematically taken away from them. It is shameful that families who live in strong, resilient and vibrant communities, people who work in the centre of Dublin and those who visit our capital city are so often met with a climate of fear and a sense of constantly looking over their shoulder, one which has developed because of cr…

Parents of children with special needs are constantly coming up against brick walls while trying to access essential services for their children. The scandal of children with scoliosis and spina bifida, left in pain while waiting for their operations, has been one of this Government's most damning failures. The heartbreaking stories of people being left behind often involve excruciating waits for assessment of needs, being forced to enter lotteries to draw a secure, suitable school place and being denied basic medi…

To be clear, that has been sought and secured. This case is on the public record.

I am glad the Taoiseach agrees with me that this situation is entirely unacceptable, that children are left without access to urgent dental care. I also welcome the fact that the Taoiseach will, as I understand it, make a direct intervention in respect of Tiernan, because a solution needs to be-----

I am putting the question to the Taoiseach, with respect, not to the Chief Whip. I asked that the Taoiseach make an intervention, and I would appreciate it if he did that. The problem is that we cannot bring all 7,000 stories of all of those children waiting for more than a year, or the 1,100 who have been waiting four years.

We would do nothing else if we were to do that. I am concerned that the Taoiseach is not recognising the problem or his part in it. The Taoiseach is not a commentator; he has been in government for a very considerable period.

I said to the Taoiseach that we have 25% less public dentists-----

-----than we had in 2006. Therein lies the root of the problem, and we need to address it.

Cuirim fáilte ó chroí roimh Larysa Gerasko. The ambassador is very welcome. Today, we think first and foremost of the people of Ukraine. Three years ago, Russia launched a brutal criminal invasion of Ukraine. Putin's invasion continues to be an attack on Ukraine's right to self-determination, sovereignty and peace. It is also a violation of international law. We have witnessed the largest land conflict and the greatest displacement of people in Europe since the Second World War. The human cost of Russia's military …

I want to be very clear. Ireland has built a powerful voice for peace and justice in the world. We are seen as an honest, credible actor in international affairs-----

-----because of our status of being military unaligned and our long-standing tradition of neutrality. Ireland's neutrality is our strength. It is now about showing leadership on the world stage, finding solutions, de-escalating crises and contributing to peacekeeping. Ireland's principled refusal to embrace military might as a means of resolving the world's problems is respected. Neutrality is part of who we are as a people, a cherished and shared value of the nation and one which retains, as we know, overwhelming …

Le trí bliana anuas tá muintir na hÚcráine tar éis an fód a sheasamh go cróga i gcoinne ionradh brúidiúil na Rúise ar a dtír. Tá gá arís le meas don dlí idirnáisiúnta agus do cheart na hÚcráine flaitheas, féinchinntiúchán agus saoire a bheith aici. Ní féidir ligean don Rúis tairbhe a shaothrú óna ionsaí bagrach míleatach. Caithfidh an tsíocháin a bheith i réim. The people of Ukraine have spent three long years resisting Russia's brutal invasion of their homeland. They have not given up on the dream of a future of p…

Another day and another revelation of Government waste of public money. Over the weekend, it emerged that in 2017 the National Gallery of Ireland purchased a scanner at a cost to the taxpayer of nearly €125,000. The scanner has never been used because a suitable room could not be found to accommodate it. This equipment, which cost the people €125,000, has sat idle for eight years. This of course was not a once-off. The Taoiseach will recall that in 2018 the Government purchased a printer for the Oireachtas to the t…

Let us do that then, will we? If the Taoiseach is citing Fitzgibbon Street Garda station as an example of efficiency and delivery, I am afraid he has chosen a bad example. It took years and years to be delivered. I resisted-----

It did. It is in my constituency.