Yes, homelessness and dereliction. First-time buyer-----

The Fianna Fáil way-----

We have heard the Government oscillate between self-congratulatory backslapping and defensive, self-righteous attack rhetoric, neither of which is grounded in any sense of reality. I notice the Taoiseach is not here to participate in this debate. That is a first in my recollection. Perhaps, after all the bragging and hot air, the Taoiseach cannot present himself to stand by and stand over his budget. I am curious to know why he is not here. This could and should have been a budget to turn the page on the persisting…

They will continue to pay big fees, continue to search for spaces that do not exist, and continue to be stressed today and worried about the future. Our plan would deliver the change they need, not just soundbites. It is a plan to make childcare affordable at €10 a day per child by next September, a plan to deliver early years educators and childcare professionals the pay increase for which they have been campaigning for years, a plan to build capacity, increase childcare spaces across the country, and extend leave…

The debacle surrounding the construction of the national children's hospital continues. At the weekend, we learned that the hospital's completion date will be missed yet again. We are now looking at a completion date of 2026, and we cannot even be sure of that. A report from KPMG published this morning calls into question whether the hospital will be ready to open even when it is built. There are fears about gaps in staffing and senior leadership teams and a lack of clarity regarding the future operating model and …

Yet again, we see not just a grossly incompetent Government, but one that is entirely unprepared to take responsibility, much less to be accountable, for anything. It is the board's fault. It is the contractor's fault. Of course, it is Sinn Féin's fault. How could it not be? Let me recite this again. On 17 occasions, the completion date has fallen through. There is an overspend of €1.5 billion. According to the CEO of the board, not a single room has been completed to the required standard in this project. That is …

Having signed weak contracts with very weak levers available to the board-----

-----the Government has sat back and allowed this farce and fiasco to deepen.

It is not agreed. I reiterate the concerns raised by Deputy Paul Murphy earlier today in respect of the carpet bombing of Lebanon, the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the brutality and violence instigated by Israel in the West Bank. We need a statement from the Taoiseach and also from the Tánaiste. We need an opportunity for questions and answers in respect of weapons of war passing through Irish airspace. I understand that at least nine such flights have passed. The Minister, Deputy Donohoe, has reiterated the positi…

-----we need both the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste who, whether wittingly or otherwise, gave wrong information to the Dáil on this matter. This Dáil was misled. We will take it that it was unwittingly so but nonetheless it happened and that has to be corrected also.

They are not agreed.

As I rehearsed with the Minister earlier, the Government, and he, as Minister for public expenditure, are presiding over the building of the most expensive hospital in the world. Of course they have also presided over the construction of what I imagine has to be most expensive bicycle shed in the world, at a cost to the taxpayer of €336,000, paid out by the OPW, which comes under his Department. Five weeks on, we still have no answer as to how all of this happened. It seems to me that the approach of the members of…

Go raibh maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle. The Taoiseach's treatment of children with scoliosis and spina bifida who are waiting for surgery is disgraceful. These children wait in agony for operations that can save and change their lives and the longer they wait, the worse their condition gets. It is a race against the clock and against the child's condition becoming inoperable and the prospect of permanent paralysis. There are too many children in this awful situation and today I want to speak to the Taoiseach about…

The difficulty is the Taoiseach has not done everything he can to resolve this situation. Harvey's parents, Stephen and Gillian, are in the Public Gallery. They should not be here. The very fact that parents of children with scoliosis and spina bifida have to come to the Dáil in this way is a testament to failure in and of itself because their child is running out of time. That is the reality. It is not the Taoiseach's child. It is not mine either. He is Gillian's and Stephen's child. He is eight years old and he i…

The clinician.

That has not happened.

I thank the Ceann Comhairle. I again raise the issue of safety in Dublin, particularly in Dublin's inner city. As the Taoiseach will know, last Saturday, there was a very vicious attack in Thomas Street in the south inner city on tourists visiting the capital. It was shocking. It happened at 7.30 p.m, and it is not an isolated incident - far from it. I have raised this issue with the Taoiseach many times before. In the north-west inner city, in Marmion Court, the community is very shaken today. Last night, a person…

I think everyone was expecting a prayer. They have all become very holy, a Cheann Comhairle.

Whatever you think yourself.

Entire rosaries and novenas would probably be more in our line.