It is a joke. An absolute joke.

I begin by saying hello to Lorcan and Harry and their mum Karen Keely. They are in the Visitors' Gallery and are from Ratoath in the royal county of Meath. They are very welcome. I understand that the Government has signed off on changes to supports for Ukrainian people. It has been reported that welfare payments are to be brought down in line with payments made to other international protection applicants. Is that the case? Will the Taoiseach tell us when we will have sight of the legislation for these welfare cha…

I agree with the Taoiseach that the welcome displayed to people from Ukraine has marked us very well. I have no doubt that will continue. People unquestionably want to do the right thing and want us collectively to do the right thing in response to what the Taoiseach correctly described as the biggest movement of people since the Second World War. The Taoiseach also correctly noted that accommodation is scarce, but what he has not set out for us is the plan for temporary accommodation for Ukrainian people who come …

It has not been a good year for delays to a range of key farm payments. Farmers have already experienced serious delays to BISS payments and to payments under the ANC and eco-schemes. Thousands of these payments are still outstanding. Now, this trend of delay is affecting payments under the agri-environmental scheme known as ACRES. Many farmers have been told the very best they can hope for is for these payments to land from February 2024. Farmers were actively encouraged by the Government to undertake work and inc…

Staying on the issue of health, since the Government was formed, we have seen a doubling of child and adolescent mental health services waiting lists. In 2020, 1,115 children were waiting for first-time appointments. This year, that figure has risen to 4,421. In the area where I live, CHO 9, children are waiting more than 200 days for treatment for suicidal ideation and more than 100 days for treatment for eating disorders. Throughout the State, young people are being let down. Services are unable to recruit staff,…

The First Minister-elect of Northern Ireland, Michelle O'Neill, wrote to the Secretary of State, Chris Heaton-Harris, last Friday emphasising the gravity of the current stalemate in the North and the imperative for urgent action. The Taoiseach will be aware that all-party talks commenced yesterday. The public administration in Belfast is facing massive financial challenges including the issue of parity for public sector workers. The North has been underfunded by the Tory Government to a huge extent. I hate to disil…

Yesterday, I raised the need to introduce an emergency ban on rent increases for three years. Even though workers and families are being hammered by relentless rent hikes, the Taoiseach again dismissed that call. Over the 12 years that Fine Gael has been in government, life has become increasingly hard for renters. In that time, rents have more than doubled. The latest Residential Tenancies Board, RTB, report simply crystallises the lived reality for renters. They are ripped off every single month. New rents are up…

The realities are these. We have waiting lists for social housing that are unbearable. I have dealt with people who have spent years on social housing waiting lists. I assume the Taoiseach has also met these people and families. As he brags about social housing delivery, he should be very aware that tens of thousands of people who languish on lists know the real story. He talked about downward pressure on rents; there is no downward pressure on rents. I have just given him the figures. There has been a 12% increase…

Can you answer the question?

It was announced yesterday that on New Year's Day, the Government will introduce a road toll increase, the second in six months. The Government started kite-flying about this during the summer. It is madness that the Government would go ahead with this increase. People rely on the roads to get to work, to bring kids to school and to attend medical appointments in different parts of the country. In particular, people from more rural areas do not have an alternative as of yet to private transport or the use of a toll…

So is that a "Yes" or a "No"?

They were not hard left.

Exactly.

The committee met on the 27th, the Taoiseach told us. That would have been three days after the publication of the homeless figures which made for very grim reading. Another record was set, with 13,179 people homeless, and almost 4,000 of those children. Can the Taoiseach tell us what consideration of homelessness and those figures was given at the meeting on 27 November and what consideration will be given on 18 December when they convene again? I am conscious that we are coming into Christmas season and children …

We are all witnessing the absolute savagery and depravity of the Israeli onslaught on Gaza, on civilians, women, children and men. Bear in mind that the majority of Gazans are a refugee population. They have been left in the most dire and desperate circumstances as the world watches on. Do not miss the fact that, in the West Bank also, settler violence has spiked. Israel acts with utter impunity. I have heard the Taoiseach set out many times the things that he cannot do and his concerns about going on a solo run an…

By harnessing support for an all-island approach to economic, social, environmental and well-being challenges, NESC can be an important and practical mechanism to encourage everyone on the island to work together. Through ambitious collaboration, we can be more than the sum of our parts. Climate change and protecting biodiversity are urgent problems and we need to deal with them on an all-island basis. In April last year, NESC published the report Shared Island Shared Opportunity, which set out key recommendations …

I have lost count of the number of times I have asked the Taoiseach to ban rent increases; each time he has said "No". Despite rents soaring to unaffordable levels, the Taoiseach will not budge. Now, because of his refusal to act, runaway rents have hit an all-time high. The recent report of the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB, shows massive rent hikes over the last 12 months. New rents have increased by almost 12% in the last year. It is the highest annual rent hike since the RTB began recording these figures 15 …

Homeownership has collapsed on the Taoiseach's watch. That is not just my opinion or view. I do not say that from a position of bias. That is the fact of the matter. We have runaway rent, record levels of homelessness, and rents that are crippling people. That is the fact. The figures that I have quoted to the Taoiseach are from the Residential Tenancies Board. It also reports that existing rents - not new rents but existing rents - are up by 5.5% in Dublin and 5% across the State. This is a bad news story all arou…

It is the population.

That is not true. Mathematical wizardry.