Will the Ministers present make statements and take questions?

Some 1,300 people with disabilities or acquired brain or spinal injuries live in nursing homes. These settings are entirely inappropriate to their needs. We all agree that people should get the support they need, ideally to live in their own homes or, failing that, in appropriate settings. None of this will be news to the Minister or the Government because the inappropriate placing of people with disabilities, acquired brain or spinal injuries in nursing homes has been raised time and time again. We need a plan to …

It is important that we are clear about what we are confronting this evening. The people of Palestine live under an oppressive and brutal apartheid regime. It is a cruel system enforced and intensified by Israel's new government. The systematic violation of human rights and international law sees Palestinians killed, jailed and tortured, Palestinian homes demolished, families driven from their villages, Palestinian schools bulldozed into the dust and Palestinian health clinics destroyed. Beleaguered, besieged and i…

Absolutely.

As the Taoiseach well knows, food costs are crippling ordinary workers and families. Price hike after price hike has hit people's pockets hard. There is no sign of these costs coming down. Inflation in Irish supermarkets is at the highest level ever recorded, with the past three months alone seeing food inflation soar by up to 16.6%. The average shopper is set to see their annual grocery bill rise by €1,200. Shoppers are getting to the supermarket till and being charged eye-watering sums that they cannot afford. Pe…

Fáilte roimh gach duine from the Banner. We also have people here from Indiana in the US and others. They are very welcome. I have made the case to the Taoiseach – I hope he has heard what I am saying – that a meeting with the sector, while welcome, is not enough in and of itself. A message to the sector asking it to bring costs down is welcome but that equally is not enough. The message must be that if the sector does not act, the Government will. I have asked the Taoiseach to set out what the Government will do t…

At dawn on Sunday, Israeli forces arrived at a primary school in Jubbet ad-Dhib, a village in the occupied West Bank. They proceeded to bulldoze the EU-funded school building to the ground. In the aftermath, we saw the heartbreaking image of children as young as six sifting through the rubble for their schoolbooks. The demolition of Palestinian schools is a terrifying feature of Israel’s brutal and illegal occupation. It represents a despicable violation of international law and of Palestinian human rights. The EU …

Workers and families continue to be fleeced by a cost-of-living crisis that is out of control. People’s finances are being pushed to the very brink. They are being hammered by sky-high energy bills, soaring food bills, runaway rents, mortgage interest rate hikes and a cost-of-living crisis that is hitting them from all sides. Almost a quarter of household gas customers found themselves in arrears in the first three months of this year. As energy credits run out, the number in electricity arrears is increasing again…

What is the additional support that will be coming? Unite the Union research published last week reflects that wages have in real terms fallen by approximately €76 per week. Leaving that aside, as already stated, 160,399 households are in arrears on their gas bills and almost 200,000 are in arrears on electricity bills. When I put the question to the Taoiseach and asked him what he will do in the here and now, he answered as though matters had been resolved. I am sure the Taoiseach is aware that this is a very expe…

I wish to record my sadness at hearing of the passing of former Deputy Derek Keating. I did not realise he had died. I share our sympathies. I want to return to the story of Micheline Walsh, a 78-year-old woman. The Taoiseach described the situation in which she and her husband find themselves as very sad. It is indeed very sad. The situation is also unacceptable and, in fact, it is outrageous that Micheline and her husband, people who have worked hard all of their lives, and 175 others over the age of 65 are livin…

In its interim report, the commission noted that the State Claims Agency provides it with considerable assistance with witnesses' costs applications. Indeed, the agency is a significant entity in terms of purchasing legal services. It was previously reported that the State Claims Agency, the Office of the Attorney General and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, DPP, had all refused to sign up to the Bar of Ireland's equitable briefing policy to promote equality of opportunity for female barristers. I…

I also asked about the equitable briefing policy and the failure of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and other offices to sign off.

I appreciate that.

Ashbourne Community School is with us in the Gallery. It is very welcome. As we speak, hundreds of nurses are meeting in Killarney in the middle of a prolonged and ongoing crisis in our hospitals. The health service is on its knees and has been for many years now. There is overcrowding on our hospital corridors, waiting lists are out of control and staff are exhausted and demoralised. Healthcare staff are at their wits' end. They have been crying out for support, but so many feel abandoned and let down by the Gover…

The Taoiseach should not try to hide behind the excellence of healthcare workers to try to deny the failures of his Government. I direct my comments to him and his colleagues in government. Yesterday, we had 704 people on trolleys and today, we have 712 people on trolleys. A survey has revealed that three quarters of nurses surveyed stated that they have considered leaving their posts. The Taoiseach has acknowledged that we have considerable pressure in the system and massive shortfalls. By the way, the Government …

Tell Rishi Sunak that.

Tell the British Prime Minister that. Tell your Tory colleagues that.

If I can say for the record, the Taoiseach's response to Deputy Murphy was pretty disgraceful. Homeowners are bracing themselves for tomorrow when the European Central Bank, ECB, will sign off its seventh mortgage interest rate hike since July of last year. This means that tens of thousands of workers and families will pay hundreds of euro extra per month compared with last year. People were under pressure even before this additional hike. It is becoming harder for homeowners to absorb these increases. For now it i…

You are a disgrace.

You shame your office.