If a hotel of this scale and esteem was opening, people would be hard-pressed to stay standing in the stampede of Government Ministers who would be running to cut the ribbon on it. The Government can intervene and take credit when facilities are opening, private or otherwise, but when there are problems that are caused by a Government scheme, all of a sudden we are told the Government cannot intervene. This is a crucial economic project for the region that has been denied to the people of Carrickmacross, south Mona…

Cuirim fáilte roimh na ráitis seo agus go bhfuil seal agam le labhairt faoi chúrsaí sa Phalaistín. The refugee camp at Jenin in the West Bank is a perfect, albeit tragic, symbol of Israel’s brutal occupation of and aggression against the Palestinian people. I ask the House to imagine a child of Palestine in 1948. Imagine that this child was one of the 700,000 Palestinian children, women and men who were forcibly removed from their homes during the Nakba. This child lost everything – their home, their security, thei…

At the outset, I apologise that I will have to leave the debate early to attend an engagement with the European Parliament. It has been 17 months now since Vladimir Putin's Russia launched a brutal and criminal war on its neighbouring sovereign state, Ukraine. In doing so, Russia unleashed the largest land conflict and the greatest displacement of people in Europe in more than eight decades. Russia's attack on the Ukrainian people remains an abomination. Ireland remains on the side of the Ukrainian people. Our mess…

Not agreed.

Last week, the Government published a long-awaited report of the scoping exercise into the death of Shane O'Farrell. The Taoiseach will know that many aspects of that scoping report have been challenged by Shane O'Farrell's family. The crucial question that has not been answered is why the person who was solely responsible for Shane's death, a man by the name of Zigimantas Gridziuska, was in a position to crash into this young man, kill him and leave the scene when he clearly should have been in prison in light of …

We are seeking a debate on a Government report that was laid before the House.

The Taoiseach's response is completely unacceptable. We are talking about a Government report that has been laid before this House. The Members of the House deserve an opportunity to debate it. The implications of it are quite profound. The Taoiseach's response is disingenuous in the extreme.

What has happened in recent days in Jenin in the West Bank "amount[s] to an egregious [violation] of international law and standards on the use of force and may constitute a war crime." They are not my words but those of experts from the United Nations. Twelve Palestinians were murdered by Israeli forces; five of them were children. Thousands were forced from their homes - which are in refugee camps, by the way. When they returned, many of those homes had been destroyed, water and electricity services were cut and …

Hear, hear.

I would like to be associated with the Tánaiste's remarks of sympathy for Brendan Daly and to convey the condolences of Sinn Féin to his family, loved ones and the Fianna Fáil Party. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam. A two-state solution is becoming increasingly unviable simply because of the actions of the state of Israel in its pursuit of the absolute humiliation of the Palestinian people, which appears to be its only goal at this time. I welcome the strong words from the Tánaiste and successive Ministers for Foreign …

I move amendment No. 1: To delete all words after "That" and substitute the following: "in advance of Dáil Éireann considering Ireland's participation in four European Defence Agency Projects: i) Category B Collaborative Procurement of Chemical Biological Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) Equipment, ii) Category B Collaborative Procurement of Soldier Equipment, iii) Category B Collaborative Procurement of Ammunition, and iv) Category A Military Computer Emergency Response Team Operational Network (MICNET), pursuant t…

Nobody said that yet.

On a point of information, the Minister of State has spoken on two occasions. If he is going to vote against the amendment, then the least he could do is give the House the courtesy of explaining why the Government is voting against it.

The Minister of State has not done so.

The Minister of State has not referred to why he is refusing to support the amendment.

It is bang out of order.

I am out of order because I am breaching the rules of the House to make a-----

-----a point of information regarding-----

I will be pressing the amendment but I think it would have been basic manners, if not necessarily-----

On a point of information, this vote that will now be held next Wednesday evening would have allowed ample opportunity for the joint committee to deal with the deliberations as set out in the amendment. The Government is simply being pig-headed in respect of how it is dealing with this matter.