They are totally independent.

The people who are looking in today, those who have not switched off from the theatre and semantics that are going on in this Chamber for the last number of months, see Tweedledum and Tweedledee, and the fake and phoney Opposition when it comes to housing and issues like this. They are all in the one boat when it comes to other issues of globalism. They are all happy. The men of 1916 must be truly turning in their graves to see what is going on.

I think of men like Collins and Liam Lynch, who we will commemorate in ten days’ time, who gave the ultimate sacrifice that we would have freedom, we would arrive at our destiny, we would have homes for our people and decent standards of living and entitlement to a job, not flooding the place with people from all over the world and driving our people into penury. Here we are today with the phoney Labour Party and the new leader with a dream of 1 million houses that she would build. The only million she knows about …

They have switched off.

I raise the issue of the new Garda station for Clonmel. This issue has been going on for more than 50 years. I have been raising it for 16 years since I was elected to the Dáil. We now have a site, planning and design for a splendid new Garda station, but for some strange reason - I believe there is a window of opportunity now - it has been bundled with another Garda station, which we have no problem with, and with the children's court project, which is a totally different vehicle. There is a window at the moment f…

They need not be.

I apologise for interrupting an Aire. Are copies of her speech available?

Bogaimid ar aghaidh anois le Sinn Féin, agus an Teachta Rose Conway-Walsh, cúig nóiméad.

Gabh mo leithscéal. My screen has gone ahead of me here.

I call an Teachta Howlin, sharing deich nóiméad with an Teachta Sherlock.

I support the motion which is a sensible motion brought forward by Páirtí an Lucht Oibre, not the nonsense we had earlier of a phony vote of no confidence in the Government that it knew it would not win. It is jockeying for position with Sinn Féin and the other party on the left, the Social Democrats. There were antics, disgruntlement and interruption. It was a shocking debate. This is a reasonable and sensible debate. We are all worried about the future of education. I have children and grandchildren in all strand…

The Taoiseach has a crystal ball.

What are we going to do to get more gardaí to join the force and make it safe and secure so that gardaí within the force will stay the course? As the Taoiseach knows, 130 gardaí left the force last year and this year the same trend is continuing. It is no longer safe or a career people are happy in. We are not supporting them with proper supports such as body cams and so on. They need more resources on the ground to deal with thuggery and criminality. Above all, they need respect and support from the House, the Min…

We cannot keep people.

When Deputy Varadkar was last Taoiseach some four or five years ago, I raised with him the case of Clonmel man. John White is a Tipperary man who was in difficulties in Dubai because of his involvement in a company that he had no control over. He has not been allowed to leave the country at all and to return home, although I had thought that he was home. The Taoiseach said he knew the family in Dublin. He had a stroke on Tuesday last week and is in a critical condition. His family are desperately appealing to the T…

Are we here talking about closing the stable door when the horse is gone? Has this already been signed and are we merely rubber stamping it here? I also have huge issues about Ireland buying these credits from Slovakia, which is not meeting its own targets. It is farcical. I have huge issues with the whole roll-out. There are schemes and schemes across all-of-government. Housing is no different. It is actually worse. These are convoluted schemes people cannot access. For years we talked about Northern Ireland where…

On a point of order, it is a very sad trend that we are having this debate today. The point of order is that the Minister of State has just told us that the deal has been signed. Therefore, what are we doing?

This is after the fact. This is putting the cart before the horse. We are only here to sign our names to this deal, to rubber stamp it. We might as well close down the Dáil and give our powers to the European masters altogether.

There are four hours of debate on this matter scheduled this week. We almost had another two-hour debate only Government statements were removed. If talk could build houses, we would have plenty of them. There are some who prioritise implementing a recovery plan for An Bord Pleanála with immediate effect. Severe backlogs in An Bord Pleanála are hampering the construction industry's ability to deliver much-needed housing. We can talk all we like about eviction and eviction bans, but we will go nowhere if we do not h…

I compliment Deputy Harkin and the Independent Group on this excellent motion. Year after year, the subject of carers comes up. Family Carers Ireland is mentioned. Indeed, Councillor Richie Molloy is the manager in south Tipperary. All the groups are mentioned and we give them lip service, promises and praise but they get no fundamental respect budget after budget. They got small bits and pieces but carers from the oldest to the youngest need to be recognised for the work they do. Statistics have proven that there …