Before I ask my supplementary question, I will just say that the points I am going to make apply to the Taoiseach and the representatives of the Government. They also apply to all parties in this House, however. In our view, no party in this House should attend a celebration with Joe Biden while this Israeli terror campaign is being waged. That applies to Sinn Féin as much as it applies to Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and the Green Party. The Taoiseach mentioned Rafah, a place with a swelling population of 1.5 million pe…

Our position is clear, a Thaoisigh.

It is clear.

You know my position.

I do not know if the Taoiseach has ever been in the town of Mallow when traffic is heavy, but I can tell him it is quite the experience. If he has been there, I do not know if he has ever wandered down to a place called the Plaza to have a look at a traffic system which just does not work. Mallow needs a relief road. Why will the Government and Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, not fund a project in this regard? The recent €300,000 allocation came as a savage disappointment to people in Mallow. Once again, the…

Last Sunday the fishing vessel Ambitious sank off the Galway coast, thankfully without loss of life. Four of the rescued crew were Ghanaian nationals who approached the International Transport Workers' Federation, ITF, for assistance. The documents provided to the ITF by these fishers showed they had been recruited illegally. They were bogusly given the impression they would be working on UK flagged vessels and were issued UK deckhands contracts promising €1,300 per month. This enabled them to receive a UK seafarer…

It is all my turf though.

I want to ask about Government and State neglect of the health needs of people with eating disorders. This issue was highlighted on Saturday, with protests taking place in Cork, Limerick and Dublin. Despite the fact that the HSE identifies eating disorders as resulting in the highest morbidity and mortality within the mental health sector, there are only three beds for adults with eating disorders provided within the State's public health system. I asked the young people in Cork who organised the protest last Satur…

Last week, the Taoiseach gave us an insight into his thinking about care and the role of the family. When speaking about the demand from people for a right to care and supports from the State, the Taoiseach explained his position that State support for care is a last resort. He said, "I do not actually think that is the State's responsibility, to be honest. I do think that is very much a family responsibility". Saying that you are happy caring responsibilities are on the shoulders of your family when you are wealth…

I have decided to change my vote in the care referendum from a yes to a no and I want to explain why. I called for a yes vote originally because I wanted to remove sexist language from the Constitution. I saw the religious right and the far-right mobilising for a no and I did not want to give any class of a boost to those forces. I criticised the wording for merely striving to support care rather than guaranteeing it. I also criticised the wording for merely making reference to support for care in the home but stay…

Union busting is a term we associate with the United States of America, but it is an international practice and it is very much alive and well in the Republic of Ireland. In 2015, Tesco employed the union-busting legal firm Eversheds Sutherland as it prepared its union-busting strategy Project Black. Attacking union subscriptions and the check-off system was very much part of the project. When Tesco workers who were members of the Mandate trade union went on strike in 2017, company deduction of union subscriptions …

Many of the groups which campaigned against marriage equality and appeal are the groups which lead the "No, No" campaign, including the Catholic Church hierarchy, the far right, and now Elon Musk, Conor McGregor, and all. I want to ask the Minister about the emergence of a "Yes, No" camp, which supports "Yes" to the family referendum and "No" to the care referendum. The criticisms raised here, which have won significant support among carers and people with disabilities in particular, include the charge that the ref…

This is a really relevant amendment and is particularly so tonight to workers across the country who work in The Body Shop. They have been told the Irish stores will be closed tomorrow. They are being closed by the new owners, Alma24. According to The Guardian , Alma24 has an owner and majority shareholder who is an executive with close links to Aurelius, a vulture fund that is well known for its asset stripping. The stock will be cleared out of the Irish stores and the company is expected to go into liquidation ne…

A lot of appreciation was shown for the-----

Can they do so within the next 30 days?

Can they claim jobseeker's payments as well?

I appreciate that.

We are discussing the series of arson attacks we have seen across the State over the past five years. Let us imagine that for the past five years there was, instead, a series of protests outside the holiday homes of the super rich and famous demanding that these homes be taken into the ownership of the State and used to accommodate homeless people. Let us imagine that two or three days after the protests, these holiday homes were burned down in the middle of the night. To be absolutely clear, I am not advocating th…

Recently the Children's Rights Alliance gave the Government an E for its performance on youth mental health. I wonder what it would have given the Government for youth mental health services in the Cork and Kerry region. At the end of September, there were 728 young people on the waiting list in our region. This is 16% of the total on the waiting list nationally with just 11% of the population. Because of a recruitment and retention crisis, only one in three of the recommended nursing posts is filled. The wait time…

Seán Lemass did not go. Neither did Jack Lynch, and neither for that matter did Liam Cosgrave, Charlie Haughey, Garret FitzGerald, Albert Reynolds, John Bruton, Bertie Ahern or Enda Kenny. However, the Taoiseach went, the first Taoiseach to go to the Munich Security Conference, mixing and mingling with the generals and admirals, the NATO heads and the representatives of imperialism at the Davos of defence. Pushing the envelope again, before the Taoiseach left, his Government came to an agreement with NATO, the deta…