No.

A riot was organised by Ireland's far right 12 days ago. It was organised by racist organisations and fascist organisers. Shop workers were terrorised and bus workers, gardaí and firefighters were attacked. What did the Tánaiste do tonight? Instead of making criticism, when he looks around the Dáil, of those Deputies who promote the talking points of Ireland's far right and who have been happy to pose for photographs with some of their organisers, he attacks the proposers of this motion and the socialist left. The …

I will vote "No" on the confidence motion tonight.

I note the headline this morning: "Government may reconsider placing asylum seekers in areas where there is 'tension' says Minister" - the Minister, Deputy Coveney. I put it to the Minister that that is bowing to the pressure of the far right, that it will be seen as bowing to the pressure of the far right and that it will encourage the far right to stir up tension and say, "See, not here." There are also reports this morning that the State may not provide accommodation for asylum seekers who come in the next few d…

I note that I did not get a guarantee that people will not be forced to sleep rough. The Minister spoke about mitigation measures, tented accommodation and a roof over the head. Tented accommodation is not a roof over the head, by the way. That is an important point. It is significant that while the Government is talking about putting on the agenda facial recognition technology, water cannon, stronger pepper spray, more riot police and more dogs - in other words more State repression - it is failing to deal with th…

On my walks these days it is common enough to see people out walking with graceful animals - greyhounds. The dogs are invariably rescue dogs, but where have they been rescued from? They have been rescued from abandonment. They have been rescued from a greyhound industry which is scandal ridden and cruel. It was cruel, it is cruel and it will always will be cruel because, when it is run for profit, it cannot be any other way. That is the view of a growing body of opinion within society. For example, Dogs Trust had a…

Last week, Ukrainian military officers were assessed by NATO assessors at Lynch Camp, Kilworth, County Cork. Many people will be amazed to hear that. No doubt, the Government will say it is within the law and falls under the Partnership for Peace arrangements. If it can happen when the current legal arrangements are in place, I can only imagine what might happen when the Government changes those arrangements and scraps the triple lock. The Government is chipping away at so-called Irish neutrality every week. When t…

The Fianna Fáil mayor of Cork county told a gathering in Fermoy this month that he would have no problem joining a blockade of asylum seekers due to be provided with accommodation in the town. He made the statement while standing alongside a far-right agitator with a long track record of anti-immigrant rhetoric and activity. The mayor has since made what I consider to be a mealy-mouthed apology for his comments. He made that apology under pressure and only after the riots of last Thursday. In Leitrim, a crowd of pe…

Have any Government councillors been part of the secret WhatsApp group that organised the blockade? Finally-----

Okay. I would be interested to hear the answers to those questions.

Are Government councillors actively supporting blockades?

The Minister did not answer the question.

The Israeli war cabinet minister, Yoav Gallant, recently said, "There will be a short pause and then we will continue operating with full military power." He also said, "Our strength will be greater, and it will take place throughout the entire strip.” Interesting that he referred to "the entire strip" because Israel has forced huge numbers of people to leave northern Gaza and go to southern Gaza. It has been made clear that after the pause, Israel will go into southern Gaza. It is saying the population should move…

Did the Taoiseach discuss them with the French Prime Minister?

Referring to the riots, the Garda Commissioner said, "But we could not have anticipated that in response to a terrible crime, the stabbing of schoolchildren and their teacher, that this would be the response". For a casual observer of Ireland's far right that would be a naive statement. For a Garda Commissioner it is absolutely astounding. Ireland's racist and fascist extremists, and their organisations, have been watching and waiting for months for a tragedy they could exploit in order to do something like they di…

I extend my sympathies to all those injured in the knife attack on Thursday, especially to the five-year-old girl and her carer who are in hospital and whose conditions are serious, and to their families. This riot was organised and orchestrated by Ireland's far-right, by openly racist and fascist groups. These groups like to portray themselves as the defenders of women and children. Women and children are in far more danger from the kind of toxic masculinity promoted by these groups than from anything else in soci…

I am happy to make them when they are.

I do not trust Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael or the Green Party on the issue of Irish foreign policy and steering clear of military alliances. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people at the very least and perhaps more than 1 million. They were fought for the prestige of US imperialism and, in the case of Iraq, oil. They were not fought to keep the world safe from weapons of mass destruction. There were no weapons of mass destruction. Fianna Fáil allowed US warplanes to re…

When Irish Water was set up, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael promised the people that our water services would not be privatised. However, this is happening by stealth and some of the results are shocking. For more than a year now, large numbers of households in Cork city have had orange and brown discoloured water flowing from their taps. The discolouration comes from rust and sediment that was stripped from old underground piping when Irish Water and the private operators of the new Lee Road waterworks added a new chem…

It has been going on for more than a year.