Where are we on the list?

We have been waiting for far longer.

I am sharing time with Deputy Bríd Smith. We are debating and discussing a change to the law. Where has the pressure for this change come from? It has come from below. It came from the repeal movement, the Me Too movement, and from the sentiment for I Believe Her in the aftermath of the Belfast rape trial. Insofar as this legislation is a reflection of the aspirations and the demands of those movements, it is positive and represents a step forward. However, it is a mild reflection of the aspirations and demands of …

Last week Dáil Éireann, to its shame, gave a round of applause to a parliamentary delegation from Azerbaijan, which included representatives of its ruling party. This was despite the fact that the Azerbaijani state organised a blockade for ten months of Nagorno-Karabakh, which resulted in starvation for some, seized the territory, which resulted in the deaths of hundreds, including children, and forced 100,000 Armenian people to flee the territory, de facto ethnic cleansing. I request that the Business Committee me…

There are seven days to go now. I see the Minister for Finance is out of the House, no doubt doing his sums. We need a budget for the millions, not the millionaires. We need real change, not spare change. It is clear, however, and becoming clearer by the day that the Government plans to give less than last year and is trying to lower public expectations. One small example tells a tale. Last year, the moratorium on gas and electricity disconnections lasted for four months. This year, it has been cut back to two mont…

-----and demand a better deal. I will conclude on this, a Cheann Comhairle.

I appeal to people to join the national cost-of-living protest in Dublin this Saturday.

A large quantity of toxic algae has bloomed on Lough Neagh, which is the largest freshwater lake on this island. This is the result of pollution from sewage and from farm run-off combining with hot temperatures. It has been estimated that 200,000 tonnes of sewage is discharged into the lake every year. The poisonous algae has killed pets and killed wildlife. Dead fish are washing ashore due to depleted oxygen in the water, threatening the livelihoods of local fishers. The banks of the lough are owned by none less t…

When will work on the Cork event centre commence? What will the overall cost be? What will be the bill for the private investors and what will be the bill for the taxpayer? Last, but not least, and there will be plenty of people in Cork listening in on this answer, when will that centre be opened? I remember being a councillor in Cork City Hall in 2014 when we were told that the overall cost would be €50 million and that the State would contribute €20 million. I remember when the Minister, Deputy Coveney, got kitte…

Ireland is not a poor, backward country, not by any manner or means, yet we cannot get significant numbers of our kids to school in the morning. The Government has serious questions to answer on that. I wish to bring to the attention of the Dáil the situation facing the people of Glenville in my constituency of Cork North-Central. In particular, I wish to raise the situation facing 12 students and their families. These students have been, as the saying goes, knocked off the bus. They attend school in nearby Fermoy,…

Do you? Were you ever evicted?

The Minister of State said "There is no shortage of will or determination... to deal with the issue of homelessness. It remains our top priority." If that were true, it would not say too much for the effectiveness of the Government, would it? Since it lifted the eviction ban, the number of people forced to live in emergency accommodation goes up month after month. The Minister of State says it is a top priority. In that case the Government is not very effective and is failing all along the line. However, I do not b…

He is trying to get his head around the wildflower meadow.

Last week, there were high-profile roll-backs on environmental policies from the UK Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak. He was quickly endorsed by Donald Trump, who said Sunak was smart and climate change was a hoax. I suspect the Taoiseach would regard those politicians as the bad guys on climate while he is in the camp of the good guys. I cannot see Donald Trump having a wildflower meadow outside the White House, if he ever gets back into it. However, let us take the following facts into account. This summer, the Climat…

The Tánaiste nailed his colours to the mast at the end of August when he voiced his support for a new universal household charge, based on devices, to replace the television licence. Such a charge would hit more households than the TV licence, would represent a new charge in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis and would be every bit as regressive as the TV licence. We are in the run-up to a general election and the Tánaiste has flown a controversial kite that is up there now flapping around in the breeze. I am gi…

I raise the case of 15 Cork-based nurses who are being denied the €1,000 Covid bonus. These nurses are members of the SouthDoc community intervention team. They administer intravenous injections of fluids, antibiotics and so on to patients who have been discharged from hospital back to their homes and communities. All 15 of these nurses were patient-facing during the Covid emergency. In other words, they risked their health and their lives to care for others in our health service. The bonus would cost their employe…

In the Taoiseach's own constituency of Dublin West, 30 schools had 110 unfilled teaching posts last year, according to the Dublin West education coalition, which organised a comprehensive survey. Some 75% of schools received no applications and 81% ended up using unqualified teachers. The reasons for this crisis are many and varied. They include cuts in teachers' pay and allowances, and non-recognition of qualifications and service abroad. However, the issues of housing availability and affordability, and sky-high …

I bring before the House the issue of mass evictions due to take place in Cork city this Christmas. The evictions are taking place at Chorister's House in Dean Street on Cork's south side, beside St. Fin Barre's Cathedral. Ironically, the evictions take place right next door to the constituency of Cork South-Central, which hosts three Government Ministers who voted to lift the eviction ban. The Ministers, Deputies Micheál Martin, Coveney and Michael McGrath, might be interested to learn that, in the wake of their d…

I will start with a few simple budget-related questions. The Minister's starter, for five points: who said, in March 2017, that Ireland will achieve its target of ending reliance on hotels and bed and breakfast accommodation for long-term accommodation for homeless families by July 2017? That was the Minister, Deputy Coveney. The next question for ten: who said in 2016 that Fine Gael in government would abolish the universal social charge, USC, in that Dáil term? That was the Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar. Question No…

The Government is planning on providing people with less assistance than it did last year. Despite its little spat with the financial advisory council, the Government, the council and the entire bourgeoisie are united in telling people to lower expectations and to prepare for another drop in living standards. Listen to what the Minister for Finance said yesterday. Here is a final point, while I am at it. Thirteen years ago, a Fianna Fáil finance Minister introduced the hated universal social charge. It should not b…