I have one or two specific questions regarding the Bill. In early 2020, babies' organs stored at CUMH were sent to Denmark for incineration. This was done without any consultation whatsoever with parents of those babies. The truth came out in the wash, not from above so to speak, but through various pressures from below. This was a real scandal. It was highlighted in an "RTÉ Investigates" documentary and a review was put in place on foot of that programme. The parents were forced to wait and wait again, for two and…

I want to voice my strong opposition to the deal between Coillte and the UK-based asset management fund Gresham House. This is a deal which is bad for the environment, PAYE taxpayers and rural Ireland. Coillte will purchase and plant the land and manage the forest. Taxpayers' money will go into that. The asset management fund will put in cash, and will own all of the land and draw down millions in grants from the Government. I am not at all surprised that Fianna Fáil is standing back and backing the deal, and has s…

I express solidarity with the tens of thousands of climate activists in Germany protesting the demolition of a village to make way for a coal mine. They have taken this stance despite the mobilisation of thousands of riot police against them and the detention and arrest of activists, including Greta Thunberg. The Minister of State might comment on the fact the Green Party's sister party is part of the German Government that is presiding over all this. Does he support the stance of his sister party or does he suppor…

The Land Development Agency is one of the most important State agencies in the State's history. This is because it was set up in the middle of the greatest housing crisis in the history of the State and has the wherewithal to make a real difference in that crisis. However, instead or pursuing an aggressive policy of building public houses on public land, it is instead tending to organise a major programme of land privatisation. Who is steering the ship? The LDA has a five-person board. One of the board members is M…

The INMO is consulting its membership on the issue of industrial action in support of staffing levels that would be underpinned by legislation. Should the nurses decide to take action they will deserve the support of every health service worker, patient and relative who has had a loved one in a hospital and everyone who either looked on in horror or shook their head in sadness at the shocking overcrowding in our emergency departments over the new year. I have no faith in the Government to solve this crisis. I have …

Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass and what Alice Found There , published in 1871, featured the characters Tweedledum and Tweedledee. According to Wikipedia, "The Tweedle brothers never contradict each other ... they complement each other's words, which led John Tenniel to portray them as twins in his illustrations for the book." Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are the Tweedledum and Tweedledee of Irish politics. As if to prove the point this morning, they swap around the top jobs and the policy of the Government …

Reference was made in various speeches this morning to the global crises of Covid and cost of living with which this Government has had to contend. These were big shocks but the Government had some advantages in dealing with them. Economic buoyancy was one. Cheap money was another. These are advantages the Government will not be able to rely on in its second half. The backdrop in 2023 will be a backdrop of international capitalist recession - a recession from which Ireland will not be immune. A glimpse of the chall…

I have some questions I wish to ask the Minister of State. I am going to come back into the House at 11.40 a.m. to hear his reply because this is not just an answer I want to hear; there are many pay-as-you-go customers around the country who want to hear the reply to this question. Yesterday, I asked the Taoiseach about the issue of pay-as-you-go gas and electricity customers and whether they will be included in the moratorium on disconnections. The Taoiseach replied that there will be no energy cuts at Christmas.…

Will the Minister answer the question about pay-as-you-go families? A question was asked on their behalf. The Minister has a minute left. Will he answer that question, please?

We know that, but the Taoiseach told the Dáil yesterday that no one would be cut off during Christmas week.

Is there a deal in place with the companies to give people a guarantee or is the Taoiseach hitting and hoping? Is that a guesstimate?

So there is no guarantee-----

-----and not even a one-week moratorium for pay-as-you-go customers.

That is a disgrace.

We need a Dáil debate on the issue of this cold snap. We need a debate on how we will help people to keep their homes warm despite the massive increases in gas and electricity prices. The Government will say there is the €200 credit, but there are households who are burning through that €200 energy credit in the seven to ten days of this cold snap alone. Some of these households are on pay-as-you-go and could face the threat of disconnection this Christmas. There have been a lot of Elvis Presley references here in …

As I do every Saturday afternoon.

We will talk about that in a minute

Householders are burning through their €200 energy credits at a rate of knots in this cold snap. I spoke to a woman on the north side of Cork city last night living in a council house with a poor building energy rating, BER. She is spending €10 per day on electricity, €10 per day on gas and €7 per day on coal and blocks. She is a pay-as-you-go customer and her next €200 credit will not cover her until January. She will be all right as there are two wage packets coming into that house, but what happens in the house …

A fact check was done on it by thejournal.ie .

Three and a half thousand children are forced to spend Christmas in emergency accommodation, some for the second Christmas, some for the third and some even for the fourth. It costs €20,000 per year to rent a house in Cork city and €25,000 per year in Dublin. The price of a house has gone up by more in one year than the annual wage of many a young worker. A generation of young people cannot afford to buy or rent and are forced to live at home with their parents or emigrate. Could the Minister answer a couple of que…