Deputy Harris has chosen a song from the 1970s as his new theme song, Bachman-Turner Overdrive's "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet". It is a great song, but I can think of one or two other tunes from that decade that might be more appropriate. For example, I can think of The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again" from 1971. It might sum up the mood of the electorate a little better, and it does contain the closing lyric: Meet the new boss Same as the old boss More seriously, on 26 March 2020, this Dáil gave a standing ovation to…

I want to correct the record of the Dáil. Earlier, I mistakenly said that the shortest-serving Taoiseach in the history of the State was John Bruton at 924 days. It was actually the Tánaiste, Deputy Micheál Martin, at 904 days. Maybe it just seemed longer. A couple of weeks ago, Deputy Michael Ring made the comment that Fine Gael has been too left for too long. If he decides to join his 11 Fine Gael colleagues and exit politics at the next election, he might make a good alternative career in stand-up comedy. A more…

She played a key role.

Hear, hear.

It was a busy day over at Tweedle Dee's yesterday. I would like to ask the reasons the Minister's Department facilitated a meeting between the Irish Defence and Security Association and the European Defence Agency's CEO in September 2023; if he will publish of the names of the people who participated in the meeting; the topics that were discussed; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

We are talking about the arms industry here and an emerging Irish arms industry. It seems to me that this is quite a shadowy organisation. It is unlike any other representative organisation that I know of. It does not say who its affiliates are. We are told there are 15 Irish-based SMEs, two research organisations and two multinational corporations. We are told that Mr. Pat O'Connor is the chair, Ms Caitríona Heinl is head of policy and Ben Tonra, the UCD professor, is involved as well. We are not told who all the …

The Tánaiste mentioned that similar organisations exist in other European Union countries. I do not doubt him for a moment on that. The arms industry is shadowy. Are other EU countries as shadowy as what we have here? I imagine that in many other European countries the affiliates of a defence association are on the public record, but that is not the case here. The Tánaiste said this does not come under the aegis of his Department, and that is true. However, it is also true that the Department set up a meeting for t…

Who is involved?

I asked the Tánaiste a straight question. I am asking the questions here. Who is involved?

The Tánaiste set up meetings for it.

No. It was a minority of the names involved. Who are the other names?

Who is involved?

Stop bluffing. Who is involved?

Hear, hear.

There needs to be a general election now. Several parties have called for that in the House today and I strongly suspect that a great many people out there in society would also say that it is time for that. The people should have the decisive say in who the next Taoiseach will be rather than the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party. Deputy Varadkar has been a good Taoiseach for the wealthy and the upper echelons of the middle class but not for working people or for the poor. His legacy will be a housing crisis that went …

I think Sally Rooney nailed it. She said that the "Government [is basking] in the moral glow of condemning the bombers, while preserving a cosy relationship with those [who supply] the bombs". Even as celebrations were in full swing in the White House on Sunday, Netanyahu and his war cabinet were no doubt making preparations for a ground invasion of Rafah, which is a city of nearly 2 million people now, one traumatised by war and with the majority of its population living in tents. I think Sinn Féin let itself down…

This is an out-of-touch Government and Deputy Varadkar has been an out-of-touch Taoiseach. Rarely was that seen more than in his interview on "The Six O'Clock Show", where he raised issues relating to care and disability and showed his Thatcherite colours. I suspect that was the moment the care referendum was lost. The Government, however, is about to repeat the mistake. Its Green Paper on disability reform, again aping the Tories, rather than dismantling barriers and forcing employers to make workplaces people wit…

I wish to speak up on behalf of 118 workers whose pay will be slashed on 31 March by the Government. They are public health services staff who are out sick with long Covid and have been on full pay as part of a dedicated scheme which the Government plans to scrap on 31 March. Many of them are nurses. They were on the front line and risked their health for us before vaccines were available and with insufficient PPE. Now, they suffer from fatigue, brain fog, migraine and other symptoms of long Covid. After the Govern…

I want to challenge the Taoiseach on a point he raised earlier when he said that my approach had not assisted the people of Gaza and had zero effect. By implication, he is talking about the approach of socialists. By implication he is talking about the global protest movement of which we are part. His statement is not correct in my view. Why did the man with whom he was spending time on Sunday at the White House, Joe Biden, change his position to the point where he now opposes a ground assault in Rafah? It is becau…

I want to talk to the Taoiseach about his planned visit to the United States next week. The World Health Organization was unable to visit hospitals in Gaza in November, December, January and part of February. Only recently has it been able to restart its work in this regard. To date, it has discovered that 15 children starved to death in those hospitals. The United Nations tells us that 500,000 people in Gaza are just one step away from starvation. Hundreds of those people gathered in Gaza city last Thursday mornin…