They are out to save safe staffing.

Is the Taoiseach aware that there are now more than 30 vacant posts at Mallow Hospital? Is he aware that surgeries had to be cancelled at that hospital a few weeks back? Is he aware that the staff shortages that caused this were only sorted out by moving staff from CUH to plug the gap? Does he think this is any way for a hospital to be run? I want to support both the INMO and Fórsa, which are balloting their HSE members nationally for industrial action against the pay and numbers strategy that is suppressing thousa…

What is the balance sheet of the Government, which includes the Green Party, on environmental issues? The Taoiseach will, no doubt, tell me greenhouse gas emissions fell in most sectors last year, but the Climate Change Advisory Council says the fall is not nearly big enough to meet our modest climate obligations. The target for reduced emissions for 2030 is 51%. What is the Government heading for? It is 29%. How does the Environmental Protection Agency rate Government performance? On nature, very poorly; on water,…

What about the balance sheet?

Yes.

Socialists stand in complete solidarity with those who are victims of hate crimes and hate speech. We salute campaigners in groups such as the Coalition Against Hate Crime Ireland for highlighting the impact of hate crime and hate speech and pushing for action to be taken. Hate crimes and hate speech have a real impact on people's lives and the lives of oppressed groups. Being the victim of these types of crimes is difficult and shocking. It has a corrosive impact beyond the individual victim by telling people belo…

Last week, I showed the Taoiseach the horrible, discoloured water the residents of Mount Farran in Blackpool on the northside of Cork city were having to put up with. When I put the video of our exchange up on my social media, I got messages from people in Gurranabraher, the Glen, Mayfield, Spring Lane, Dublin Hill, Ballyvolane, Shanakiel, Blarney Street, Wellington Road and elsewhere, to say they have had that too. One woman said her water used to be like Tanora but now it was like Beamish. This weekend, the Mount…

There is €25 billion of a State surplus but not enough therapists for special schools in Cork, brown water coming out of the taps in Cork and bus services in a state of real crisis in Cork. We have buses that never arrive, buses that arrive late and buses that are jam-packed and just sail past the queues at the bus stops. This week, Bus Éireann has cut approximately 800 bus runs from five city services. Commuters and drivers are not happy and many of them will give their verdict at the ballot box. Make no mistake; …

The Taoiseach met Keir Starmer, whose government is arming Israel. He met Joe Biden. The Biden Administration is arming Israel big-time. These men have funded and armed a genocide; just look at the horrific events in Jabalia. After shaking the bloodstained hands of those men, has the Taoiseach had to wipe blood away from his own hand? He told Ryan Tubridy that he cries when he thinks about the Palestinian children. That is some bit of compartmentalisation. He cries for the children and he then shakes the hands of t…

The Ceann Comhairle keeps making the same joke.

You need new material.

What exactly are the priorities of the Government? What is important to it and what is not? There are people out on the streets forced to go rattling tins to raise money for domestic violence centres and the Government decides to give almost €20 million to the greyhound industry. Does the Minister of State not know this is a cruel industry? Deputy Murphy said one quarter, and my statistics state more than one third, of the racing greyhounds born in 2021 and still remaining on the island of Ireland are now either de…

This industry would not survive if it was not for State money propping it up. The stadiums are 90% empty. This is in the wake of all of the animal cruelty scandals. I will leave aside, for reasons of time, the Government's plans to give €80 million to the horseracing industry with the Shannonside Foods abattoir scandal still fresh in the memory. It is outrageous that the Government is granting the greyhound industry €20 million, an increased handout over what it gave it last year. Stop animal cruelty. Stop this fun…

The residents of the Mount Farron estate in Blackpool on Cork's north side have been dealing week in and week out since mid-July with dirty and discoloured water. Since last Saturday morning, there has been an unrelenting stream of urine-coloured water. Let us leave aside how people have a cup of tea. How do they do their laundry or have a shower? Residents asked me to bring a sample of their water supply into the Dáil Chamber. I agreed to do so. I have it here. I ask the Taoiseach to have a look at it. It is disgu…

I congratulate the former workers of the Before 5 Family Centre in Churchfield and the parents whose children attended it. Between them, they have been successful in putting sufficient pressure on the Department of children to force the release of €300,000 to pay for the works needed for the centre to reopen in 2025. At the same time that people on the north side of Cork city are celebrating this win, it is widely recognised that this is a pre-election stunt by the Government and there is a justified cynicism about…

I thank the Ceann Comhairle. What a cowardly and craven performance by the Taoiseach in Washington last night, by the way. I wish to address what has happened in our health services on the Tánaiste's watch. Ten minutes from now, trade unionists will assemble at the gates of the Midland Regional Hospital, Tullamore and at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda to protest against the recruitment cap imposed on the HSE and their hospitals by the Tánaiste's Government. Yesterday, workers protested at St. Luke's Hospita…

The Tánaiste gave out a lot of statistics but he did not point to the fact that services have had to increase, and rightly so. He also did not point to the fact that there are big increases in the population. He also did not indicate how much of the new staffing is on the basis of hire of agency workers. These workers are more expensive and often have considerably less skill and experience in the particular hospital. The Tánaiste says he does not believe that it merits industrial action. He should listen to the nur…

It is not an incursion; it is an invasion.

I offer my congratulations to the parents, staff and children of St. Killian's Special School who have successfully campaigned to get HSE funding to hire therapists. I fully agree with the principal, Sue Lenihan, and parents' representative, Eibhlín Gleeson, who have welcomed this short-term solution although they demand a permanent one. The €40,000 will have to be stretched to cover the needs of a school with 104 pupils that used to need a similar sum to cover a school of 70. The €40,000 provided will cover the co…

Will the school be funded in January?