I move amendment No. 1: In page 7, after line 36, to insert the following: “Report on New Arrangements to Borrow intersection with existing obligations 11. The Minister shall, within 24 months of the passing of this Act, lay a report before both Houses of the Oireachtas outlining how he or she has sought to ensure that any conditionalities attached to credit provided through the NAB Decision support the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement, along with other interna…

I move amendment No. 2: In page 7, after line 36, to insert the following: “Report on conditionalities attached to credit provided under New Arrangements to Borrow 11. The Minister shall, within 24 months of the passing of this Act, lay a report before both Houses of the Oireachtas outlining how he or she has sought to ensure that conditionalities attached to credit provided through the NAB Decision does not require a member who has sought or received credit to engage in structural adjustment programmes or to pursu…

I want to raise the international situation. My colleague, Senator Boylan, referred to it yesterday as well. I hope we all share concern about the growth of far-right governments in Sweden and now in Italy. It is important for people to speak out. It concerns me that prominent parties both in the European People's Party, EPP, and in the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, ALDE, are actively coalescing with these fascist parties. The Liberal Party, a member of the ALDE group, is actively planning to coale…

Well said.

That is nonsense. He has not condemned the liberal group.

It is good to see the Minister of State. He is always welcome. I think the shine is going to go off this budget fairly quickly.

I do. I know it comes as a surprise to the Leas-Chathaoirleach. There are a number of topics to cover in the relatively short time I have. I will start with the issue of how we deal with the huge surge in energy costs. Let me be clear. There is no ideal way to deal with this, and I want to acknowledge that straightaway. The difficulty with what the Government is proposing is that the €200 credit will be snaffled up by the energy providers - there is no question about that. The Government is only providing one €200 …

That is the Government's record, yet Senator Casey thinks he can come in here and give us a lecture on housing. Let me remind him also that the Government's target of building 12,600 social and affordable houses this year is not going to be hit. The Minister admitted last week that the figure will be 30% off that target. The Government cannot even deliver the pledges it has made, which are clearly not good enough. I make no apologies for Sinn Féin saying we will deliver 20,000 social and affordable houses. The Gove…

I want to mention the vacant sites tax. I think Senator McDowell will acknowledge just as happily as I will that he and I rarely agree on issues but, my God, this tax is a farce and a fig leaf. Fundamentally, Fine Gael will never tax vacant houses and we can see that now from this proposal. It is so easy to elude having to pay any tax under this measure. It is frankly pointless. Why can Fine Gael not acknowledge that one of the key solutions to the housing crisis is to tackle the issue of vacant homes?

The best way to tackle the issue is to apply an effective tax rate to encourage owners to move vacant sites on and back into the marketplace. Let us be frank. This is the last effort we will see the Government make on this matter and it is not an effort at all. It is just another means of avoiding a key issue and looking after its own people as opposed to tackling the issue of vacant homes. That is not good enough. I am hugely disappointed that the proposed rise in the minimum wage is less than the rate of inflatio…

Hear, hear.

It is a joke.

Agreed.

It is factually incorrect-----

Is that allowed?

It is because he is a Government Member.

The Minister of State is very welcome. I will try not to repeat points I made in my first speech with the Minister, Deputy Michael McGrath. There are some points in the budget that I do welcome. The decision to cut student fees by €1,000 is very welcome. I do find it bizarre that the Government is going to put that back up by €500 the following year. Perhaps that is something the Government should reflect on. Hard-pressed parents might not tolerate it, having seen their fees reduced by €1,000 this year because of t…

I am very pleased that the Minister has come in because I have raised some of these issues before with her in the previous Dáil. I am delighted she is here and I thank her being here. Six Syrian migrants, including three children, died from thirst and hunger last week while trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Europe. The children were aged just one, two and 12. They had drifted at sea for days before eventually being picked up by a merchant ship and taken to Sicily. More than 1,200 people have died at sea in t…

I thank the Minister for the response. I am a little disappointed because the greatest human rights scandal of the 21st century is people losing their lives in the Mediterranean and the Greek seas. The reason they are losing their lives, according to the UNHCR, is the absence of search-and-rescue operations by governments. I have made a clear request to the Minister this morning to make the call to increase search-and-rescue operations by governments in the EU. Unfortunately, she has not yet said this is a clear ca…

Well said.