It would be helpful of the Leader to write.

I welcome my colleagues, Senators Horkan and Maria Byrne, back to the Chamber. Senator Horkan will forgive me if I extend a particular welcome to Senator Maria Byrne. It is good to have a second voice from Limerick in the Chamber. I congratulate both Senators. This week, I attended the Council of Europe. It was good to see a motion on Alexei Navalny. I commend the speech of our colleague, Senator O'Loughlin, on that. I was happy to vote in support of the motion calling for his release. It struck me as I saw politic…

I propose five minutes and three minutes per speaker, respectively, if that is acceptable to colleagues.

It is good to see the Minister of State here today and I thank him for coming in for this very important debate. We need to first address the elephant in the room, which is the obvious fact to all of us, hopefully, that politics has failed in respect of gambling. It is eight years since the gambling control Bill was first thought about. Over that time, I have seen colleagues from all parties, including the Leas-Chathaoirleach's in particular, highlighting the need to address this critical issue. The fact is that it…

Colleagues were rightly outraged by the Beacon Hospital-private school vaccine scandal and I know they spoke about it on Friday. However, a related scandal which has not really received any airing over the past couple of years is the €91 million subsidy given to private schools each year by this Government. To be clear, I have no problem with parents who want to send their children to private schools. However, I have a major problem with parents expecting to be subsidised by the Irish taxpayer to send their childre…

I thank the Minister for coming in because I know he has an extremely busy schedule at the moment. This week is going to be crucial for him and the Government. There are a number of concerns and I will try to go through them as quickly as I can. The first is fundamental. As we know, the national immunisation advisory committee, NIAC, has identified and prioritised 15 groups for vaccination. Does the Government know how many people are in each group? That is fundamental. I am asking because it appears that the Gover…

It is good to see my comrade, Senator Warfield, in the role of Acting Chair. I congratulate Senator Higgins for this excellent well thought out legislation. I am quite taken aback by the comments made by Senator Pauline O'Reilly. She spoke about throwing about nonsense figures. The only figure mentioned was by Senator Boyhan, who suggested six months rather than 12. To make a comment such as she did shows either she was not listening or not showing respect to the very hard work done on the Bill. Like others, I am f…

Well said.

I thank the Acting Chairperson and it is nice to see her in the Chair. I welcome the Minister. The speech has been interesting and I want to address it as much as I can in the few minutes that I have got. Let us start with the first point. It is good that he is examining the level of public investment and whether it needs to be adjusted. Sinn Féin is clearly of the view that investment needs to be significantly adjusted. It needs to be adjusted because the current targets are just not strong or ambitious enough. As…

I congratulate the Leader and the Cathaoirleach on the unveiling this afternoon. It was great to see. Since it is International Women's Day, I will begin by paying a personal tribute to a hero of mine, Margaretta D'Arcy. She is a tremendous peace campaigner, activist, socialist, actor and writer whom I have regularly met for many years on the peace trail at Shannon Airport. I salute her among all other colleagues on this important day. I wish to highlight a fantastic report on inequality by Unite the Union, entitle…

I second the proposal.

I wish to highlight a simple statement in the Sinn Féin motion, that is, "too many working people cannot access secure or affordable accommodation, and too many young people are forced to reside with parents and relatives". Is there anyone in this Chamber who disagrees with that? Apparently there is because Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party did not include it in their amendment to the motion. They could not live with it as part of their amendment. I find that quite extraordinary, particularly given the com…

Hear, hear.

Fantasy policies. You are-----

Well done.

I thank the Acting Chairperson. It is nice to see him in the Chair. The Minister of State is very welcome. It is nice to see him. I thank him for coming to the House. I wish to raise an issue relating to a deposit return scheme for drinks containers. As the Minister of State will be aware, his colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan, announced that such a scheme will be introduced. It is hoped that it will be introduced in the near future. I believe the introductio…

I thank the Minister of State for that lengthy response. I understand he will come back to me because he has not really answered the key questions. We know the Department was resistant to introducing the deposit return scheme. We know from freedom of information requests that were released to my colleague, Senator Boylan, that the Irish Government was instrumental in delaying this EU directive until 2029. This is where the Minister of State and the Green Party have to make a difference. We spoke about ambition and …

The Leader will know that some months ago I spoke about the far right when the fascists were outside the gates of Leinster House. I feel the need to raise the issue again this morning in the wake of what happened on Saturday. This is personal to me because when I grew up in London in the 1970s and was part of an Irish community, whenever we came out to march for the Birmingham Six or the Guildford Four, we had to face down those on the far right and then there they were on Grafton Street last Saturday. I want to se…

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House. I want to raise an issue which resonates right across the country. It concerns income thresholds for social housing. I have a simple request for the Minister of State. The Government must urgently raise the income limits for social housing. I was concerned by the reply of the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, to a parliamentary question last November in which he stated that the current income eligibility requirements provide for a fair and equitable system of i…

I thank the Minister of State for his response. I have to say I am deeply disappointed with it. It is almost a carbon copy of a response given to my former colleague, Deputy Murnane O'Connor, in November. I say with all due respect that the response will mean absolutely nothing to those working families who are locked out of public housing and locked out of the mortgage market. As I said, and I do not think the Minister of State will be able to disagree with me, these are people who are struggling to provide for th…