I thank the Minister of State. The problem is that it is clear from the research and from talking to Travellers that they do not experience a policing model that is focused on human rights. The report found that half of those surveyed had been present in a home that gardaí entered without permission. They found that 64% of Travellers in Garda custody in the past five years said they did not feel safe while in custody. When they were asked about the last time they were stopped by a garda, 59% of them said they belie…

It seems that fundamental changes are necessary to challenge the systemic racism that many Travellers experience at the hands of the Garda. There are several recommendations in the report and I would like a response from the Minister of State on three of them. The first is as follows: The introduction of an ethnic identifier throughout the criminal process from the point of reporting to the point of sentencing, including entry and search of homes and stops and searches which must be recorded. A commitment to make t…

I was listening to the Minister's introduction upstairs. It struck me that there is a fundamental difference between the Minister's view of lobbying and People Before Profit's view of lobbying. That explains why we have quite a limited reform here. It is a tiny step in the right direction but is quite limited and inadequate. The Minister said that lobbying is an invaluable part of politics which provides an invaluable insight for politicians about the details and workings of things and so on. He really extolled the…

To be clear, I am not making any personal charge. I am just giving a description of the jobs the individuals in question had and now have, and it is 100% accurate. For example, when they sit down across the table from the Government, which has Fine Gael in it, it clearly suits the banks to have on their side a former senior member of Fine Gael. That clearly suits their interests and clearly greases the wheels of communications. The social dialogue, the chats, the informal access, and all of that, are made easier by…

The Taoiseach said that councils should buy properties in circumstances where people are in HAP or RAS tenancies and are faced with eviction. Does that include those on rent supplement? Is it actually going to happen? I ask that because on Monday I sat with a woman, Stephanie, in Springfield in Tallaght. She has four children and is studying psychology in college. She had been given a notice quit and was forced to overhold because there was nowhere she could go. The homeless placement service told her that it did n…

New research shows that the world's wildlife populations have declined, on average, by almost 70% in the past 50 years. In Ireland, the butterfly population is down 35% since 2008. We are living through the sixth mass extinction event. The report suggests that land use change remains the driving factor behind the crisis and the loss of biodiversity. In addition, there is overexploitation of natural resources, as well as pollution and climate change. At the root of this is a system of ecocidal capitalism that is con…

CAP is.

The Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, is. We incentivise farmers to engage in industrialised farming because of the whole nature of the subsidy system.

On 31 August, the local employment services in Tallaght and Clondalkin were shut down, 39 workers were made redundant and the areas are going to be left with no service for at least two and possibly three months. At the end of that time, the local partnership will attempt to re-employ a reduced number of workers on lower wages and with increased responsibilities. The consequence will be a significant reduction in services. When we attempted to raise this previously, the Government said, “Nothing to do with us” and …

Yesterday, the Fine Gael Deputy Paul Kehoe said here that O'Connell Street was "full of druggies". I ask the Taoiseach to condemn this use of dehumanising and stigmatising language. I find it utterly incredible that a senior Deputy supporting the Government would speak in such a way, punching down at some of the most vulnerable people in our society, namely, those suffering from drug addiction. I worry that this reflects a certain approach by the Government of criminalising and stigmatising people when it is underf…

It emerged in the Business Post that, in April, the Tánaiste reassured the big tech companies that the Government would continue to support additional data centres being connected to the Irish grid despite the fact that the data centres combined now use more electricity than all of the rural homes in Ireland and are on track to use approximately one third of our electricity by the end of this decade. Is that why the Government has agreed to give €10,000 per month of public money to data centres through the temporar…

I wonder why.

There are no jobs in data centres.

Exceptional needs.

The Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan, said yesterday that people granted refugee status who are still living in direct provision accommodation should have to pay rent. I am sure the Taoiseach has visited direct provision centres and I am sure he will agree that we are not talking about luxury penthouse suites, detached houses, nice apartments or anything like that. We are talking about cramped and shared rooms with limited and often horrifying food supplies. These are very…

There is no housing.

That is because they have no homes.

It involves public procurement.

That is a decent public procurement process.

Challenge the injunction.