The central point Deputy Gino Kenny made is an important one, namely, that the undervalued and effectively unpaid work of carers saves the State billions of euro. Their work deserves to be recognised and they deserve to be treated properly as workers, part of which involves having the equivalent of annual leave in the form of a guaranteed and legislated-for ability to access respite care. This is obviously linked to the general poor treatment of people with disabilities by the State. The Government signed up to the…

I want to raise a crisis situation facing hundreds of apartment and duplex owners in a major housing complex in Dublin South-West. Because of fire safety defects when they were constructed, they potentially face being locked out from accessing their apartments with the common areas being closed down by the fire officer. They are being told that each apartment and duplex owner will have to pay €15,000 to remedy these issues. Many of the people simply do not have that money; it is simply not possible. This is not the…

On Monday this week, Fettercairn community and youth centre in my constituency announced that it has had to cancel its summer projects for this year because of the extremely high, unaffordable insurance costs it faced. That story is replicated around the country, resulting in a crisis for community groups, young people and families everywhere. The events committee in Fettercairn said that it has exhausted all avenues but found that insurance costs were at an all-time high, leaving no option but to cancel this year'…

New figures from EUROSTAT will confirm what people feel, which is that Ireland is now officially the most expensive country in Europe. Prices are 40% above the EU average. Part of that is down to the electricity prices we are paying, which are some of the highest in Europe. A unit of electricity here costs 26% more than the EU average and the electricity companies - every single one of them - are making a killing in terms of bumper profits. In other countries in Europe, governments have been forced, under pressure …

I thank Sinn Féin for bringing forward this motion, which I support. I pay tribute to the people in Navan and the region for mobilising and coming out in their thousands to defend and seek to ensure the future of their hospital. They are absolutely right to do so. I understand there is another protest planned for 9 July. It is only through those people-power mobilisations that the hospital and emergency department in Navan will be defended. I would prepare those people by saying that they will hear all sorts of pos…

It has not been done.

The Government is implementing the changes we suggested.

We got a letter. It did not state it was being done.

Was this a few months ago?

We have not got that. It has not appeared on my desk.

Okay. I will keep talking because if I say something, the Minister of State says it has been done. Can we please nationalise the private hospitals? Has the Government decided to do that? No. I will check and, if these things are being implemented, that will obviously be excellent news because we need to put these measures in place. I will find this letter. I was absent due to Covid for the past couple of weeks so it is possible it came in. I will look for it. I will leave it there. I wish the people of Navan and th…

I welcome and support the motion. As with pretty much every other public service in this country, there is a disgraceful lack of timely access to adequate home adaptation grants for older people and those with disabilities. As has been stated repeatedly, there are thousands of people in dire need of immediate home adaptations who have been waiting months, and even years, to have their applications processed. This is a misery for people. I deal with individuals who absolutely need these adaptations. They are unable …

Earlier the Taoiseach appeared to suggest that saying that the Government should do more to protect families from the cost-of-living crisis was repeating Russian propaganda. That was quite incredible cynicism, to be honest.

It was strongly suggested that saying that the Government should do more-----

People can go back and read the transcript-----

That is fine-----

People can go back and read the transcripts of the exchanges between the Taoiseach and Deputy Doherty.

Can I ask a question? Is it Russian propaganda to point out the fact that the top oil and gas companies in the world made total profits of almost $100 billion in the first quarter of 2022? How does that compare with last year? It is almost a doubling of profits. Is it Russian propaganda to point out the fact, as Deputy Boyd Barrett has done, that in this country they are taking advantage of supply shortages to jack up prices and make record profits from the pain of ordinary people?

The energy companies and the electricity companies in this country.

They are BP, Shell-----