Tomorrow, Seán Binder, an Irish NGO worker and trained maritime search and rescuer faces trial in Greece for the crime of saving people's lives. In 2017 and 2018, he worked with a registered non-profit body that regularly engaged and joint operations with the Greek Coast Guard. His job was conducting search and rescue operations in the Aegean Sea, saving drowning refugees. Now he faces up to 25 years in prison for this humanitarian work. His rescue work is now being called smuggling. The charity fundraising he was …

If we are to overcome sectarian divisions and partition on this island, we need to provide a vision for an alternative Ireland - I would argue an eco-socialist Ireland - that protects all minorities and delivers real changes and improvements for people's lives. The issue of abortion rights for women in the North is crucial. It is shameful that women and pregnant people in the North are being left behind those in the South and in Britain. They are still being denied the right to choose. It is particularly disappoint…

We are again in a crisis as regards Covid. The Government needs to acknowledge that. Our ICU capacity is in danger of being overrun. There is also the threat of Covid spreading into nursing homes yet again. The Government is once again sleepwalking us into lockdown at Christmas. It is Groundhog Day. What is most surprising is the Government is reported to have been taken aback at the level of Covid-related hospitalisations and the situation we are now in. Why on earth is the Taoiseach surprised? Look at the decisio…

Someone said to me earlier that Leaders' Questions should be renamed Leaders' obfuscations. I asked three simple questions. I did not get an answer to a single one of them. Instead, I got a repetition of what is just a line that schools are safe places. Is the Taoiseach seriously saying that no transmission of Covid-19 takes place in schools? Is that why he is saying that schools are safe places? That is not what the international evidence suggests. There are children in our hospitals now with Covid-19. That is wha…

-----if a certain level of carbon dioxide is exceeded, over 900 ppm, then action must be taken. Will the Taoiseach commit to supporting that Bill, even though the Government did not introduce it, to enable people to have safe air and to stop transmission in this way?

What does the Taoiseach mean by that?

Will the Taoiseach answer my questions, please?

I ask the Taoiseach to answer the questions, thanks.

I ask the Taoiseach to answer the questions, if he does not mind, because there are only 15 seconds left.

There were three questions and he has not answered them.

Not a single question answered.

Just the questions, if the Taoiseach would not mind. Please.

Please, I am trying to get answers here.

The Taoiseach said he was going to answer the questions and he has not answered any of them.

Not a single question answered. The Taoiseach said that he was answering the questions and he did not answer a single question.

I am happy to support the extension of the Act to ensure temporary outdoor seating areas in pubs and restaurants are covered by the liquor licences of the premises. Obviously the use of outdoor seating over the summer in particular was very important in helping to bring down Covid numbers. It also helped to make our towns and city centres more vibrant. It is possible for us to sustain outdoor living outside of the pandemic, particularly in summertime but even outside of the summer. There is much that we have done t…

A very significant crisis faces ordinary people in regard to energy prices and the Government cannot say it has not been warned. We have warned it and it has been repeatedly raised in the media, yet the Government has done effectively nothing for anybody, except something completely inadequate for those who receive fuel allowance. For everybody else, the Government is saying, "Well, suck it up" - the additional €500, €600, €700, up to €1,000 for some people this winter - when people simply cannot afford to pay it. …

He is not telling us this again.

The unions that represent tens of thousands of workers in the voluntary and community sector have announced that they will be lodging a pay claim for a 3% rise. These are workers who provide essential services in our communities. They care for older people, people with disabilities and people with addiction. They also work in homeless clubs, homeless services and homework clubs and I could go on. They do this work on the cheap from the point of view of the State. Many of them are precariously employed with no pensi…

The programme for Government states: "... the Government will prioritise plans for the delivery of Metrolink, Luas and other light rail expansion, DART expansion and interconnector ...". I presume the Taoiseach will say the Government is prioritising this but it is certainly some type of prioritisation when the Government is delaying it for a decade. The word "prioritise" loses all meaning in that context. People will scratch their heads and wonder how on earth it makes sense to be talking about a cut of up to 50% …