Last week, South Dublin County Council passed a People Before Profit motion to allocate long-term housing to victims of gender-based violence leaving short-term refuges. Official figures show that 32 households fleeing domestic violence were forced into emergency accommodation from January to March. However, according to service providers this massively understates the problem. The housing crisis means women either cannot leave abusive relationships or are forced to return to them once their time in a refuge is up.…

From the outset of Putin's criminal invasion of Ukraine, we pointed out that US involvement there was not driven by any concern for self-determination and the interests of ordinary Ukrainian people but was instead driven by its own strategic interests. That has become undeniably clear under Trump. It is clear the US is only interested in Ukraine insofar as the people of Ukraine can be used to weaken Russia, and Ukraine can then be carved up for its own aims. The blackmail deal done by Trump is to steal minerals fro…

I am just saying what is happening.

It is not happening for housing. It is not happening for healthcare.

There is a chronic shortage of public health nurses in Tallaght and across the South Dublin County Council area. Babies are going without routine developmental checks, which are vital to spotting issues early and referral to appropriate services. Home-based catheterisation is another essential service that has been removed, forcing very ill patients to travel to clinics to access it. The HSE has said it is trying to recruit more public health nurses but there are not enough applicants to fill the vacancies. Once ag…

I thank Cara Darmody for forcing this issue onto the Dáil agenda. Her bravery in protesting outside the Dáil for 50 hours has forced the Government to sit up and pay attention. However, I want to make a very obvious point: that it is a disgrace that Cara and other disability campaigners, including the parents of children with additional needs, are having to resort to sleep-outs outside the Dáil to try to enforce their legal rights. What sort of society are we living in where children have a constitutional right to …

Is big tech's insatiable demand for energy to power data centres being put before the need to address the housing crisis? The recent Commission for the Regulation of Utilities, CRU, report suggests housing delivery is at risk because of the inability to connect new houses to the electricity grid as a result of the insatiable demand of data centres.

Let me quote from the recent CRU paper on policy on the connection of data centres: ESB Networks has highlighted risks that, in the absence of an adequate policy response, the potential level of data centre demand could significantly impact its ability to accommodate demand connections required to support Government policy targets such as 550,000 new homes by 2040 … It goes on to give the example that, in west Dublin, the new Castlebaggot station was initially designed to support housing growth, relieve pressure an…

What is the response of the Department and the Government? Is it to put a pause, at least, on data centres? Is the Government’s response to state, at least, that housing takes priority? The CRU is saying to the Minister very clearly that we are adding electricity capacity and that, because of the first-come, first-served nature of the system, it is being gobbled up by data centres. Let us get real about where the extra demand for electricity is coming from. It is predominantly from the big tech giants. They are at …

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." The general election campaign for Fine Gael got off to a very bad start because a video emerged of Michael O'Leary launching the election campaign of Deputy Peter Burke, now the Minister responsible for this area, including, unfortunately, workers' rights, saying the things Fine Gael and its supporters say to each other when they think videos are not on and these things are not going to be public. Michael O'Leary endorsed a Government led by Fine Gael and Fianna Fá…

I thank all colleagues in all the Opposition parties who supported our Bill. I just point out that we will finish ten minutes early. The reason is that the Members of the Lowry group who fought so hard to get their time to speak on these matters presumably do not consider it important to come and speak about trade union rights or maybe they are embarrassed because they will be voting against trade union rights later on today. I agree with one thing the Minister of State, Deputy Smyth, said, namely that the "approac…

I wish to share time with colleagues.

The target of ten weeks waiting time is a pretty sick joke for those who are waiting months to get driving tests that they absolutely need to be able to get around to do their jobs, collect their kids and do all of the things that, for many people, mean driving is essential in this country as it currently is. A year ago, the average waiting time was 15 weeks, not the target of ten weeks; in January, the average was 21 weeks; and right now the average is 23 or 24 weeks. Tallaght is reported as having the worst servi…

More than 14,000 children are now waiting for assessment of needs. The Government is breaking its own law for 90% of the assessment of needs that are carried out. They are not carried out within the six months legal timeframe. You have an incredible situation where a 14-year-old, Cara Darmody, feels compelled to sleep outside for 50 hours to fight for the rights of her brothers. She really should not have to and we should have time on the Dáil schedule next week for a joint motion to say the Government and the Stat…

The collapse of the houses at the canal yesterday encapsulates the scandal of dereliction and vacancy in this country. There are 160,000 vacant properties, 50,000 of which have been vacant for six years or more. Despite the immense housing crisis and the fact that over 15,000 people are living in emergency accommodation right now, the Government has done very little to address this. These homes were owned by the Construction Industry Federation, the lobbyists for the builders in this country. They were left empty, …

We must never accept the Tory or media narrative that often scapegoats and demonises migrants. "Problems of low pay, housing and public services are not caused by migrants – they are caused by a failed economic model." Keir Starmer wrote that in 2020. However, after Labour took a hammering in the recent elections, the British Prime Minister has reversed course. Mr. Starmer has not reversed course on the so-called "welfare" reform. He has not reversed course on the attacks on disabled people. He has reversed course …

These are the Tánaiste's words: Children are starving. Basic painkilling medicine cannot be accessed. Hospitals are being bombed and the scale of death and destruction in Gaza is almost unimaginable. It is certainly unconscionable. Famine is a real risk for many Gazans and children are even dying as we speak ... We cannot and will not stand idly by and let this happen. These are the Tánaiste's words, but standing by is exactly what the Government is doing regarding the thousands of tonnes of weaponry flown through …

How could the Tánaiste say these things? The Ditch has informed him, and I am very happy to pass over a folder of waybills from the airlines themselves. We do not need to investigate it; the airlines themselves are declaring that they are carrying weapons. These have been sent to the Tánaiste repeatedly, not just after the fact, but in advance of the fact. One of the receipts I have here from FedEx clearly lists the tracking number and flags it as international traffic in arms regulations, ITAR, goods. On 23 Octobe…

They are on the waybills. I can give them to the Tánaiste-----

They are admitting it.