Big industry has been lobbying the Minister, as exposed by what has been discovered by DeSmog.

Cara's meeting this morning outside the Dáil was a powerful one. We heard about the horrendous failure by this State of so many children across this country. She made the point that she should not have to be here. She should be in school. She should not have to fight for the rights of her brothers and for the tens of thousands of other children who have been failed. What we get from the Government are empty promises and empty words. It cynically allows motions to pass, with no attempt to actually implement them. Th…

I could go on.

I could speak about Cyra Cahill whose mother is in the Gallery. I intend to speak about her case next week.

Every single day, we could speak non-stop-----

-----about the failures of this State. We need action, not just words.

I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to amend the Animal Health and Welfare Act 2013 to make provision for an Animal Sentience Committee with functions relating to the effect of government policy on the welfare of animals as sentient beings. The Animal Sentience Bill 2024 is the first of its kind in this State. I thank the dedicated animal rights activists who suggested it, some of whom are supporting us today in the Gallery. The Bill does two main things. First, it establishes a legal …

I move: "That the Bill be taken in Private Members' time."

Eight, I think. It is just me.

I welcome this motion. It is good that we are discussing it. We in People Before Profit are long-time supporters and advocates of abolishing the means test for the carer's allowance. We have included it in our alternative budget, which we will be launching on Friday. We are also proposing turning the carer's allowance into a non-means-tested living wage of at least €15 an hour, or €525 a week. Carers have told us repeatedly how demeaning the means test is for them. They say that the long form is soul-destroying. I …

For almost a year, Israel has been waging a genocidal war against Palestinians. More than 40,000 people in Gaza have been murdered. Israeli attacks on Lebanon have not just started in recent days, but rather they have been escalating over the last year. Over the last year, there have been approximately 10,000 attacks on Lebanon, resulting in the deaths of more than 1,000 people. Israel has now massively escalated. It is indiscriminately carpet-bombing southern Lebanon. It is consciously and openly targeting civilia…

-----that at least one flight carrying weapons of war from Israel to the US stopped in Shannon Airport. The Government refuses to inspect those planes. Will the Government now agree to start inspections? Members of the Lebanese community in Ireland-----

-----have called an emergency protest for tomorrow at 5 p.m. at the Dáil, and for Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Department of Foreign Affairs.

The Minister cannot with any sincerity on the one hand condemn the loss of life, saying we are doing everything we can to push for a ceasefire, and then turn a blind eye to weapons travelling through Irish airspace against the law to be used by Israel to commit these war crimes. He cannot in all sincerity claim to be doing everything he is doing to secure a ceasefire while refusing to mention the one thing that enables Israel to do what it is doing, namely the tens of billions of dollars worth of weapons given to i…

Can the Minister give me a guarantee now that we are not going to find out about any further flights? Is it just the nine flights, or has the Government very consciously adopted a hear-no-evil, see-no-evil approach? It says the right things and tries to pander to public opinion on this-----

-----but it is not willing to challenge the role of US imperialism, including the passage of weapons to Israel to commit these crimes.

You can. It is a "Don't ask, don't tell" policy.

I move: That Dáil Éireann: notes that: — over 10,000 children are waiting for an Assessment of Need (AON) and 110,000 are awaiting essential therapies; — over 120 children were without a school place at the beginning of September this year, while many more are forced to do a third year in the Early Childhood Care and Education Programme or are in Autism Spectrum Disorder preschools; — only 1,028 out of 3,300 primary schools have autism classes, and only 410 out of 710 post primary schools have autism classes; — all…

I thank everybody who has participated in the debate. I have sat through many debates like this in the Dáil and heard the Minister of State's responses in the past. I have heard about the pilot schemes, the task forces and the marginal improvements in a horrendous situation. It is still horrendous. If you go from waiting six years for an intervention that your child needs to waiting for five years and eight months, that is still a horrendous, unacceptable situation. I do not doubt the Minister of State's sincerity.…

It is not agreed. The Taoiseach and the Tánaiste have told the Dáil that Irish sovereign airspace has not been used to transport weapons to Israel. We know now from the journalism of The Ditch that this is not the case. At least six flights containing munitions have flown through Irish sovereign airspace on their way to Israel. Either the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste misled the Dáil or exemptions were not sought and were therefore not granted, in which case the law was broken. Either way, it is a very serious matter …