Let us allow people to have a choice in the next election. If we inspire people with the chance for an alternative to Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, many will take that choice.

The Taoiseach said his party is not a nasty party. His party has chosen, with Fianna Fáil and the Green Party, shamefully, to give €100,000 to private companies to clear tents, which arrive back the next day, put up fences to block access to our city and to leave people sleeping in tents on our streets. Nobody should be sleeping in a tent on our streets. It is a cynical policy choice to do so. I make the point again; there are empty beds in the State accommodation system that the Government is choosing not to use, …

They are not responsible for the cost-of-living crisis. They are not responsible for the health crisis-----

-----and I think most people from having this conversation a lot-----

I certainly will. When we talk to people, most people are actually open to hearing that and they can be won to that argument and know it is the Government's responsibility. They want there to be a real alternative-----

-----on offer in a few months' time.

What laws?

It is not true. It is not illegal.

If you provided accommodation, there would not be the tents. Does the Taoiseach think they want to be there?

I also call for there to be no guillotine on the Planning and Development Bill. It is obviously extremely important as regards how our planning process will work in the years ahead. There were weeks of Committee Stage debate but that will now all be condensed into eight hours or so with a guillotine on Report Stage. It is clear that we need to give this Bill as long as it needs for debate.

Is our job just to pass laws or to debate them?

Last week the UN Secretary General called for a ban on fossil fuel advertising similar to the ban on tobacco advertising. António Guterres asked every country in the world to bring in this ban. He called fossil fuel companies the godfathers of climate chaos who rake in record profits while the most vulnerable are being left stranded. These fossil fuel companies are destroying our climate, just like the tobacco companies destroyed people's health. Last March People Before Profit introduced a Bill to ban fossil fuel …

I move amendment No. 1: To insert the following after "counter to the agenda of equality and inclusion": ", and ensure no school will receive any reduction in the allocation of resources in September 2024, than they had in September 2023; — ensure that the National Council for Special Education allocate additional resources to ensure adequate numbers of Special Educational Needs Officers are allocated and dedicated to support the transition from Early Years Education (EYE) to Primary, from Primary to Secondary, and…

Tomorrow night we will vote on Second Stage of the Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill. As it stands, the Bill proposes to increase employees' PRSI every year for the next five years. Given that employers' PRSI is the lowest in Europe and given the cost-of-living crisis workers face, will the Minister withdraw the Government's proposal for an extra tax on ordinary workers and increase employers' PRSI to cover the costs?

This is a stealth tax increase on ordinary workers. It has not been subject to anywhere near enough media scrutiny and public discussion. The Government is, with one hand, taking money from ordinary low-paid workers and, with the other, putting money into the pockets of businesses through the employers' PRSI tax break it has given businesses through the business support package. A full-time worker on the minimum wage will face paying almost €180 extra in PRSI and a worker on the average wage will face paying almost…

It is the Minister who is spending money, giving it to big businesses. Why is she introducing the business support package through changing the threshold for the lower employer PRSI rate, costing the Social Insurance Fund €60 million? She is giving the businesses €60 million and will take €60 million from workers next year. She is taking from workers to give to businesses, yet she pretends nothing is happening here and that everything just goes on. She also talks about 0.1%. It will be 0.1% next year but over the s…

There is already hype in the media about the upcoming budget. It is being said that it will be one of the last acts of the Government, whether the general election will be this year or next year. The Government will have a surplus of €65 billion in the coming years. Can the Minister commit now to increasing social welfare rates so that nobody will be left living below the poverty line?

Unfortunately, the Minister and the Government have been found wanting. They have been found wanting for children in this country. The latest child poverty monitor report found that more than 250,000 children, or more than one in five children, in this State experienced enforced deprivation in 2023. The number of children experiencing enforced deprivation rose by almost 20% last year. The Government is responsible for that. The Minister spoke about the €12 a week increase, but it was just €4 a week for qualified ch…

I do not know. Is the Minister saying it is okay?

Even according to the Minister's own figures, one in ten people in this country is at risk of poverty. I will give the Minister the child poverty monitor report figures again. More than one in five children experienced enforced deprivation in 2023, and that figure went up by over 30,000 children to 260,000 children last year. One in four households is in arrears on gas bills, while one in ten households is in arrears on electricity bills. There is a dire need for permanent increases in social welfare rates to compe…