I wonder whether the Minister of State has seen Ken Loach's fine film, "I, Daniel Blake", which reveals in horrifying detail the impact of a tiered system such as that being proposed. In the UK, it is called a work capability assessment; in the Green Paper, it is called a work capacity assessment. In effect, they are the same. When I asked the Taoiseach about this, he said "I, Daniel Blake" was a good film but it was one-sided; in other words, he was suggesting that perhaps some of these people may, in reality, be …

Two weeks ago we had riots, incited by the far right, on our streets. Now we have migrants in our city who are afraid to go out for fear that they will be targeted by the far right. What has been the response of the Rural Independent Group? During the original debate and then during the debate yesterday, all of them were at pains to emphasise that the riots that took place were nothing to do with the far right, whitewashing the role of the far right. Now we have opportunistically, disgustingly, an attempt to use th…

Go on. Danny Healy-Rae, with his plant hire business, makes hundreds of thousands of euro from-----

-----from Kerry County Council. Deputy McGrath is making money from Tipperary County Council.

These are the people. Corrupt politicians like Michael Lowry, happy to-----

It is a matter of public record.

It is a disgrace.

The Taoiseach's speech at COP28 was a cop-out. He had a golden opportunity for Ireland to take a lead, like when the Dáil declared a climate emergency and banned new fossil fuel exploration. Instead, he made a vague to meaningless call for a planned reduction in fossil fuels. He told a journalist that he supports carbon capture and storage. Environmental activists and scientists know that carbon capture and storage and all the weasel words at COP28 about unabated fossil fuels are just the latest ploy by big oil and…

Like what? What is the Taoiseach talking about?

The Luddites were right.

The Luddites were correct.

The Luddites were actually correct. They were workers standing up against a change in their work practices.

They were in favour of technology, but for the people.

Under the Taoiseach's watch, the housing crisis has got worse and worse. We now have more than 13,000 people living in emergency accommodation. There was an incredible story at the weekend in The Irish Times detailing how almost 10% of those are living on one street, Gardiner Street, in unsuitable inappropriate accommodation. One good thing that happened under pressure from us was the tenant in situ scheme which says that where tenants are faced with eviction on grounds of sale, the local authority should step in a…

What is happening in Gaza has been described as "a macabre game of Battleship". There are these tiny squares of territory where Israel says it will bomb a square, the inhabitants have to leave and if they do not leave, they will be killed and it will not be Israel's fault. Palestinians are forced to move from one tiny square to another again and again, in what is clearly an attempt at a new Nakba, or new catastrophe, to drive the Palestinians out of Gaza. More than 16,000 Palestinians have now been murdered, includ…

I have been contacted by parents of children who attend two different crèches in my constituency, namely, Discoveries Crèche and Montessori School in Firhouse and Chuckleberries Montessori and Crèche in Ballycullen. In both cases, these crèches are either threatening or planning to withdraw from core funding and massively hike their fees. An email from one family stated that their total fee would go up from €1,200 per month to €1,851. Another said their household had two incomes which made up €100,000 between them,…

People Before Profit has no confidence in the Minister for Justice or this Government. We want the Government to go. The Government is responsible for record levels of rent and homelessness and for almost record house prices. The Government is responsible for almost 1 million people being on some form of public health waiting list. The Government is responsible for not protecting people from the cost-of-living crisis, which has seen corporate profits soar while ordinary people have struggled to put food on the tabl…

-----to this abuse and incitement we have seen from the far right? It has responded by conceding ground. Look at what Deputy Coveney told the Financial Times just last week. He said we have to listen to people, effectively the rioters, and then, linked to that, was the idea that asylum seekers would, shamefully, be put on the street with nothing but €75 per week.

People can read the article. That is no problem.

That is not the first time.