The Minister for Health promised the 221+ group he would pause the process of the tribunal until there was an agreement reached on how it would work. That did not happen. In fact, the 221+ group found out in the media that it was going ahead. I raised the case of Patricia Carrick in the Dáil last year and, after I raised it, the clinical director of CervicalCheck wrote a letter to me that was critical of my speech. She said women had not been wronged and the slides had not been misread. I found this extremely odd b…

They are being ignored wholesale.

The depth of the housing crisis over the past ten years has been incredible. It is having the effect of gutting families and putting enormous pressure and stresses on families across the country. It is a humanitarian crisis. The idea that the word "crisis" could be so long-term is unbelievable. It shows a real inability on the part of the Government to focus on policy that will resolve it. That inability is not just a lack of ability, it is also an ideological problem. The Government, in particular Fianna Fáil and …

The total cost of the Government's handling of Covid, when the taxation measures, wage subsidies, grant supports and liquidity schemes, etc., are taken into consideration, for 2020 and 2021 was €41.3 billion, which is a phenomenal figure. The Comptroller and Auditor General's estimated cost of the banking bailout was €41.7 billion. These are two figures which are very similar. Yet, we see very little from the European Union with regard to helping this country. We hear that less than €1 billion is coming from the Eu…

Will the Minister tell us why this amount is so low and how we can improve on it?

Covid is obviously a real illness and we needed to be careful regarding the management of that illness. However, Ireland took a role which was an extreme outlier role compared with every other European country. No other European country's restrictions were as severe or as long as those introduced by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. In financial terms, for example, our annual spending in 2020 increased by 20%. In Denmark, it increased by 5% while in France, it increased by 8%. The European average increase in spending dur…

It reminds me of Ireland's instincts during the banking crisis when we were seen to be the best boy in the class. We do not shout loud enough for what we need.

Sometimes we are very insular and inward looking in this country. We handled this crisis in a radically different manner from every other European country. Yes, we had a crisis here. The majority of people who died of Covid caught it in a nursing home or hospital, which were the epicentre of the Covid crisis in this country. This area was radically mismanaged by the Government and we need a full investigation into how it was handled. The truth of the matter is that countries like Denmark and Germany opened pubs and…

I raised the question of antigen testing.

Denmark, Germany and every other European country opened in a manner-----

Earlier this week, RTÉ broadcast the testimony of a number of extremely brave women who, in the service of the armed forces, suffered decades of sexual abuse, bullying and discrimination. These women have sought justice from within the Defence Forces but they said they met with systemic resistance every step of the way. In 2017, a protected disclosure that detailed bullying, sexual abuse, victimisation and discrimination was sent to the then Fine Gael Minister for Defence. I understand no action has been taken. Sho…

This question reflects the contents of the previous one, to a certain extent. I know, from speaking to many survivors of mother and baby homes, that the actions of the Taoiseach and the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, around the time of the report's publication were deeply hurtful. Many of those people are elderly and some are, obviously, very vulnerable at the moment. I spoke to people, for example, who had attended the Zoom meeting with the Taoiseach, and it sounded very inappropriate too. Their microphones were switc…

The Taoiseach gave no answer on the updates into the investigation into the leaking. That is a deafening silence. He gave no answer, even, on an update as to where that investigation is, or when that investigation will be publicised. No information has been imparted to us on the basis of that question. As of yet, there are no consequences for the individuals who leaked that and for the pain and the suffering they caused to the survivors of the mother and baby homes. No action is a hallmark of the Taoiseach’s office…

The Good Friday Agreement and how it underpins Stormont needs to be reformed. We cannot have an ongoing situation where one party can pull down the Administration in the North of Ireland. I want to focus on another aspect of this. Denise Mullen is an Aontú councillor in Mid Ulster. Forty-six years ago, the Glenanne gang murdered her father in her family home. Denise was just four when she came upon her father's lifeless body in that home. She had to stay with her father for two hours before the medical professional…

There was no public recruitment process and no advertisement. There was no transparency. It was not open to anybody else. There was no competition. There were no qualification criteria. There was no fairness whatsoever. This role was gifted to Katherine Zappone because she was a friend and because she had the mobile number of half a dozen Ministers. Cronyism is deeply corrosive in the running of a country. It creates a two-tier society and blocks the majority of citizens from applying for jobs at the upper reaches …

Gabhaim míle buíochas leis an Leas-Cheann Comhairle agus le Sinn Féin as an rún seo a thabhairt os comhair na Dála inniu. Tá sé fíor-thábhachtach agus cinniúnach mar gheall ar na fadhbanna atá ar siúl sa Stát seo agus is rud iontach anois go bhfuilimid in ann labhairt faoi go háirithe sa ghéarchéim seo. Freedom of Information is a key part, one of the building blocks, of a functioning democracy. It makes information easier to access. It creates greater public awareness of laws, policies, regulations and procedures.…

Yesterday, under freedom of information, FOI, a document was released to me from the National Treatment Purchase Fund, NTPF. The document was an email, which was issued to nursing homes by the contract manager of the NTPF shortly before 10 a.m. on 12 March 2020. I have already furnished the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Mary Butler, with a copy of this email, which states that the NTPF had been asked to establish capacity within the nursing home sector. It goes on to state that nursing homes…

In fairness, none of the questions I asked about accountability have been addressed by the Minister of State whatsoever. This is a serious problem. We need clarification with regard to who is behind these decisions. She mentioned that HSE support was provided to the nursing homes. That is not exactly true. Further freedom of information documents I have received show that on 19 October 2020, the Minister of State with responsibility for older persons and mental health, Deputy Mary Butler, wrote to the chief executi…

The Irish Government is a radical outlier. It is adopting an extreme policy different from all other European countries. Workplace closures have been far longer than in any other European country. The health service in this country has seen much longer closures than in any other European country, resulting in many people being denied cancer care, mental health care and heart disease care. Our schools were closed for longer than in any other country, which has meant that children have not had access to education and…

Last night, there was an interesting debate about the fact that certain local authorities are being funded on an historic basis that does not represent their populations anymore. That is the case with the number of gardaí who are being assigned to counties. Counties such as my county of Meath, which has seen its population radically increase in the last ten to 20 years, have not seen the number of gardaí there increase at the same level. We have the lowest number of gardaí per capita in the State, which has a mater…