The Minister mentioned figures indicating improvements in income inequality and poverty in recent years. That is all about to change. Hundreds of thousands of people are being pushed into unemployment. Hundreds of thousands of workers and business people have been pushed into poverty in recent months. Many of the Covid restrictions have wreaked unbelievable damage economically and socially throughout Ireland. What will the cost be to those people and to the State in the coming months?

The damage that was caused to the country over the past year is eye watering. The damage is happening in hundreds of thousands of families. At hundreds of thousands of dinner tables, the stress and the strain of living with Covid is being experienced. It must also be said that this Government relied on lockdown far more than any other Government in Europe. No other government comes near Ireland as regards the level of lockdown, which was because of Government inaction in a range of other areas in the health service…

Monaghan people are also fairly commonsensical. I will broaden the question slightly while I have the Minister's ear here. In my own county, St. Mary's Special School was given a community employment, CE, scheme for the past number of years that enabled the school to give their students a hot meal every day. Some of those students were coming on buses at 7 a.m. in the morning and probably were not getting home until 5 p.m. in the evening. The fact that they were able to have a hot meal through the CE scheme provide…

This is an important question. The Department of Social Protection has just withdrawn that because it is outside the remit of that Department. Can the scheme be extended until the Department of Education takes over the responsibility? Sometimes Departments operate in silos sand they drop the ball for people who really need it. These are people with severe disabilities, many of whom are learning how to feed themselves with knives and forks, to deal with food and to clean up after they have eaten their meals. I ask t…

It is incredible that we are debating this Bill now. Given that many families have already gone through a challenging and difficult time with the banks and courts over the past ten years, some might consider that the progress of this Bill and the Government has been slow. It is also incredible that there are still families winding through the courts and negotiating their indebtedness with the banks. They are the collateral damage of the previous crisis, yet we are discussing their situation at a time when we have a…

From Clerys to Debenhams, when a company goes into liquidation ordinary workers lose out. Unfortunately, nothing has changed since the closure of Clerys. Successive governments have failed to implement reforms or protections in the liquidation process to ensure that workers get what they are entitled to. I have seen much debate in Leinster House and an enormous amount of lip service paid to the workers of this country, but I have not yet seen the introduction of the necessary laws to protect their entitlements. In …

I welcome the Bill, the purpose of which is to properly regulate private security services. This is an area that has gone unregulated for far too long. Banks and financial services firms have pretty much been able to hire who they want to do their dirty work of evicting the people who bailed them out during the financial crisis. Many in this House remember the shameful, violent eviction of three siblings from a property in Strokestown, County Roscommon, by a private security firm hired by KBC. In the lead up to Chr…

Housing is a basic human need. Without housing most aspects of people's lives break down. Physical and mental health starts to deteriorate. A family's ability to provide healthy nutrition for their children falls apart. Education and work life are practically impossible without a home. Ireland is suffering from a prolonged national housing disaster. Up to 1 million people in this State are affected by the housing crisis, either through mortgage distress, homelessness, spending years on housing waiting list or gross…

I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to enhance the welfare of dogs by strengthening the regulation of dog breeding establishments; and to provide for related matters. I am proud to introduce Aontú's Dog Breeding Establishments (Amendment) Bill 2021, or the puppy farm Bill, on First Stage. This is the second animal welfare Bill Aontú has introduced in the Dáil in the past six months. The criminal justice (theft and fraud offences) (amendment) (pets) Bill 2021 was introduced by me at the…

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

Strategic lawsuits against public participation, or slap lawsuits, are used against citizens who are trying to ensure that companies do not destroy the environment or break environmental laws. They tie up citizens in terms of money, time and energy. They may not be successful but their job is to silence or chill efforts by citizens to protect their environment. The Aarhus convention states that citizens should not be punished for ensuring that companies respect the law in respect of the environment. Article 3.8 has…

Before the house of The O'Rahilly was demolished, I raised the impending danger with the Minister of State responsible for heritage, Deputy Noonan. I also raised it with the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien. Unfortunately, they did nothing and the house was demolished. The day after it was demolished, I raised it with the Taoiseach in the Dáil and he admitted the demolition was wrong and should not have happened. I submitted a question for the Minister, Deputy Darragh O’Brien, asking whether he had investigated thi…

The Irish language Act was an essential part of the Good Friday Agreement, 23 years ago. It was also a central part of the St. Andrews Agreement, 15 years ago, and an essential part of the New Decade, New Approach agreement, which is well over a year old, yet I understand there to have been no progress on the delivery of an Irish language Act. This Act is a threat to nobody. It recognises for the first time the integral quality of the Irish language in the culture of many people in the North of Ireland. One of the …

We have all been passed this Earth to live on and we have to pass it to the next generation. We have a moral responsibility to hand the planet on to the next generation in at least as good a shape as we received it. Despite all the talk, virtue signalling and greenwashing of the past 15 or 20 years, though, this generation is the most damaging the planet has ever seen. That is an incredible thing to say, but it is true. We are living at a time of species mass extinctions, man-made global warming and unprecedented l…

I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to amend the Road Traffic Act 1961 to provide for dual language road signs and related matters. In many ways, the Irish Government sees the Irish language as an ornamental addition to brand Ireland. It is the cúpla focal here and there to pepper speeches, photographs to be posed for and a language for a few hours in class every week. The truth, however, is that the Irish language is a wonderfully rich cultural gift and an irreplaceable part of the di…

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

Twenty-five months ago, baby Christopher's life was ended by individuals within the National Maternity Hospital in an alleged illegal abortion. Christopher was a fully healthy boy and his parents are heartbroken. A large number of elements of the law were broken, not least that a senior practitioner signed off on the abortion but never met or examined the mother. The family has met two Ministers for Health and the Chief Medical Officer. I know the Taoiseach is aware of the case because he has spoken to the family d…

Can I say, Leas-Cheann Comhairle-----

-----the deafening silence from other political parties in this case is a disgrace?

It was an illegal-----