Cut VAT.

It is to increase rent.

The Office of the Confidential Recipient was founded in 2014 as a result of the Áras Attracta scandal. That scandal was exposed by RTÉ in a documentary called "Inside Bungalow 3". Disturbing undercover footage showed vulnerable adults being mistreated by some staff within that HSE-funded service. It showed inhumane and degrading treatment to residents and several people with intellectual disabilities in that location. Secretly recorded footage showed that staff members were slapping, kicking, force-feeding and phys…

What is happening here at the moment is a serious scandal. This country has a really bad record in terms of standing up for people with disabilities and learning difficulties. Many of them have been abandoned for a long period of time. State bodies have a history of defending their institutions against those individuals who have been wronged. That is a record that is peppered right throughout the State bodies in this country. Look at the Brandon and Emily cases. The Brandon case exposed 100 incidents of sexual abus…

The idea that in some way getting rid of independence and putting another individual of the HSE in control of an office for investigations that are to happen in the HSE is backwards. It is giving the power to investigate to the organisation that is accused of the wrongdoing.

That never works. Will the Tánaiste seek a reversal of this?

It is a radical move.

Some.

The homeless crisis in Ireland has reached a historic and harrowing breaking point for so many families. The figures currently show that 16,734 people are trapped in emergency accommodation. That is a record-shattering figure, representing a 12% increase year on year. However, it is actually only a fraction of the truth if we add in rough sleepers and the 290,000 hidden homeless - the families who are squeezed into garden sheds, those who are couch surfing and living in overcrowded flats or the adults who are in th…

This is a well-meaning motion and universality sounds great but I have problems with it. It often redirects funds from low-income families to rich families. Approximately 629,000 people are in poverty in this country. While those individuals are in poverty, I do not think we should be using taxpayers' money to pay for Michael O'Leary's children's healthcare. A woman came into my office recently with a low income. She is waiting months for an operation on her neck. She is losing the function of her hand and her leg.…

The Government announced its decisions regarding SNAs last week like a wrecking ball. It was an incredible situation where teachers, parents, SNAs and, of course, children were not spoken to. The manner in which the Government presented this information to schools around the country was incredible. It created a wave of stress and panic in many families and many schools last week. The ineptitude of the Government's approach last week was startling and it showed the lack of centrality of families, SNAs and teachers i…

Where an employee can work at home, it should be facilitated. It can be a massive plus for a worker. It can reduce stress. Obviously, it can reduce the cost of the daily commute, and in certain cases, it can lead to a significant increase in productivity. It can also be good for the local community as it brings people back into local towns and villages during the day. We do live in a city state, unfortunately, where people are commuting from Connacht, Ulster and Munster into Dublin on a daily basis. In many small v…

Today it has been announced that the Government intends to introduce age restrictions on social media. Most parents around the country will be in favour of that. I have spoken to many children around this and they have said they could do without social media if none of their peers had it. It is the fear of being left out that is the biggest issue for a lot of children in relation to this. I recognise that screens have radically changed childhood in the past ten years: from 24-hour bullying to unhealthy, passive phy…

It was a stupid thing to do.

First, the Government’s approach to this is shockingly poor and one-dimensional. It does not cover all of the Internet threats to children at the moment. When it comes to the Government’s plan to create a digital ID, there is no real detail. It is not well thought out and there has been no consultation with stakeholders. I have heard some of the Taoiseach’s party colleagues mention a public service card maybe being at the heart of this. Given that the Government has already broken the law twice with a public servic…

I am offering a solution.

I also suggested an alternative.

No.

No. I opposed the spending of €9 million for it.

Teachers and parents were laughing at the idea.