The process is clearly not working because we are coming down with cost overruns left, right and centre. One of the reasons for this is that the Government is allergic to accountability and has been for a long time. Even when answering a simple question here on the actual cost overruns over the past five years, this level of accountability is refused. The Minister has not even answered the question that was put on today's Questions Paper. Farmleigh House, for example, is another project we in Aontú have been resear…

Bureaucracy does not create accountability. Accountability is an issue that is created if there is a cost to an individual for making a mistake over and over again that costs the State. I very clearly asked what the total overruns in public infrastructure projects were. The accountability to the Dáil has not achieved an answer on that here and now. I also asked what overruns were happening in public projects at present that the public did not yet know about. It is important that we put this question in shining neon…

It is true.

The buses did not move for 18 months.

No quibble with the public servants. It is the Government we have a quibble with.

I might also mention the Midleton flood defences, which have been mooted since 2017. My understanding is that the planning application has still not been processed. It is a real life and death issue for the people of Midleton. Vacant property during a housing crisis is one of the biggest problems I have with this Government. This and the previous Governments are the biggest hoarders of vacant property in the State, believe it or not. Last month, the OPW wrote to me stating it had 67 vacant properties. What efforts …

I welcome the sales of those properties. That is a good thing, but the Minister of State must admit that on a day when 15,600 people are homeless, the idea that one Department would have 45 vacant properties is absolutely wrong. The OPW is involved in a total of 450 lease agreements which concern approximately 374 properties. We have seen the OPW lease property from Larry Goodman where someone measured it incorrectly and the taxpayer is paying rent for space that does not even exist, which is quite incredible. That…

Aontú put in freedom of information, FOI, requests to each of the local authorities and found there were 4,000 empty local authority homes in the country. If those 4,000 empty local authority homes were brought back into use, they would be enough to house the total 15,600 people who are currently homeless. We found that it is taking on average eight months to get those local authority homes back into use, while it takes less than two months to get private rental accommodation back into use. This is the key. While t…

The impending tariff war with the US is the biggest existential economic threat to this country in generations. Yet shockingly, it has been practically eclipsed by Dáil dysfunction over the past couple of weeks. Billions of euro worth of Irish trade and corporation tax are under threat. Both the future intake of tax and public spending are in the balance. I am struggling see any evidence of direct impact by this Government in terms of the EU's decision-making process or its negotiation with the US Administration. T…

The Government has bullied through a new hybrid speaking system into this Dáil. The Government created a speaking system with another designation and it wants to control that designation as well. It already has a majority in this Dáil, but it wants the majority of the designations as well. Incredibly, in the new Standing Orders, the Chief Whip of the Government will be able to control who asks the Government's questions from this new group. That is an incredible situation. We in Aontú have demanded that the Governm…

We are 123 days since the general election and this Dáil has sat for 21 days.

There is not a committee functioning in this Dáil at the moment. No wonder we cannot build a hospital in this country without the prices ballooning out of control. No wonder there is not a house for a young person, and that young people have to emigrate to actually get a house. It is beyond time that we cop on to ourselves in this Chamber and see can we work to fix those issues. This issue has eclipsed the biggest existential economic threats to this economy, which are the tariffs, in the past number of weeks. We d…

Deputy Guirke spoke for one hour last year in the whole year.

The nature of policing is radically changing in this country. There is absolutely no doubt about that. That relationship between citizens and the Garda is actually crumbling. Much of the Garda's authority over decades has been the fact that gardaí have been able to work in partnership with positive relationships with local communities. That has meant the level of difficulties that have come to pass between police and citizens has been relatively low in Ireland compared to other European countries. There has not bee…

While this Dáil drowned in dysfunction this week, the Government produced the EU migration implementation pact. While this Parliament was in paralysis this week, the Government sought to sneak through this highly controversial plan. As the Minister knows, this EU migration pact is opposed by a great number of the Irish people. The EU migration pact hands sovereignty on the issue of migration away from the Irish people. The EU migration pact outsources key decisions to the EU. The Government's plan stated yesterday …

I was not shouting at anybody during the week.

As usual.

Irish neutrality has been one of the most important policies of this country for the past 100 years. There will be a protest outside the Dáil on 9 April at 6 p.m. I welcome everybody, from all political persuasions, who favour and support Irish neutrality, to join the protest. Arrogance is a key aspect of this Government. The Government is using the infrastructure of the Oireachtas to push through, force through and beat through its objectives on various issues. Yesterday was an example of that. Today's debate abou…

The Government talks about the need for stronger defence systems in this country. It spent €5 million on the National Cyber Security Centre following the attack on the HSE. In the same year, the Department of the Taoiseach spent €15 million on press statements. Three times the money was spent on press statements by one Department than all the money on the National Cyber Security Centre. The attack on the HSE has already cost €100 million and is likely to cost another €650 million. That is not to mind the thousands …

It is part of the Nice treaty.