The Government is putting young children into unregulated State care with unvetted staff and is putting them in major danger of sexual and criminal exploitation. With all the noise in here in relation to RTÉ, etc., issues such as this are being missed. Children at risk of abuse in society are then being put into flats and apartments by Tusla. They are being minded by unvetted staff and many of them are going missing and are being targeted for sexual exploitation. The CEO of Tusla was on RTÉ last week and said this …

It is not regulated.

It is not regulated.

Farmers are leaving the land in greater numbers than ever before. According to Teagasc, two thirds of farmers currently cannot make a living from the land alone. They have to either work elsewhere or are being driven into poverty. A total of 57% have an income of less than €20,000 per year. To put that in perspective, Ministers earn nearly ten times that figure per year. Those farmers are under attack from every direction. They are under attack from the new climate change Bill, which is loading up carbon taxes on t…

It is absolutely true to say that the RTÉ omnishambles has been dragging on for months and is getting worse by the month under the Minister's management. It is a depressing soap opera that is dragging down the confidence of the people within RTÉ. It is also having a financial impact. We see that the amounts collected in licence fees are collapsing, which is obviously also damaging to RTÉ. It is also having a significant effect on morale within RTÉ. The Minister's stewardship of this particular role over the last ni…

The leaking of the report into the mother and baby homes was very wrong. It caused considerable distress among the survivors of the homes. This investigation is very strange, and that is God's honest truth. In response to the parliamentary question submitted by Aontú, the Taoiseach stated the internal investigation into the leaking of the report on mother and baby homes was completed in December 2022. It is bizarre that it took 14 months for the Government to complete it and make this public. It is bizarre that it …

Why 14 months and why not for survivors?

I believe this Government’s policy on accommodation for immigrants is turning into a serious disaster. I think most people want compassion but they also want common sense. Most people have a humanitarian instinct to help those who are really in need but they see the Government dividing communities across the country. The Minister is the Minister for integration but nobody can deny that what we are seeing unfolding in towns and cities across the country is disintegration. The Government has become massively dependen…

From drugs, human trafficking and cyberattacks, this country is seriously vulnerable with regard to security. A headline in the Irish Examiner stated today that Ireland is being used by cartels as a staging post for drugs sales in the country. Tonight, drugs will be consumed in pretty much nearly every second pub across the country. There is no doubt that they may be consumed in the walls of the Dáil and the Seanad as well. There is a shocking trend emerging where the parents of people who run up drug debts are bei…

Representatives of the Midleton flood campaign came to Leinster House today to present 14,500 signatures to the Minister with responsibility for the Office of Public Works, OPW. They did so because four months ago, we had a horrendous flood in the Midleton area. Some four months later, most of the families are still living in a catastrophe. We have an incredible situation that many families are still not back in their homes. There is a bureaucratic nightmare in trying to get the funds to be able to fix homes and ev…

Hands off.

This week, Fianna Fáil launched its campaign for a “Yes” vote in the so-called care referendum. It is important that we look behind the glossy marketing leaflets and actually analyse where the Government stands on care. Aontú has been carrying out significant research on the issue of children in State care by way of parliamentary questions, mostly to the Department of the Minister, Deputy Roderick O’Gorman. The information is absolutely shocking. First, a record number of children are being referred to Tusla annual…

The State is in loco parentis .

The Tánaiste raised the issue of ineptitude. I will give him an example of it. Retired Mr. Justice Simms wrote to the Minister, Deputy Roderick O’Gorman, and stated he had “utmost concern” with the predicament of children in State care. He attached four anonymised reports, with permission to share them. He gave them to the Minister, who deleted three of them, with the excuse that there were GDPR issues. A judge stuck his neck out to bring change to this space and the bureaucratic response of the State was to delete…

Maybe a human basis.

Ireland has some of the richest fishing grounds in the whole world, and it is unbelievable to see what has happened to the fishing industry under the policies of the Government. It is estimated that the Irish fleet only takes 15% of the fish out of Irish waters. I am still actually shocked by that figure, even though I have read it so many times, and that 85% of Irish fish in Irish waters is actually taken by foreign trawlers and other fishing boats. It is an amazing situation. The industry is, I believe, €1.3 bill…

In September, the Danes offered the Minister 3,000 tonnes of mackerel quota. Is that the case?

Of how much?

How much is that in tonnes?

I asked, did the Danes offer the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine 3,000 tonnes of mackerel? The Minister has taken up at least 30 seconds of very limited time and he has not answered the question. Did they?