Five people have died on the roads just over the last weekend and 150 people have died on the roads this year. That is 35 more than this time last year and driver behaviour is radically disimproving. Information that Aontú has received from the Courts Service today shows that the number of people before the courts for dangerous driving has increased significantly, the number of people before the courts for drug driving has increased significantly and speeding is on the increase. However, this is of no surprise beca…

I, too, welcome the family of Shane O'Farrell to the Gallery. I again extend my deepest condolences to Shane's family. Shane O'Farrell's family have travelled a torturous journey since the death of their son. The loss of a child to any parent is probably the toughest experience that parent will go through. As parents, we are all wired to try to do the best we can and to protect our children. That Shane's death was preventable makes this all the more tragic for the family. The fact it was preventable, had the State …

The measure of a society is how it treats its most vulnerable. It is 22 years since the Supreme Court ruled that the son of Kathy Sinnott, who had autism and an intellectual disability, was not eligible for schooling past the age of 18. One of the most striking headlines I ever read in a newspaper was that by Victoria White in the Irish Examiner to the effect: "Happy 18th Tom, the State has just blown out candles on your fairytale". That encapsulated what the State was doing to many people with disabilities around …

This is a cynical budget. It is a short-term budget that seeks to rebuild the fortunes of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green party, rather than rebuilding the State and its public services. It is a south Dublin budget that hurts many people living in regional and rural Ireland. I will address that last issue first. This Government speaks with measured tones, with deep sympathy, when it talks about people who are suffering from poverty and from the cost-of-living crisis, but at the same time it actually takes more…

There is a serious disconnect between this Government and the average citizen in this country at the moment. The cost-of-living crisis is currently consuming most families. We have a situation where 650,000 people are in poverty in this State. A total of 280,000 people are in arrears on electricity bills while 165,000 are in arrears on their gas bills. People are losing sleep at night wondering what bill they are going to be able to pay the next day. People are living from overdraft to overdraft if they are lucky e…

Last week, I held a public meeting in Navan on the issue of crime and antisocial behaviour. It was a very well-attended meeting. There was a full house with only standing room available. I have been the chair of the Safer Meath Campaign for the past five years and I am absolutely shocked at what I heard at that meeting. Women who work in shops in the towns said they were being threatened with rape and sexual assault if they went to the Garda to report the thefts and crimes happening in their shops. Many of them are…

For the-----

During the time allocated to Private Members' Business, the Regional Group raised the issue of the crisis in An Garda Síochána. I also wish to tackle this issue. I held a public meeting in County Meath last week on the issue. It was packed, with standing room only. Of the many people who attended, there were ordinary people and workers in the community and the stories they told were incredible. The situations included where women working in shops and retail outlets were being threatened with rape or sexual assault …

First, this is a Government that is plainly weak on crime and weak on the causes of crime, to borrow the British Labour Party's mantra. The Government and the Minister for Justice have been distracted by the culture wars and have forgotten about the bread-and-butter issues that are currently affecting so many people in this country. In my county of Meath, there is a stretch from Enfield to Oldcastle to Nobber on which only six gardaí are available on a Saturday night. The nearest back-up garda is located 40 minutes…

The situation is getting worse.

The debate on childcare so far has been incredibly bizarre in many ways. We are talking about a sector that in large areas is on the precipice of collapse. There has been a massive increase in the number of early years education, ECCE and childcare providers that have been suffering so much economically that they find it nearly impossible to survive. It is incredible because we have raised this issue repeatedly. I am at times shocked by the fact that the Minister refuses to move on an issue that is so important to …

I am sharing a couple of minutes with Deputy Verona Murphy. I will finish up with this. It is important that the Minister sits down in an open fashion and listens to the providers. If he does not, much of this conversation will be immaterial because when a parent goes to find a location, that location will not exist.

The British legacy legislation is a devastating blow against victims and survivors. It will give murderers an amnesty for the most vicious and heinous murders. The Government has depended on a policy of diplomacy to try to stop the British Government proceeding. Does the Tánaiste accept this policy of diplomacy has failed? Will he give hope to the victims and survivors by declaring today that he will bring the British Government to the European Court of Human Rights?

The Government has been consistent in talking, in giving its views and in diplomacy, but it has been completely opposed to action. In fact, this is a Government of inaction and inertia. It is a do-nothing Government when it comes to standing up for the rights of Irish citizens on this human rights issue. It is an incredible situation. The Tánaiste talked about a shared approach. There is no shared approach. The Tory party has embarked on a unilateral approach. It has given two fingers to the Government. Right throu…

Many victims of the Troubles will find it extremely sad that the Tánaiste has descended to whataboutery to defend inaction. On an issue where every single party on the island of Ireland is in unison we should have unity of purpose in relation to this. Aontú supports truth and justice for every single victim who has suffered wrong in the North of Ireland over that period of time. This legislation is the son and heir of the policy of cover up that the British governments were involved in right through the Troubles. T…

We are not talking history here. We do not need a history lesson.

Only in words.

You are only rejecting in words. We need actions.

It has failed.

Politics 101 in Ireland is to launch a multimillion euro budget for a sector in society that is significantly suffering, accompanied with plenty of media and loads of photographs, and then make the application process for that money so tied up in red tape and bureaucracy that it is almost impossible for community groups or citizens who are in trouble to draw down the money. Funds are then siphoned from such projects and put into a pet project of the Government. This is, unfortunately, what is happening under the De…