Yesterday the Tánaiste said he was open to EU treaty change to delete vetoes held by the Dáil and other national parliaments on EU foreign policy and security issues. In other words, he is open to reducing the democratic say of the Irish people on incredibly important issues. This comes in the same week the three Government parties have decided to dump the triple lock mechanism, which is the cornerstone of Ireland’s neutrality. I cannot think of another time when our neutrality was under such sustained attack by an…

The filmed attack on the child in Navan more than a week ago has shocked so many people throughout the country. The sustained nature of it, as the child lay on the ground, was brutal. It is important there is justice for this child and his family. Sadly, it is not an isolated event. Peer violence outside schools is growing in this country and child-on-child violence is also growing in Ireland at the moment. I do not wish to speak specifically about this case in its legal aspects because we want to see the law imple…

Sometimes I think we are having two debates about asylum seekers. There seems to be a debate in the political and media bubble and one happening outside in the real world. There is a disconnect between the two debates and what is happening around the issue of asylum seekers. Most Irish people want to help those who are fleeing violence, famine and war. Most want to be Good Samaritans and to help people in their times of need. However, it also must be said that we need common sense as we approach this major issue. M…

I will try to encapsulate the state of the health service in a number of figures. Last year, 115,000 patients left emergency departments before they were seen. That is an incredible figure. Some 115,000 people were sick enough to warrant going to the emergency department but were forced to wait so long that after a while they felt they were safer and better off at home. The emergency department in Our Lady's Hospital in Navan was so busy last year that 1,230 patients left the emergency department before they were s…

I am proud to have been part of the development of the motion before us today. I give credit to the Regional Group, which has done massive work on the motion, especially to Deputy Canney, who has driven the work within the group, and to Cáit Nic Amhlaoibh for her work behind the scenes. Our motion speaks a lot of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which Ireland has ratified. It is important, however, to put on record that Ireland still has not ratified the optional protocol that accompani…

People have been celebrating the Good Friday Agreement for the past number of weeks. It was a phenomenal international agreement which has created peace for 25 years. It is not a living document, however; it is defunct. The Assembly is on the floor. The Executive is broken. The North-South Ministerial Council is AWOL at the moment. There is no urgency in terms of the Government's approach to fixing it. The Government is a guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement but is not guaranteeing it. The celebrations for the Go…

The North is in the middle of an horrendous economic crisis at the moment. Poverty levels are increasing, at 300,000 people. Hospital waiting lists are increasing, at nearly 450,000 people, and the number of people homeless, without a house, is increasing at 45,000 people. The collateral damage to families by the undemocratic Democratic Unionist Party's boycott of Stormont is absolutely horrendous. In the middle of this, MLAs who are not doing their job are taking their wages, which has cost £4 million so far since…

Economically, Ireland is in reverse at the moment. We are the sixth most expensive state in Europe. According to the OECD, last year the citizens became poorer. Living standards fell last year as a result of the Government's actions. That is an incredible indictment of the Government's policies. At the same time, while citizens' incomes were falling, we saw that energy companies' profits skyrocketed, with incredible increases. After-tax profits for the ESB, a State-owned company, doubled to more than €649 million. …

Many people will be shocked by the abortion review report released today. The Government persuaded many thousands of people to vote for the abortion referendum on the basis there would be some safeguards for children, yet five years later, it looks like the Government is going to wash away the remaining safeguards. Last year, there was an enormous jump in the number of abortions that happened, with a 25% increase. Approximately 8,500 unborn children were aborted last year, which is an incredible figure, nearly thre…

For the last few weeks, the political establishment, North and South, has been celebrating the Good Friday Agreement. For sure, the Good Friday Agreement was a landmark agreement which brought to an end decades of horror and violence. Thousands of people are alive today as a result of the Good Friday Agreement. We must celebrate it for happening. It was amazing that it happened. In my youth, the violence in the North seemed intractable. It seemed there were a number of situations around the world, such as in Palest…

The OECD stated earlier today that Irish households experienced a massive drop in living standards last year. Under the Government, people have got poorer in the past 12 months. The amount of money that workers earn, adjusting for inflation, fell last year. Of course, people did not need the OECD to tell them this. Many of them have felt it as a result of their own bitter experience of rising prices. Many families are going from overdraft to overdraft at the moment. That is if they can get overdrafts. Many families…

The Taoiseach can argue with the OECD about the facts on whether incomes are falling. Incomes are falling, and that is what it is saying. The question to be asked is why the Government has allowed the highest electricity prices in Europe to exist in this State. Why is it that the Government has allowed some of the highest gas prices in the whole European Union to exist in this State? Why does Mr. Gerry Clarke, 77, from Meath, have an electricity bill of €1,700? Why does Kitty from Trim, who is 100 years old, have a…

The Taoiseach has said this for months.

If it is down to international factors, why is the cost of electricity higher here than in any other country?

It is estimated that the attack on the cybersystem in this country will cost €100 million. We do not know what the human cost is. We know that hundreds of thousands of people did not get the treatment they needed following the cyberattack because of the collapse of the systems, so there could very well be people who have died and have suffered serious morbidity as a result. Ireland was shockingly exposed. The National Cyber Security Centre had a budget of €5 million. To put that in context: the budget for PR in the…

There was a question on a judge-led inquiry into the cyberattack. Where was the criminal investigation into that attack?

No accountability.

In 2006, the solicitor representing Deputy Niall Collins's wife wrote to the council seeking to purchase land. A month later, the Deputy was one of seven councillors who voted in favour of the selling of that land. Freedom of information documents released to The Ditch show Mrs. Collins was the only person to inquire about the purchasing of that land prior to the vote. She made an offer on the property in March 2007, when her husband was still a sitting councillor. According to The Ditch , Mrs. Collins is currently…

The Taoiseach again has failed to answer the question. If the Taoiseach does not see a link between corruption and the economy, there is a serious problem in this regard.

Corruption is a threat to investment. It is a threat to business and it is a threat to society.