On the legacy issue, Aontú published a Bill last week, the commission of investigation (collusion by British state forces) Bill 2022, which would constitute a commission investigation into British collusion into the murders of Irish people North and South. With the mounting evidence that exists we believe it is important that a commission investigation be held. There has never been a comprehensive investigation in regard to British collusion in this country. Victims and survivors are entitled to know. Many of these…

The Tánaiste and the Minister mentioned core funding for childcare. However, neither mentioned the crisis created by the current core funding proposals. Since those proposals were published, 21 childcare providers have closed their doors. It is estimated by the Federation of Early Childhood Providers that 260 providers will close their doors by the end of next year. If this happens, it will mean 1,000 childcare providers will have closed their doors since 2017. That is an incredible situation. What is happening is …

It is long past time that we had an organisational overhaul of our approach to national parks and the wildlife of the State. The natural beauty of this landscape is not being protected and has not been historically. What could have been a great ecological and economic resource has lacked the care and maintenance it desperately needs. The health of our biodiversity is the key to our well-being. It is a symbiotic relationship on this planet. The health of the natural world and of society are tied together in a three-…

Fianna Fáil offers hundreds of millions of euros to big property developers. That sentence could have been spoken in any one of the past four decades. The more things change, the more they seem to stay the same, unfortunately. Ideological debates on this crisis have been happening in the House for many years. It is the view of Aontú and I that there is an ideological block inherent in Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil and the Greens, as their sidekicks, that prevents the resolution of the housing crisis. Fianna Fáil and Fi…

I have raised with the Taoiseach the issue of Russian money sloshing around the Irish Financial Services Centre, IFSC, in Dublin. A number of companies have been set up in the IFSC to facilitate the circumvention of sanctions. Journalists for The Currency indicate that they have tracked approximately €13 billion of Russian money, while The Irish Times indicated previously that there was €34 billion in opaque Russian-linked shell companies. I asked the Central Bank if it was investigating this but it said "No". The …

It told me it did not have a role. The Governor told me.

From the outset I want to reiterate that the Aontú policy is to build public hospitals on public land. We believe that both the children's hospital and the maternity hospital should have been tri-located with a hospital on the periphery of the M50. It is a big mistake for both of these hospitals to be located on the sites chosen. We also believe that these hospitals should be run by the State but we are in a situation where the Government has to make a decision on the basis of an organic system that has grown over …

People are asking that clinically inappropriate decisions would be made in hospitals.

As a State, we need to make sure the highest standard of science and medical knowledge is at the heart of the decisions we make. The truth of the matter is the doctors and healthcare professionals I have spoken to are really frustrated with the language that has been used about their ability to provide services. If one goes to anybody in the National Maternity Hospital, Holles Street or St. Vincent's, they are phenomenally frustrated at their professionalism being undermined wholesale and repeatedly in the debates …

I cannot.

Food security is dependent on economically viable farms. If there is anything to be taken away from this debate it should be that point. Food security is also dependent on economically viable fishermen. There was talk earlier about the need for signs to go up in people's offices. If that sign was in the Minister's office and he delivered on his job when it comes to that sentence alone, he would have delivered successfully as a Minister. We need to have viable farms. One third of farmers are economically viable, ano…

As of December 2021, Social Justice Ireland recorded that there were 661,000 people in this State who are trapped in poverty and more than 210,000 of these people are children. It is a scandal in our time that we have hundreds of thousands of children being born into poverty and living their youth in poverty. What that means for each one of those children is that they will have radically reduced opportunities and health in their lives. Most likely they will have a reduced life expectancy as a result. One of the for…

At the start of the year we were told that the shocking and tragic murder of Ashling Murphy would be a watershed. Yesterday, however, a mother of two, Lisa Thompson, was found murdered in her Ballymun home. Last month the country was shocked by the violent murders of Aidan Moffitt and Michael Snee in Sligo. Tom Niland was also attacked in his Sligo home last month. Those are just a few examples of the violent actions and murders happening in our society. The total number arrested for rape and assault in this State …

I congratulate Sinn Féin and the Alliance Party on their success in the Stormont election. They now have to deliver for the people and the people will hold them to account if they do not. I also want to congratulate the Aontú team in the North on its advance electorally in the North. Aontú had the largest increase in votes among nationalist parties in the North and came ahead of more established political parties such as People Before Profit. It begs the question that if a small party like Aontú can do it, why can …

What has been achieved by Ireland in our UN Security Council membership? The question I tabled is about the cost of the project. It is an important and prestigious role. It is a role that obviously comes with significant responsibilities, as well as opportunities. I would like to know the costs of achieving that and what has been achieved in terms of our foreign affairs objectives internationally.

I thank the Minister for the detail in the reply. Am I correct that there are 80 additional diplomatic officers?

My apologies. I am seeking to quantify the total number of extra personnel. The Minister may be able to assist me in that regard. There is no doubt that the challenges faced by the Security Council and by Ireland are enormous. Ireland is a small country and we have to be realistic in respect of the impact it can make through the Security Council. In fairness, however, it is right that we start to analyse the impact we are making, given the extra cost entailed and the necessity for help. What progress has been made …

One of the obvious examples of Ireland deferring to European Union foreign policy relates to a decision in respect of the Russian ambassador. In other words, people were being told that collective decisions are the strongest decisions. When we have collective indecision, however, that is not strong in any way. It brings us nowhere. We have collective indecision in the European Union in that regard. One of the main conversations in this country while Ireland has had this role in the UN is about whether Ireland shoul…

Nobody is arguing with that.

They need jobs though.