Inné, chuir an Phríomh-Oifig Staidrimh níos mó drochscéil ar fáil d'oibrithe agus do theaghlaigh atá ag iarraidh dul ar an dréimire tithíochta. Tá praghsanna tithíochta anois níos airde ná mar a bhí siad le linn am an tíogair Cheiltigh. Is sampla eile é seo den teip ar phlean tithíochta an Rialtais. Ní thiocfaidh deireadh leis an ngéarchéim tithíochta seo go dtí go mbeidh athrú polasaí agus athrú rialtais ann. Yesterday, the CSO published a report on property prices. It contains more bad news for workers and famili…

One thing is clear: we will get no change from the Tánaiste. In fairness he is consistent because the last time he was in government, that Government drove house prices off a cliff. Having been in for the last four years this Government has even surpassed the Celtic tiger period. The Tánaiste talked about sound bites. It is not a sound bite to say that house prices are running away. It is not a sound bite for the 21,000 people who packed their bags and decided to go to Australia because they felt they had no hope i…

What about affordable housing?

We have a plan there. It is called social and affordable housing.

Since 2021, telecom providers have been hitting households with unfair and punitive inflation-linked price increases in the middle of their contracts. Providers such as Eir and Vodafone are hitting customers with co-ordinated price hikes at the rate of inflation, plus a further percentage increase on top of that. This is going to see Eir and Vodafone hiking their prices by 8% in April. When people sign up to a phone, broadband or TV contract, they should be certain of what they are going to pay. This practice not o…

To clarify, does the Tánaiste support the ban? I did not hear that.

Sorry?

That is the point.

I move amendment No. 1: To insert the following after "25th January, 2024": ": provided that this Order shall take effect only after the Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2022 has been amended to provide for the Accommodation Recognition Payment Scheme termination date to be extended only for the following: — existing recipients with respect to the beneficiaries of temporary protection currently benefiting from the scheme; and — new applicants who propose to host a beneficiary of temporary protection in thei…

I thank Deputy Cullinane for tabling this motion today, and for the solution and plan he has brought forward on this. More so, I thank the children who, as Deputy Cullinane mentioned, made a long journey - some in pain - to be here with us today. I genuinely hope this is the last time we ever have to go outside the gates of Leinster House and look at dozens of children, some of them in pain, asking us as politicians and asking the Government, begging it - as one wee girl held up in a homemade placard to "Stop Our P…

Hear, hear.

Inné, nochtadh arís cultúr na teidlíochta in RTÉ. Thug an ard-stiúrthóir le fios go raibh pacáiste fágtha de €450,000 tugtha don iar-phríomhoifigeach airgeadais, Breda O'Keeffe. Tá sé soiléir anois nach bhfuil muinín ag an phobal as an chraoltóir seirbhíse poiblí a thuilleadh agus níl consias ná freagracht ann. Once again we see the culture of entitlement, at RTÉ. It was unveiled for all of us to see before the Oireachtas media committee yesterday. The new director general, Kevin Bakhurst, confirmed that RTÉ's form…

The Tánaiste says he wants full accountability but I ask him where it is. We were led to believe that, in the last year, people who were involved in the financial scandals were forced to resign. However, yesterday we find out that they were actually given secret golden handshake payments and that the current management of RTÉ introduced confidentiality clauses. Where is the accountability? The Tánaiste says he wants full transparency regarding the packages. What does he say about Rory Coveney's package and the othe…

The Government's view is that they should be brought before the court and should be prosecuted.

Some of them may end up in prison for a short time.

There is no accountability.

What is the Tánaiste saying about the accountability of the executives who caused financial scandals and are walking into the sunset with hundreds of thousands of euro in taxpayers' money in their back pockets?

We actually did.

There is a contingency fund of over €800 million.

It includes media.