I acknowledge that the amendments the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael McGrath, spoke of and his Department is bringing forward are technical and seek to address drafting issues in the latest version of the Bill. As the Bill reaches its Final Stage in the Dáil, it is appropriate to briefly comment on its provisions. We have waited a very long time, far too long, for the introduction of this legislation. Every customer has the right to be treated fairly and have his or her interests upheld. At a minimum, custome…

Every child deserves an opportunity to reach their full potential. The State ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1992, and a child's right to the highest attainable standard of health, including mental health, is indivisible from other rights of the child. The Ombudsman for Children made that clear in 2018 in his report. He said that in the case of children and young people experiencing mental health difficulties, fulfilling this right means providing them with the mental health services they n…

Léiríonn an taighde ón Choimisiúin Tithíochta go dtiteann spriocanna an Rialtais na mílte teach gann ón riachtanas tithíochta gach bliain. Tá teipthe ar a phlean. Caithfidh an Rialtas cúrsaí a athrú. Mura ndéanann sé sin, is é an rud atá i ndán do mhuintir na tíre seo ná géarchéim bhuan tithíochta atá ag dul in olcas. The Government's housing policy is pushing more families into homelessness, pushing up rents and house prices, forcing more and more of our young people to consider emigrating, damaging public confide…

The Minister, Deputy Ryan, said money is not an issue and in fairness, it might not be because of the money allocated by these Houses to the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, he could not even spend €1 billion, which was the amount that was unspent in housing last year. A total of 2,500 fewer social houses than what was promised last year were delivered. This is the record of this Government. The Government set up this commission. It should have looked at housing need before it came out with its …

Every year.

The Government is not spending the money.

Since June, the ECB has increased its interest rates by 2.5%. The Governor of the Central Bank came before the Committee on Finance yesterday and made clear to me and others that he expects rates to increase by another 1% by March. The process will begin next week. That rate hike will immediately affect 300,000 people who are on tracker mortgages. It will mean having to pay thousands of euro more in interest this year. It also affects more than 100,000 families who have had their mortgages sold to vulture funds. Th…

Those bills are landing now.

People cannot wait until October.

When the Minister came before the House last week with his version of events, I told him he had been caught out. He was caught out concealing donations that were not declared at the time, in 2016. Despite the fact that he had information back in 2017 on the use of the company van, he did not do anything about it. He was caught out when journalists contacted him in November 2020 and he said his team reviewed everything and that there was no need to make any adjustments and everything was okay. It was only when SIPO …

Answer the question.

Who carried out the review? The Minister informed at least one journalist that he carried out a review and he did not need to change his declaration. We now know that was not true. We now know he got a donation of postering in the 2016 campaign and again in 2020. Who carried out the review and how was the Minister able to issue that response in November - another cover-up in respect of this political donation? As regards when it was brought to his attention in 2017, what did he do when somebody pointed out to him t…

To clarify this-----

With respect, the Minister is now talking down the clock.

Let me ask the questions. He told the media after his review that there was nothing to see here, but he is after telling the House that during the review it was identified that Michael Stone put up the posters in 2016. He has also told the House that some members of his team recollected that Michael Stone made a contribution in 2020. I ask the Minister to please come clean on this. How many posters did Michael Stone put up in 2016 and 2020? I ask the Minister not to take the Mickey out of this and tell us that Mich…

It does not matter.

That does not matter.

How many posters did they put up?

Six men, three vans and five bikes. How many posters did they put up?

No, no. The Minister is just-----