Fine Gael created this system, it supported it, it cheerled for it, it rolled out the red carpet for these funds to come in, it turbocharged them and now they are, and have been for years, snatching properties from first-time buyers. The Tánaiste mentioned taxes and dividend withholding taxes. Pension funds do not pay them. The Tánaiste must get real here. We have been raising this issue year after year after year. Indeed, it has not just been us. Last February, the Department of Finance argued for increasing taxes…

That does not appear to be true.

I am sharing time with Deputies O'Reilly and Ó Broin. Let me make it clear: the housing crisis is not an accident. It did not happen as the result of some mysterious market forces. We need to call a spade a spade in this House. This housing crisis has happened as a result of the deliberate policies of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. We just have to look at the impact it is having on first-time buyers, who have been locked out of the market because Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have designed a taxation system that allows int…

The Taoiseach does not even know what affordable is.

Is €500,000 affordable?

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCeann Comhairle. Cuirim fáilte roimh an deis labhartha ar an ábhar fíorthábhachtach seo anocht sa Dáil agus ar an bpíosa reachtaíochta tábhachtach atá os ár gcomhair. Beidh tionchar mór aige ar obair an Rialtais agus ar an ngeilleagar fosta, ar chaighdeán saoil ár saoránach agus ar an todhchaí atá bunaithe ar charbón íseal. Ní cóir go mbeadh gníomhartha ar son na haeráide mar bhagairt d'aon duine. Is teachtaireacht iontach láidir a chaithfimid a phlé, go háirithe leo siúd nach gcreideann g…

I want to raise the issue of Dolphin Trust with the Tánaiste this morning. It is a Ponzi scheme, a scam that has 1,800 Irish victims who are to lose up to €108 million in pension savings. These are not well-heeled or seasoned investors, but ordinary people, some of whom have lost all of their life savings and pensions. This centres around a German company called Dolphin Trust, renamed the German Property Group, and its director, Mr. Charles Smethurst. Dolphin told investors it would use their money to buy derelict …

I am sure those who have lost their life savings will be relieved that the Tánaiste sympathises with them but what they would rather have seen is action. In 2016, it was not a secret that the Central Bank was raising concerns regarding the high-risk loan notes and, indeed, Wealth Options. This was reported in the Irish Independent in 2016 by Mr. Charlie Weston and I am sure officials in the Department of Finance read the Irish Independent . If Mr. Weston was able to report it, I am sure the Department of Finance wo…

Last month, the Dáil unanimously supported an Teachta Aengus Ó Snodaigh's legislation to preserve and revitalise Moore Street in Dublin as a cultural quarter. At its meeting earlier this month, Dublin City Council voted unanimously to make Moore Street an architectural conservation area, a decision which imposes strict planning controls on the demolition of buildings in the area. As a result of both of these votes, no planning application by the developer should be allowed to proceed that undermines the clear wishe…

I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to provide for amendments to the Judicial Council Act 2019, to provide for the making of regulations to require insurance providers to provide information to the Central Bank of Ireland relating to the effect of personal injuries guidelines and related matters. A Cheann Comhairle, you will be aware that the personal injuries guidelines were adopted by the Judicial Council on 6 March and will take legal effect on 24 April. They will replace the book o…

I move: "That the Bill be taken in Private Members' time."

An tseachtain seo caite, d'ardaigh mé an scannal maidir le cáipéisí agus sonraí a bhailigh an Roinn Sláinte agus Feidhmeannacht na Seirbhíse Sláinte ar pháistí a bhí ag troid ar son a gcuid cearta sna cúirteanna. D'inis an Tánaiste dom nach raibh na fíricí uilig aige ag an am sin agus go raibh deis uaidh é a scrúdú agus an clár á fheiceáil. An raibh deis ag an Tánaiste seo a scrúdú ó shin? An bhfuil an cleachtadh seo ag dul ar aghaidh go fóill? Ar cuireadh na teaghlaigh ar an eolas faoi seo go fóill? Tá ceisteanna …

The Tánaiste has rightly acknowledged that this is distressing for many families. The key thing they want to know is if there is a dossier on their families stored in the Department of Health containing sensitive information that they provided to therapists and counsellors on what their families were going through at difficult times? Are these dossiers still accessible to people within that Department, as was revealed in the "RTÉ Investigates" report? When will they be contacted? The Tánaiste said the Department is…

There are so many problems with the vaccine roll-out that it is hard to know where to start. We learned from a meeting of a certain parliamentary party that despite the assurances that we would have 1 million vaccines rolled out in April, the number will, in fact, be just over 800,000. We were told that mandatory hotel quarantine is to be extended. Now, we understand there is no such agreement at Cabinet and, indeed, there are legal difficulties in that regard. This morning, it is reported that the Tánaiste told th…

Those groups were all defined. Does the Tánaiste understand that there is anger now because people look at what has happened as a breach of a commitment? Does he acknowledge that the Government has broken its commitment to those employees at this point in time?

Ar maidin, tá cúramaithe teaghlaigh ar fud fad na tíre seo ag tabhairt aire, cuidiú agus cúram do dhaoine atá an cúram de dhíth orthu. Ní féidir luach a chur ar an obair atá idir lámha ag na cúramaithe seo. Níl dabht ar bith go gcaithfear tacú leo agus sin an rud atá os comhair na Dála inniu. Carers have been the unsung heroes of our society for many years. Successive Governments have undervalued, or not valued at all, the half a million carers who provide much important unpaid work in caring for their loved ones. …

I apologise to the Ceann Comhairle for the delay. I thought this business was scheduled to start at 7 p.m. My question relates to the status of legislation to introduce a senior executive accountability regime, SEAR, and other provisions. This legislation is much awaited. It is more than three years since the Central Bank argued for such provision to hold senior people in financial entities to account. We in Sinn Féin have argued for it for much longer. The Minister has committed a number of times to publishing the…

I thank the Minister. Does he know he gave the same speech two years ago? We are talking about holding senior executives in banks and financial institutions to account but the Minister has just given the same information that he did two years ago. The problem is his party, Fine Gael, has been part of the Government for the past ten years. The Minister has been part of that Government since 2013, which is a hell of a lot of time in which that party could have enhanced the individual accountability regime or strength…

If the legislation exists, why would the Government introduce new legislation? The reality is the legislation is not robust enough. The Minister knows, I know, and he should not make a fool of the public, that the reality is the Central Bank cannot go after an individual until the firm in question has been found guilty. How does the Minister know this? His predecessor, another Fine Gael Minister, Michael Noonan, got a letter from the Central Bank Governor in 2015, six years ago, saying there was a lacuna or hole in…

On 6 March, the new personal injuries guidelines were adopted by the Judicial Council. They will cut the cost of awards by, in some cases, 60%. They will significantly reduce the cost of claims for insurance companies. What commitments, if any, has the Minister received from the industry to date that it will pass these savings on to customers? How will the Government measure those commitments?