Deputy McDonald raised the issue I am about to raise with the Taoiseach earlier. We have campaigners from Donegal with us who made the journey. The long and the short of it is that the Government entered a contract with Emerald Airlines yesterday. That contract will end afternoon flights to Donegal and Dublin. The Government did that despite that Donegal Airport asked it not to because it was seeking legal opinion. The cancer campaign group asked the Government not to do it. Some 15,000 people across Donegal asked …

The Government knew about it in October.

What is the Government going to do about it?

The Government is not doing that.

Are you talking to yourself?

The Taoiseach has a half-eye on Deputy Jim O'Callaghan.

Ní réiteach atá sa Bhille seo, ach géilleadh ar ár bhflaitheas. Trí glacadh go hiomlán le comhaontú imirce agus tearmainn an Aontais Eorpaigh, tá neamhaird déanta ag an Rialtas ar fhírinne an tsaoil sa Stát seo, is í sin ná nach bhfuil muid mar chuid den limistéar Schengen; tá Teorann againn leis an dTuaisceart; agus tá comhlimistéar taistil againn leis an mBreatain. Tá Sinn Féin soiléir gur chóir go ndéanfaí na cinntí faoin inimirce i mBaile Átha Cliath, seachas sa Bhruiséal. Ní féidir linn tacú le creatlach a chu…

This question relates to flood insurance. We have seen floods destroy homes, communities and businesses alike. The Central Bank's figures show that 290,000 buildings in the State are at risk of flooding and that the owners struggle to access flood insurance. Almost 100% of those have either limited cover or no cover at all. This does not even include properties at risk from coastal flooding. What actions is the Government taking to make sure that flood insurance will be available to everyone who needs it?

Lack of access to insurance can affect communities and businesses in a very real way. The Minister of State mentioned the Central Bank report. In 2024, it reported as follows: "The occurrence of a severe flood could leave households and businesses with high levels of uninsured losses, impairing economic recovery from a flood event"., It concluded that there is "a serious risk of complacency". Everything the Minister has said is more of the same complacency. Indeed, when the Tánaiste, who is seated beside him, was M…

The problem is that we have been hearing the same thing for the past ten years regarding task forces, multi-agency groups and the rest. That is all fine. We have to do some of that work to get the results and ideas. However, the Minister of State talks about his plans delivering but ten years on, they have not delivered for these households. Thousands of houses and businesses across the State have no insurance and are at risk of flooding. That is the problem here. The Government does not have a concrete plan. Last …

This Government, Fine Gael in particular, has a long history of welcoming in the vulture funds to snap up Irish homes. Only because of rightful public anger at vulture funds bulk-purchasing homes a number of years ago under the nose of ordinary workers and families have we seen any pressure put on, and action by, the Government. The Minister committed that this practice would end. Has it ended or is it still going on? If it is still going on, how many family homes were bulk-purchased by vulture funds last year and …

Under review.

The Minister promised us he was going to end this practice. He has just told the House that nearly 300 family homes were bought up by vulture funds last year, and he is going to keep it "under review". Under his watch, the Government is sitting by and allowing vulture funds to buy up family homes, a practice he promised over and over again that he would end. A total of 293 homes that should have been bought by ordinary workers and families last year were snapped up by corporate landlords and vulture funds. What hap…

The stamp duty measure was introduced back in 2021. Does the Minister know that vulture funds purchased more homes last year than they did in 2021? He said the trend is going down every year. That is not true; the figure actually increased in 2022. The 293 homes purchased are homes that people are queuing for and want to have as their family home, their forever home, and vulture funds are buying them up because they have unlimited means. The Minister can splice and dice this any way he likes. He promised he was goi…

Inflation is 50% higher than what the Government had forecast. It claimed prices were stabilising and that was the basis for the Government pulling the cost-of-living supports in the budget. The ESRI said that the budget resulted in income losses for the average Irish household. Will the Tánaiste accept he got this badly wrong? Will he bring forward a cost-of-living package that so many families desperately require giving the prices that are being charged to them in different guises, whether shopping, insurance or …

The latest increases in food prices expose the Government's bogus justification for ripping away the cost-of-living supports. The ESRI was very clear: lower-income households felt worse off as a result of the budget. We can argue over and back all the time but the lived experience is very clear. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald stood here earlier today and outlined that 70,000 more households cannot pay their electricity bills than the same time a year ago. This is not us saying it, but the CRU. These are families. They co…

I accept the Government did all those things; that is a statement of fact. However, if the Minister thinks that people are not worse off this year than they were last year, he is living in a bubble and that is the problem here. The facts are clear. As I said, energy is just one example where 303,000 people cannot pay their bills and that is only electricity. Another 170,000-plus cannot pay their gas bills. Prices are going through the roof. The Minister talked about how the Government had put up rates. It is also p…

Is iomaí pobail atá ag ullmhú do thuilte anois agus arís uile ina dtithe agus ina gcomhlachtaí. Tá imní orthu ar fud an Stáit agus tá siad ag mothú tréigthe. Tá sé seo ag tarlú roimh súile an Tánaiste agus ní rud nua é. Bhí sé agus tá sé i gcroílár an Rialtais le breis agus deich mbliana agus bhí sé ina Aire é féin le linn eachtraí tuilte arís agus arís eile. Le linn na blianta sin, thug Rialtais ina raibh sé ina bhall sinsireach dóibh dearbhaithe arís is arís eile go mbeadh cosaint bhuan ar deireadh i gcoinne tuil…

Let us park the weather forecast to one side because that is not our responsibility.

RTÉ does a fine job with that. Let us deal with what we are responsible for. The Tánaiste has been a Minister through flood after flood. What did the Tánaiste say, sorry?