People can check the facts.

There are many groups that have good reason to come out onto the streets in a cost-of-living demonstration this Saturday but one group that has better reason than most comprises the thousands - probably tens of thousands - of residents in multi-unit apartment complexes who are locked into contracts for district heating systems. This week in my area, hundreds of tenants in areas such as Honeypark and Cualanor were shocked to find that their bills had gone up by 140% overnight. They cannot switch provider. They are n…

Will the Taoiseach take urgent action to control the cost of energy for people on district heating systems?

One of the many reasons people will be out on the streets for the cost-of-living demonstration next Saturday is the housing crisis. I ask the Taoiseach in advance of the budget to listen to what people are calling for. As Deputy Barry said, we have had a massive spike in evictions on the ground of sale. The Government should reintroduce the eviction ban. If the Taoiseach will not do so there is something else he could do. He could instruct local authorities to purchase every property where there is an eviction on t…

We have heard that for a year.

Buy the houses.

The Taoiseach should tell them to do it.

The Taoiseach should tell them to do it.

They can.

They should.

It is a win-win.

We support the Bill. As I understand it, the Bill essentially deals with one of the outworkings of Brexit by trying to recommence a situation that was the case before Brexit whereby medical graduates from the UK and the North can do internships here. That would be beneficial for the health service here. We support what the Bill is trying to achieve. As others have said, it highlights the fact that we have a more general problem in recruiting and retaining healthcare professionals in multiple disciplines across the …

The Minister of State has met the society. To me it is a slam dunk that we should do this. I am coming across a considerable number of young people who are very interested in the area of mental health, they want to go into this area and we are putting obstacles in their way which makes no sense. The society says that the figure for extending the salary and the assistance with fees for education and counselling psychology is a derisory €1.7 million. It is nothing. It says that an additional 50 trainee psychological …

The cost-of-living crisis has dominated discussions in the Dáil, and rightly so, because so many people are fearful of what they face in the winter. It is the reason so many people will come out on the streets for the cost of living coalition's demonstration on Saturday, 24 September. The other connected crisis that will also prompt people to join the demonstration is an ever-worsening housing and homelessness crisis, in particular the spike in the number of people being evicted because landlords are selling proper…

I have not, actually.

I am sharing time with Deputy Paul Murphy. How do the Irish rich get rich? The answer is property. To a substantial extent, it is through property and property development. What has been one of the major sources of corruption and corruption scandals in this country in recent years? The answer again is property and property development. This is what is at stake when we are talking about the integrity of An Bord Pleanála and the entire planning process. We have a shameful history of corruption in the context of prope…

On 6 October last year, just one week before the budget, People Before Profit brought the first motion into this Dáil calling for price controls on energy and the renationalisation of the energy supply sector to run it on a not-for-profit basis, to protect people against a cost-of-living crisis that was only in its infancy at that point. At that stage it was being warned that people may be facing increases of about €500 per year in energy costs. Needless to say, the Government completely dismissed and voted against…

Of course the war in Ukraine has worsened the situation but that war does not explain wind energy companies making super profits even though their costs have not changed a bit. Nor does it explain the profiteering of energy companies, which has been mentioned already, in respect of gas from the Corrib field, gas from the UK, from where we get most of it, or from Norway. It also does not explain the failure of the Taoiseach’s Government and other governments, although it is worth saying that countries like Spain hav…

We should lead not follow.

Before the summer recess, I repeatedly asked the Taoiseach to facilitate a debate on the housing and homelessness crisis, particularly the review, or lack of a review, of the income thresholds for social housing, which means that thousands of families are being thrown off housing lists and denied housing assistance support. Over the last few days, there has been a drip-feed of reports that five counties will see increases in thresholds but the vast majority of the country will not. That means that tens of thousands…