We are supposed to have quarterly reviews of Housing for All but we have not had them.

The biggest obstacle to the well-being of hundreds of thousands of our citizens is the lack of secure and affordable accommodation or, for 10,325 people, including more than 3,000 children, the lack of any accommodation whatsoever. These people are now, in record numbers never seen before, in emergency accommodation or worse, as I pointed out to the Taoiseach earlier, where the local authorities, for the first time in my experience, cannot even offer emergency accommodation to families with children. This is shamef…

And housing.

It is addiction that is doing it. In my area it is addiction.

The recent French presidential and assembly elections confirmed the absolute crisis in the cost of living that is sweeping Europe. Interestingly, even Macron's government, which is widely discredited among very significant layers of French people, some of whose disillusionment I am glad has led to success for radical left forces around the NUPES coalition but, more worryingly, has also seen a rise in support for what are essentially fascists on the French far right, has moved to control energy prices and limit ener…

We do.

Rubbish.

The overwhelming votes for marriage equality and repeal of the eighth amendment were a statement that people do not believe the Catholic Church should decide about people's sexual lives, their identities or women's right to control their own bodies, yet the Government continues to defer to the Catholic Church by allowing it to control much of our health service and most of our education system. One of the most egregious failures to fully remove the power of the church over the people of this country is in the area …

I thank Deputy Doherty and Sinn Féin for bringing forward this motion, which we support completely. We urgently need an emergency budget to address a crisis that is absolutely crushing hundreds of thousands of people in this country. Working people, pensioners, students and people on low and middle incomes are being absolutely crucified. The Government is being very dishonest in its responses to the cost-of-living and housing crises. We should always refer to those twin crises because they are both absolutely disas…

Because of the refusal of the Tánaiste’s Government, the previous Government he was part of and the previous Government before that to raise the income threshold for eligibility for social housing, the Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, recently pointed out that since 2011, when the Tánaiste entered Government, the number of households eligible for social housing support has dropped from 46% to 33%. To put it another way, had the Government maintained the threshold at the previous level, 260,000 addition…

We were promised a review before the end of this-----

The Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, report makes for very stark reading today. It says that the number of people living in energy poverty is now nearly one third of all households and that is set increase to as high as 43%. Are the pay increases the Government is going to consider going to be in line with this absolutely shocking increase the cost of living? The Irish Congress of Trade Unions, ICTU, estimates that the average worker has lost €2,500 in income in real terms. It is obviously necessary fo…

This Saturday, the Cost of Living Coalition will see thousands of workers, students, pensioners and people on low incomes coming out to protest the cost-of-living crisis. One of the messages they are seeking to convey to the Minister is that this is not an either-or issue. There must be pay increases for workers and income increases for those on pensions and social welfare to match the level of inflation. Otherwise, in real terms, people are taking income and pay cuts. That is the reality. There is no justification…

How do we even know what the needs and educational needs of children are when they cannot access an assessment of need? They are entitled to an assessment of need within three months of application, and to have the resources provided within a further three months. However, children are waiting two and three years for assessments. That assessment at the outset is key. If a child does not get the assessment, diagnosis, resources and supports, the needs grow and it becomes a much bigger problem for schools, the child …

Workers, students, pensioners, renters and single parents are sick and tired of the false promises, the failed plans and the half measures to deal with the crushing cost-of-living crisis and, most importantly, the housing disaster people are facing, which gets worse by the day. That is why at 1 p.m. this Saturday, in Parnell Square and five other locations across the country, we in the Cost of Living Coalition hope to see thousands of people come out on the streets to express their fury at the Government’s failure …

Come on.

The clock is ticking.

Why is it that we hear Government Ministers are saying that the President crossed the line or that he was even embarrassing? These are Government Ministers when he simply expressed-----

This is incredible.

He has been referenced already on a couple of occasions, but nobody else was pulled up.