I have raised the plight of taxi drivers with the Taoiseach many times. They were hit very hard during the pandemic. Taxi drivers also have a key role to play in the decarbonisation of transport. Some €15 million was allocated after some big protests by taxi drivers during the period of Covid for grants to be available to them to get electric cars. To their disappointment and surprise in recent weeks, they were told that although only €6 million out of the €15 million grant scheme has been used up, no further appli…

They stopped taking applications.

And to protect the workers’ conditions.

Larry Goodman.

Definitely not Larry Goodman.

That is thanks to Russia and America. They wrecked the place.

Thanks to Russia and America; they wrecked the place.

I am also very disappointed that the Taoiseach has left. I hope the Minister of State will pass on the points I wish to make, which largely revolve around the issue of Palestine. It is an extremely urgent matter that six Palestinian prisoners are currently on hunger strike. Two of them, Qayed Fasfus and Mukdad Qawasmeh, have been on hunger strike for almost 100 days. Their lives are very seriously in danger. All of the six are on hunger strike because they have been imprisoned without trial and in many cases repeat…

The Minister of State might note that President Herzog brought the issue up at the conference.

Partition.

It is partition.

What the Minister of State is saying is worrying.

It does not.

At the weekend, Mr. Killian Woods in the Business Post revealed that the National Asset Management Agency, NAMA, was in possession of 54 units - let us call them what they are, namely, potential homes - in Prospect Hill, Finglas, 28 of which were vacant and 26 of which had been empty for a decade. That is an incredible fact for a publicly owned agency. This report confirmed and provided further detail on information that I had received in reply to a parliamentary question recently. When it is all added together, th…

The Taoiseach is misleading people. He is correct that the mandate set by the Government for NAMA is to blame for this outrageous situation. Let us remember what is at stake here: thousands of families are homeless, almost 100,000 families are on housing waiting lists and 70% of working people are completely priced out of the housing market. The truth is the NAMA legislation first of all requires the agency to avoid undue concentrations or distortions in the market for development land and to have regard to proper …

We do not need houses at €500,000.

Not at €500,000.

NAMA is. It is also sitting on empty properties.

On behalf of People Before Profit, I extend our deepest sympathies to the wife, daughters, family, friends and constituents of David Amess. To be murdered in that way is really horrific, terrible and tragic. It should certainly give us all pause for reflection. As others have alluded to, whatever about political differences and the need for robust debate, a critical part of our democracy is our ability to engage with our constituents. In some countries, public representatives have to be flanked by heavy security al…

Over years now, I have repeatedly asked about the social housing income thresholds being raised. I have been told by the last Government and this Government that they are being reviewed. This review has been going on for years and we are never given a date for when it is going to be completed. I have to draw the conclusion there is a systematic policy to cull people from the housing list because this is a threshold that has not been raised for a decade, guaranteeing thousands of people have lost their many years of…