I thank Mick on behalf of People Before Profit and the Independents and Parties Technical Group for an amazing 32 years. This place would not be able to function without the hard work that you have done, and all of the ushers here, who are the unsung heroes of this place. Thanks for everything and enjoy your retirement. Enjoy the football, the golf or whatever it is you are going to be at.

I move: That Dáil Éireann, pursuant to Standing Order 33, and with effect from 5th February, 2026, approves the Ninth Report of the Standing Committee of Selection, copies of which were laid before Dáil Éireann on 30th January, 2026.

The number of people in emergency accommodation in this country is shocking but I want to highlight in particular the issue of family and child homelessness. The number of families in emergency accommodation has gone up by 100% since 2016, which is absolutely shocking. Many if not the majority of cases coming into me now of people stuck in emergency accommodation involve families with children, often with special needs, in there for long periods because of the lack of three- and four-bedroom houses. There is a prob…

I asked about three- and four-bedroom houses.

The pretence that the Government cares about the rental crisis and the unaffordable and obscene rents that are contributing to the housing crisis and misery that many people are suffering this country is being dropped completely. We have a naked admission with this Bill that the Government is representing property speculators, investors and landlords. It is trying to justify it with the most perverse logic ever, namely that it is going to raise rents that are already unaffordable in order to make rents drop. It is …

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this Topical Issue for debate on world cancer day. I thought it was important that this Dáil should mark world cancer day and discuss the issue of resources and funding for cancer services in this country, not least because I had a cancer diagnosis last year and have undergone treatment. I am very grateful to the cancer services and to all the fantastic people who work in it: the doctors, the nurses, the allied health professionals, all the people in our cancer and health s…

I thank the Minister for that response. First of all, the inconsistency between the experience people have in different parts of the country has to be addressed as a matter of urgency. Indeed, I was conscious when I was getting my own treatment that people were coming from different parts of the country. There was a place available for them in St. Luke's to stay, but it was not provided by the State. To the best of my knowledge, it was funded by the Irish Cancer Society. The Minister can correct me if I am wrong on…

I am amazed that the Tánaiste is trumpeting success in light of the housing disaster that people face in this country. Tomorrow, we will have the end-of-month figures for homelessness. At the end of December, 16,996 people were homeless. A record number of people, including 5,321 children, were living in the misery of emergency accommodation. Whatever the figures are tomorrow, there will be an unacceptable level of homelessness. Next week, the Government plans to bring in a Bill that is going to lead to some of the…

According to the Central Bank, we need 50,000 to 60,000 houses a year in order for the Government to meet its 2030 targets. There is not a hope in hell of reaching the housing need that has been agreed on by many bodies, including the Government.

By the way, Mitchell McDermott today proved that this has nothing to do with planning permissions. We have loads of planning permissions.

It is not planning objections that are the problem, as Mitchell McDermott said. We have 32,000 planning permissions that are being sat on. There are no judicial reviews, they have the planning permission, but they are not happening because of viability. What does that mean? It means profits - profits for your developer friends - or the lack of infrastructure, such as water infrastructure. We know from Irish Water that it is only being given enough money by the State for 30,000 units a year when we need 50,000 to 60…

We do not need a single further unaffordable home, not a single one. What we need is affordable homes. I did not say they should all be social. I said they should all be affordable or social. The problem is that houses being delivered with rents of €3,500 or for €600,000 or €700,000 are totally unaffordable to ordinary people, but are very good for investors. We are saying we need a State construction company to deliver the infrastructure that the Tánaiste accepts the Government is not delivering, and to deliver so…

We opposed it, and we got the social housing. We said there should be more social and affordable housing, and we got the 100% because we opposed it.

It was only 10%. We got 100% because we put in a submission on it.

It is not true. We said we should have social and affordable housing.

Says the special adviser to Eoghan Murphy.

She is getting personal but I cannot.

It is despicable that people with disabilities lost €1,400 in the budget. To hit the most vulnerable in that way while giving massive additional handouts to some of the most profitable companies in the world in the form research and development tax credits says everything people need to know about the priorities of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and their supposedly Independent allies. The disability community is very angry. It will take to the streets in a demonstration on 28 February co-organised by the Cost of Living Co…

Uber and other taxi app companies have been at the transport committee this week. Across the world Uber makes enormous profits by driving down the amount given to taxi drivers and driving up the cost to passengers through add-on charges and dynamic pricing. Taxi drivers have been forced to protest about this. What they have proposed to benefit the driver, the passenger, the taxpayer and the wider public is that the NTA should have its own app so we do not have profiteering, surge pricing or attacks on the income of…

Easy.