I am glad the Minister for Transport is here. He was not here when I raised, on behalf of the taxi drivers of this country, the issue of Uber and its attempt to undermine the regulated taxi industry and the livelihoods of nearly 20,000 taxi drivers. On Saturday, along with thousands of taxi drivers, I participated in a protest at Merrion Square. They are asking that the Government enforce its own regulations or, if necessary, amend the legislation to protect their livelihoods given the efforts of Uber to undermine …

-----and it would prevent surge pricing, which is what Uber-----

-----and companies will bring in if they get the chance.

They will be protesting on Thursday as well.

Did you tell them you will meet the NTA on Thursday?

A headline from RTÉ earlier this year stated, "Half-year profits and revenues at Glenveagh Properties soar". The company's revenues were up in the first six months of this year by 125% from the previous year, more than doubling from €152 million to €341 million. Gross profit in half a year was €66.8 million. Profits at Cairn Homes were €63 million in the first half of 2025. Yet, the Tánaiste wants to give them more. It is not enough that Glenveagh's profits go up by 125% and that Cairn, the other big builder - just…

I thank Deputy Carthy and Sinn Féin for bringing forward this Bill. On behalf of People Before Profit, we are very happy to support it. It is simply obvious that the victims of domestic, sexual or gender-based violence should not have to live in fear of their assailants. The Minister should take very seriously the intent of this Bill and the concerns of victims of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. I also wish to use this opportunity to highlight a case that shows it is not just about this kind of legal pr…

In traditional council housing or social housing if the tenant's income changes or the number of people in the house changes because kids leave or anybody leaves, the tenant does not get thrown out of the house. They do not get threatened with possible homelessness. They do not build up arrears. The rent is adjusted to the tenant's means and to the number of people in the house. That does not happen if the tenant is in the HAP scheme and, by the way, it does not happen if they are in cost rental so tenants can very…

Sylvia is in a HAP tenancy for five years. From the beginning she was also paying a top-up to her landlord. She used to live with her eldest son. He has moved out. The landlord has also increased the rent and Sylvia used to get a carers' payment for her father, but her father passed away so she does not get that payment. She has been hit three different ways, with increased rent, lower income and now fewer people in the house. She went to the council, as the Minister of State proposed she do, and the officials said…

I appreciate that and I will send the Minister of State Sylvia's details, but, as he can see, there is a more general problem. There is somebody who works in here - I will not give away their identity- who is on a very modest income. They got cost-rental accommodation at €1,200, but their son was living with them who was earning. The son has moved out but they are stuck with a €1,200 rent but with half the income. What are they supposed to do? They have not got the money to pay for their son's rent as well, but cos…

Once again, I wish Paschal Donohoe, setting aside our significant political differences, the best on a personal level. I know he is a reader of books, and one book I know he has read, because we have talked about it, is by Thomas Piketty about the growing inequality in wealth in the world. The Deputy might therefore be interested in, or indeed maybe supportive of, my appeal to the Government not to increase income inequality affecting in particular some of Paschal's constituents in Dublin city, where there is signi…

I move: That Dáil Éireann: notes that: — the Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill 2018 (OTB), first introduced by Senator Frances Black and other members of Seanad Éireann, proposed to give effect to the State's obligations arising under the Fourth Geneva Convention, and to ban trade in goods or services with an occupied territory; — the OTB passed First Stage in the Seanad on 24th January, 2018, almost eight years ago, it passed Second Stage in the Dáil on 24th January, 2019 and has been at Dái…

Have you read it?

I thank my colleagues in Sinn Féin, the Social Democrats and the Labour Party and Independent colleagues who have supported and co-sponsored this motion. I thank Senator Frances Black for her ongoing efforts since she instigated this Bill in 2018. Most importantly, I thank the hundreds of thousands of people in this country who have mobilised again and again in unprecedented protests in every city, town, village and hamlet of the country against the genocidal horror that Israel has been inflicting on the Palestinia…

That is a joke. They have no intention of doing anything.

I also wish to raise the issue of water quality in Dublin Bay, for the umpteenth time. Every time there is a massive downpour like the ones we had very recently, rainfall water or stormwater mixes with sewage and pours into Dublin Bay. The pumping station at the west pier in Dún Laoghaire pumps stuff out to Ringsend but Ringsend does not have the capacity. It overflows, goes into Dublin Bay and then water quality is very seriously undermined. I was looking at a question I asked back in 2019, and it was not the firs…

It has been going on for years.

Across Britain and the North of Ireland people are being arrested, prosecuted and, in some cases, imprisoned because they support Palestine Action, on the basis that the British Government has designated Palestine Action, a group campaigning against British complicity with the genocide that Israel is committing, as a terrorist organisation. It is absolutely outrageous. There will be a protest this Saturday in Belfast as people stand in solidarity with it. Sally Rooney has written an article in The Guardian this wee…

It is not a separate issue. People in the North are being arrested.

On a personal level I wish the Minister and his family the very best. He has been a civil and thoughtful adversary for the years we have both been in the House. He never held back in letting us know what he thought about our perspective on politics and economics. I am not going to hold back in saying that I think the legacy that has been left behind by the years of Fine Gael Government since I have been in the House, and Deputy Donohoe has been in the House, is not one to be proud of. He simply cannot escape respon…