We will not support the nomination of any Fianna Fáil or, for that matter, Fine Gael Taoiseach. There are many reasons for that but we saw one of them this week when Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael were implicated in an attempt by so-called Independents, the Healy-Raes and the Regional Independent Group to insult the intelligence of the people of this country and to undermine our democracy by trying to claim they were in opposition when they are a party to the programme for Government and are committed to supporting that…

I will speak again if you want.

That is not agreed.

It is not agreed.

We are off to a farcical start in the new Dáil. To my mind, the last contribution really sums it up.

Deputy Tóibín is in a technical group with people who are actually in the Government and have undoubtedly gone along with this charade, which is going to mean that, effectively, we have had no Dáil for three months. This is at a time when hundreds of thousands of people out there need answers and action from the Government to address their housing situation and issues like disability. Hundreds of thousands of health workers have also balloted for industrial action because of the understaffing of the health service,…

A Cheann Comhairle-----

I have a question - a short one liner.

I have just one question. We asked for the OPLA's advice and the legal advice you were given. You committed to doing that. Can you tell us when the Opposition and the Business Committee will see the legal advice that led you to make your provisional decision?

People Before Profit will be supporting the nomination of Deputy Mary Lou McDonald, not because we agree with Sinn Féin - we disagree with it on many things, not least its refusal to rule out coalition with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael - but because we believe parties on the left have an obligation to end 100 years of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael and put together the first left-wing government this State has ever seen.

I also wish Deputies Murphy and Howlin the very best in the future.

I thank the Social Democrats for tabling this important motion on the horror we are witnessing being committed by Israel and its allies in Gaza and Lebanon. Since dawn this morning, 22 Palestinians have been murdered by Israel and 40 people in Lebanon have been murdered by Israel. Since October last year, that brings it to a horrific total of about 48,000 people we know of who have been massacred by this regime. Seventeen thousand of them are children, who have been butchered by Israel. One thousand or so of those …

As this Dáil comes to an end, I thank the staff. We might be banging our head, off a brick wall with the Government, but we are always pushing at an open door with all the staff here. Here is scandal that is illustrative of what Deputy Bríd Smith was talking about as to whose interests get prioritised in Irish society and why we have a housing crisis. For niche living in Dún Laoghaire in a facility built by a Celtic tiger developer for what was supposed to be 200 units for people to live in, people can book holiday…

What about this?

We are seeing profiteering and flagrant abuse.

This developer is a well-known name.

No words can pay enough tribute to the role carers play in society. Those carers can be elderly themselves, infirm and they can be young people, looking after their loved ones who are vulnerable and disabled people. If the State had to provide that care and those services, it would cost countless billions. However, this is done by people who, as a result of such things as the means test for carers, are effectively trapped in poverty. Many of those trapped in poverty are women. One of the disgraceful aspects of this…

The Taoiseach says the Government is trying to recruit people to address the staffing crisis in our hospitals and our health services. The pay and numbers strategy proves that he is speaking out of both sides of his mouth on that issue. Setting that aside, however, if we are to recruit the people we need into the health service, we need to make it attractive for people to train as nurses and midwives and allied health professionals. As I have highlighted a number of times in this Dáil, in Scotland, a student nurse …

Let us not pretend there is not a staffing crisis.

I do not think anybody is going to be sorry if people involved in violent criminality are extradited from the United Arab Emirates. This arrangement facilitates that extradition and the bringing to justice of people involved in violent criminality. However, to put it very mildly, I have grave concerns about the UAE's human rights credentials. I see in the Minister's speech, which I have just looked through, that there is a lot of conditionality around all of this and that she is cognisant of the human rights aspect…