Israel is not interested in peace.

Today is the UN International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. Quite honestly, there are double standards in this Government and the western world with regard to their attitude to the illegal invasion of Ukraine by Russia and the massacre which Israel has visited on the people of Gaza, the brutality which it continues to visit on the West Bank, the ongoing apartheid for decades, the illegal occupation, ethnic cleansing and the killing of Palestinians with impunity. I know that these are only symbols b…

The numbers are creeping up though.

One of the major obstacles to child welfare is access to suitable secure housing accommodation. I highlight the case of a young mother, Jamie, with two children, Cody and Brody, aged two and four, who have both been diagnosed with cystic fibrosis and muscular dystrophy. This is probably a unique diagnosis in the world. The doctors do not know of any other. She is living with her two children in a very damp flat where they are constantly getting infections in their chest and having to take antibiotics. It is totally…

In the 1980s Governments across the world stubbornly resisted the demand to impose sanctions on the apartheid South African regime for its horrible racist system. It took people power and the resistance of black people in South Africa to eventually force the world to recognise that apartheid South Africa had no place in the civilised world. When the Taoiseach is having discussions with the French Prime Minister or other European counterparts, is there any moment when he begins to wonder whether that analogy should …

All of our hearts go out to the five-year-old girl and her carer who were the victims of a horrendous and tragic event. However, the expressions of bewilderment from the Government or An Garda Síochána about how the unfolding events could have happened are, to be honest, quite staggering. People, and not just us but others, who are watching the far right have been warning how dangerous these people are, and the agenda of violence, hate, racism and division they are actively trying to stoke. They are out for blood. …

I move: That Dáil Éireann: notes: — that long before the current horrific escalation of violence by Israel in Gaza and increasingly in the West Bank, multiple human rights organisations had issued damning reports stating that Israel was guilty of multiple breaches of international law and crimes against humanity in their treatment of Palestinians; — in that regard, that last year's Amnesty International report entitled "Israel's Apartheid against Palestinians: Cruel System of Domination and Crime against Humanity",…

What about genocide?

The Tánaiste has no response on the genocide.

We have four days from the commencement of the truce to stop the resumption of the massacre and slaughter that Israel has told us it is going to resume as soon as that truce expires. The question to the Government is what it or the international community are going to do to prevent the resumption of the massacre and slaughter that Netanyahu, his ministers and his military commanders have said they are going to resume against the people of Gaza, which has already cost the lives of 14,000 people, including 6,000 chil…

The Government has a requirement. What is it going to do? Otherwise it is guilty of allowing the most obscene crime possible, which is genocide, take place.

I also want to ask when the referendum will take place on the right to housing that the Government promised, and when it would be inserted into the Constitution. Will it renege on the promise to have that referendum during the course of this Government or will it keep that promise? I have no doubt that the Taoiseach may say - because he has certainly said it in the past - that inserting a right to housing in the Constitution does not solve the housing crisis. Before he says it, of course we all understand that this…

The well-being framework refers to the issue of quality of employment. In that context, I draw the Taoiseach's attention once again to issues that will be discussed later this evening during the debate on the Finance (No. 2) Bill 2023. Deputies from Sinn Féin and the Labour Party and I have put forward amendments to the Bill advocating on behalf of people who work in the arts, such as in the film industry, who experience high levels of poverty, financial hardship and employment insecurity. Workers in that industry …

Jennifer Bray recently did a fact check on the Government's Housing for All progress and it was pretty revealing. She revealed that in 2022, the Government's target for affordable housing was 4,100, but what it actually delivered was 1,757. In fact, it was really less because it had included 750 approvals for the first-time buyers scheme, and there were actually only 137 draw-downs. This year, the target for affordable housing is 5,500, but in the first six months the Government only delivered 1,290. In terms of so…

Let us just press it to a vote.

We have had the discussion at length but the Minister is giving an extra €50 million on top of the €100 million that goes to the film industry. Other money is going in as well. We want the film industry to thrive. We want more money to go into it but we do not believe it is right that, despite the perception of the film industry as terribly glamorous, for the vast majority of writers, actors, directors and performers, life is not too glamorous at all. It is precarious. People suffer a lot of hardship and it is just…

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Dublin this weekend, outraged at the atrocities Israel is inflicting on the people of Gaza. Thousands more will be outside the Dáil tomorrow evening calling on the Government to support People Before Profit's motion which calls for sanctions on Israel for the crimes it is committing - the massacre it is committing - in Gaza and for sanctions against Israeli Government representatives, officials and ambassadors who are involved in supporting or justifying Israel's m…

On Shannon, the Taoiseach trusts the United States to tell the truth about what is on those planes. This is the same United States that told us there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and then continued to kill 1 million people in Iraq based on a pack of lies about weapons of mass destruction. We will not even search planes when it is backing up the slaughter that Israel is conducting. The Taoiseach did not answer the question about genocide. When are we going to start to discuss it? All of the evidence fits…

Apartheid.

And the genocide.