The Government will not even look at it. It should look at its obligations under the genocide convention.

Many thousands of people swim in Dublin Bay every day, particularly during the summer. Even during the winter very hardy souls swim. The numbers are growing all the time. For years now - and this continues to be the case - when heavy rains come down the sewage mixes with the rainwater, at least in our area, and the pumping station off the West Pier is not able to pump the stuff out quickly enough. This problem is supposed to be resolved by the upgrading of this sewage treatment plant in Ringsend but it is still hap…

It is clear from the Taoiseach's response earlier during Leaders' Questions that he is not even aware of the Government's legal obligations under the genocide convention to act to prevent genocide, incitement to genocide or complicity with genocide. I strongly urge him to check on the Government's obligations under the convention because they are onerous, and with very good reason. The convention was established in 1948 after the Holocaust to ensure genocides never happen again. I can assure the Taoiseach that all …

It is in the convention.

It is in the convention.

That is an amazing statement.

Listen to what the Israeli Government officials are saying.

I am not shouting the Taoiseach down.

I am sorry.

They are able to live together.

One of the purposes of social dialogue is to address the question of poverty. I raise the issue, as the social welfare Bill begins its journey to the Dáil, that the series of one-off payments the Government is giving to help people with the crippling cost-of-living crisis as we head towards the winter will not be extended to people on short-term payments. This is grossly unfair. We raised it with the Taoiseach last year and the Government was prompted to make some changes. I am asking him to extend the fuel allowan…

We have four minutes and 39 seconds. We might as well use it.

On another issue-----

I will be quick. It is on social dialogue so it is the same grouping. I brought up with the Taoiseach, as has Deputy Ó Murchú, on a number of occasions the budget scrutiny committee report on section 481. People before Profit, Sinn Féin and the Labour Party have all tabled amendments to the Finance Bill 2023 on the issue of employment conditions and remuneration for writers, actors, performers, and stage crew in the film industry. So far, the Minister for Finance has not indicated any willingness to accept those am…

Two precious minutes were wasted there. We will let it go.

I have loads of say but I will not get it said in two minutes.

I will probably only take ten minutes but you never know. I will try to keep to ten. This legislation comes before us every year. While we continue to operate a two-tier system of healthcare in this country, which we believe is fundamentally wrong, this legislation goes towards trying to keep premiums down for health insurers that cover a larger cohort of older people, particularly the VHI, to prevent them putting up premiums for older people. Within the parameters of a fundamentally unfair system in which great nu…

I hope and expect that there will be tens of thousands of people assembling in Parnell Square this Saturday at 1 p.m. to march in solidarity with the people of Gaza and Palestine as they face the horror being inflicted on them by the State of Israel. I will ask the Minister one of the questions they are going to be asking this Saturday. How many Palestinians does Israel have to massacre, how many atrocities does it have to commit and how much evidence that Israel is engaged in a genocidal attack on the people of Ga…

The Minister is still doing it. He is still talking about Israel's self-defence. Apartheid, which is what the Israeli system is based on, has no more right to defend itself than apartheid in South Africa did. Illegal occupation does not have the right to defend itself, nor does ethnic cleansing or a state built on ethnic cleansing. The people who have a right to defend themselves are the people who are victims of those things. Who are the victims and the oppressed here? The Palestinians are. They are the ones being…

I welcome the opportunity to discuss science and its role and importance in our society and for our future in Science Week. The Minister said in his speech relating to Science Week that science is about being human, and I think that is absolutely right. In a way, it defines what being human is, although Deputy Gannon is also right to say that the other thing that defines what being human is is art. Science and art are the two things that human beings do that are completely unique in that we imagine other possible f…