That is because the numbers are increasing so high.

As a new TD, I am shocked by the lack of Government Ministers and TDs on the benches opposite. This is a debate about the budget. What is happening is absolutely farcical.

The Government talks about wanting to hear views and ideas from the Opposition, but its Ministers and TDs do not even bloody bother to turn up in the Dáil to listen. The Minister of State is the only one here. It is an absolute disgrace, but in some ways it is not surprising. It is just a continuation of the cynical and misleading actions of the Government during the election campaign. The Government claimed it would build 40,000 homes. It never did. The Government knew it was misleading people. In their election m…

I will speak to resolution No.4. In this reduction in the VAT rate, the Government is very clearly throwing us back to an Ireland that we thought we had left behind. It is the Ireland of crony deals and dig-outs for developers and the wealthy. I was wondering if Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael did some séance or brought out a Ouija board to design the budget? Did they conjure up the spirit of Charlie Haughey and ask him what they should do? Did he say they should keep bending the knee and rolling out the red carpet for t…

I want to back up my colleague and others who have said that this is incredible. The Minister needs to explain the basis on which the decision was made to hand money over to developers and investor funds that are already building these homes. What is happening is illogical. What is the rationale behind it? We need an explanation. This involves significant amounts of public money. Is it another example of the Government wasting public money with no consideration? It is in the same line as the decisions made by the n…

Potentially, those building and developing apartments, and let us say an apartment is potentially going for sale for €600,000 or €800,000, are getting €160,000 or €170,000 State subsidy per apartment. Will the Minister clarify that please?

Will the Minister answer the question?

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I am delighted to move this Bill. I will start by thanking Deputy Cian O'Callaghan and his parliamentary assistant, Jack Sweeney, and my own parliamentary assistant, Ellen O'Doherty, for their work on this Bill. It is a privilege to bring this Bill before the House on Second Stage; it is my first Bill before the Dáil. It is very apt that it is the Developer Profits Transparency Bill. The issue that is to hand and why we are bringing forward this Bill is that house …

I am not sure if the Minister of State was baiting me in order to try to get me to go further, but I will try to remain on my best behaviour. Seriously, though, I am very disappointed with the Government's opposition to the Bill. What is particularly disappointing is the lack of serious engagement on the legislation. As my colleague outlined, we have put forward solutions. While the Government might not completely agree with the Bill, the core idea and proposal it contains is that there would be transparency in the…

It is the responsibility of the Government to ensure the welfare and well-being of everyone in this country, especially the most vulnerable. Carers provide for those most vulnerable. They are some of the most incredible people in this country. Their tireless and important work needs to be properly recognised. Often when people in the Government talk about carers, they note how inspirational, hardworking and compassionate they are. What seems to be the harder truth for Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Government to ac…

In many ways, our words have lost meaning. The words we speak include "genocide". Genocide is ongoing right now in Gaza. The word "genocide" has almost lost its meaning because we have all watched it live-streamed on our phones and have seen thousands and thousands of people murdered by Israel, yet what has been done? The word "genocide" has lost meaning for the people of Gaza. Our hearts are broken for the people of Gaza. In fact, the very souls of all of us have been hollowed by the murder of 20,000 children. Our…

I thank the Labour Party for bringing forward this vital motion. It is unfortunate that the Government is opposing it. There are 5,014 children homeless in this country. When that number is thrown out, we often do not consider that each of those children is a child whose life is being damaged. It is equivalent to 220 primary school classes of children being homeless. Homelessness has doubled under this Government since 2021. These children and the 225,000 children in poverty are growing up experiencing what psychol…

Ballymun, in my constituency, is a strong and proud community. As the Minister knows, having visited Ballymun recently, following decades of underinvestment by successive governments it is facing huge challenges ranging from poor housing to lack of economic opportunities. The community has been promised so much but is dealing with issues such as high poverty levels and a recent increase in drug-related and gang-related violence and intimidation. Today's Movember health report shows that men in areas of high levels …

I thank Sinn Féin for bringing the motion forward. It is absolutely essential that we keep the focus on the cost-of-living crisis. It is incredible, when we think about it, that we are calling it the cost-of-living crisis. It is too expensive to get the basic things that are required to live your life. It is truly shocking the extent to which profits are being made by companies, by grocery stores, by food outlets, by gas and electricity companies, and by our own State company, the ESB. Profit gouging is happening i…

I wish to speak broadly about the issues concerning antisocial behaviour. I represent the communities of Finglas, Ballymun, Beaumont and Dublin North-West. The problems of antisocial behaviour are caused fundamentally by deep inequalities in our society, poverty, and the neglect of communities. There is a lack of investment in communities, youth services, drug services, community employment and public safety. Communities needs investment. They have been abandoned and have been left to deal with intergenerational tr…

They are already going through the roof.

It is more than supply.

As we start a new term in the Dáil, it is utterly scandalous that there are children all over this country who do not have an appropriate school place. The Government says that it has offered places and, as my colleague said, that only a small number have not been offered places. However, the reality of the places that parents are being offered and that children are being sent to is that some of them do not exist because the buildings do not exist yet or that the places are not appropriate. In my own constituency o…

Being honest with the people of Ireland?

I thank Deputy Stanley for tabling this motion on what is a very important issue. The public dental care service has declined significantly in recent decades. It is incredible how the idea of access to dental care is considered a luxury rather than a public service that should be universally available on the basis of need. It should not be about whether people can afford to pay. It is an incredible indictment of how we have developed our public services that areas such as dental care are not seen as core to the pub…