So are arrears.

That still leaves a gap of 250,000 households.

Yes, it does.

Some 50,000-----

There are 300,000 already in arrears.

The US and Israel are bombing Iran in a clear breach of international law. We have seen this playbook in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is not about regime change for the people of Iran; it is about regime change for US and Israeli interests. You do not bomb a school, killing hundreds of children, while claiming to stand for peace. Israel is bombing Lebanon. It is continuing its genocidal war in Gaza. The Government must call this out for what it is. It is wrong, illegal and it will not bring peace. This is about neocolo…

Last Friday, figures showed that we have reached the highest level of homelessness in this State's history. We also have the highest number of evictions in this country since the Famine. There are 2,500 children who have been in emergency accommodation for longer than one year. The Taoiseach knows that has a devastating impact on children. Many are in my constituency, Dublin North-West. One mother, Shauna, has been in touch with me. She has four children aged 13, seven, three and one. She is an emergency accommodat…

I cannot believe the Taoiseach is justifying-----

Why punish the-----

So history started on 7 October, yes?

Tá ríméad orm an deis seo a fháil chun labhairt ar Sheachtain na Gaeilge. Nílim líofa ach, cosúil lena lán daoine, táim ag déanamh iarracht mhór chun an Ghaeilge a fhoghlaim arís mar tá Gaeilge i mo chroí. Tá ár dteanga dhúchais ag fás arís. Tá sé istigh i gcroíthe a lán daoine ar fud na tíre. Tá a lán daoine ag déanamh iarracht mhór leis an nGaeilge sa tseachtain seo. Tá sé tábhachtach dom dul lasmuigh de mo comfort zone ó am go ham, faoi mar atáim ag déanamh anois. Tá dúthracht ag mo pháirtí, na Daonlathaithe Sói…

Gabhaim buíochas le Sinn Féin as an tairiscint thábhachtach seo a chur chun cinn. Tá géarchéim tithíochta ar fud na tíre. Tá éigeandáil ann. There is a housing crisis all over this country. It is an emergency. Is fadhb ar leith í sa Ghaeltacht . There is a specific crisis that affects the Gaeltacht. That is, of course, because tá todhchaí na nGaeltachtaí i mbaol agus, mar sin, tá todhchaí na Gaeilge, ár dteanga, i mbaol. There is a specific issue because the future of the Gaeltacht is in danger and that means the f…

What about the State investment scheme?

Why is there not more? The Government is bringing in investment funds.

By throwing renters under the bus?

This is about social media, is it?

I am not taking aim at the Minister of State but it is deeply disappointing that the Minister responsible, Deputy James Browne, is not in the Chamber for this. These are the first statements on homelessness under his Ministry. We are told he is at a subcommittee. Surely, that subcommittee could have been rearranged and he could have had the decency to be here. I am not taking it out on the Minister of State but it is absolutely disgraceful that the Minister for housing is not here for the first statements on homele…

I thank my colleague Deputy Rice for bringing this motion forward. It is a really important motion and is core to the Social Democrats. Why we are here and what we are about is ensuring that people have access to universal public healthcare as a human right and as a public service, regardless of where they are from and regardless of their income, that they have access to that most basic and fundamental need. Is ceart daonna í an tsláinte. Ba chóir go mbeadh rochtain ar sheirbhísí ardchaighdeáin phoiblí, an tsláinte…

The shambles we have seen over the past few weeks would suggest that either the Government does not adequately understand the crisis it is overseeing or the real meaning of inclusion for our children. The decision to cut the number of SNAs was a decision to cut, regardless of how the Government wants to spin it. It was a reduction and a curtailment of the duties on which an assessment would take place on the basis of a highly outdated circular. Nearly one third of the schools that were reviewed were told that the n…

It is not working.