Will the Tánaiste outline the engagement that Ireland's representative on the UN Security Council has had regarding Palestine? It is fair to say, even if we just look at it from the 1990s, particularly in the past while, that we have seen Israel move in a right-wing direction. We know the demographics have changed. We know that on some level, there is no degree of cover by the Israeli Government at this point. We need to put pressure on. We would like to work with others but there is an element of having to use wha…

The Tánaiste spoke about the fact that we highlighted many issues, which, to be clear, include illegal settlement activity and a murderous campaign against Palestinians by the Israeli Government. We have seen the recent moves and the repeal of the 2005 law on dismantling further illegal settlements in the northern West Bank. I do not think Israel really cares about putting up any sort of front about what it is doing at this point. Netanyahu's Government seems to be far more right-wing than ones I would have conside…

Those are strong words on the fact that Israel is involved in racist action. The question has been put to the Tánaiste before of whether he sees Israel as being an apartheid state, as it is seen by many in the international community at this point. Apartheid South Africa was put under severe pressure by becoming a pariah state. International action was taken against it. It looks like, for many reasons, there will be a requirement of individual states to be brave. We have a general agreement on the fact that there s…

That is decent of Deputy Brady. I would have ploughed ahead.

Is the Minister of State's Department working on any means to streamline form-filling and beyond that, the interactions between farmers and those many agencies? We all get the necessity regarding whether it is an application for schemes or to deal with regulations and all the rest of it. There may be issues regarding the GDPR. At a recent meeting, however, the Irish Farmers Association, IFA, brought this up as a significant issue. There are more issues beyond that, obviously.

I imagined the Minister of State was going to bring in his own personal experience. I imagine he has heard this multiple times from farmers. I know there will be some people who will have an issue with digital services. When we talk about the IFA and active farmers, one of the difficulties is obviously the age profile. A significant amount of them are older. Now, many have gotten to grips with this. Having pre-filled forms and all the rest will obviously be an advantage. Many farmers sometimes talk about the same i…

No, it is about land usage. I would appreciate if the Minister of State could go into that.

That is all very positive. The best thing I can do in relation to this is to look for a written submission on where they believe further streamlining can be done. I would like to think the Minister of State, Deputy Heydon, the senior Minister and the Department would be willing to look at this, where it is possible. That is accepting there are people who have huge issues around some of the barriers. I was at the recent AGM of the Louth IFA. Tim Cullinan was there and he said that we must be clear that even if these…

Will the Minister of State consider local authorities' definition of "adequately housed", where grown adults are living in their parents' home or another house, are deemed to be adequately housed and, on that basis, are not then included on the social housing list? They meet the other criteria like income thresholds and such. In some cases they feel they are forced into seeking private rentals, which reduces supply, and we all know the issues that exist in relation to supply, especially with the removal of the evic…

I will come back on that because there are a huge number of people who find that, if they are living in their parents' home, they will be told they are adequately housed. If someone is in a situation of technical overcrowding or whatever, he or she will then be eligible to get on the housing list. This is something that needs to be looked at because the problem is people are being forced into the private rental sector so they at least feel they are clocking time on the housing list. Everyone is aware they will be w…

I request that some clarity and a directive be given out on this basis because we have a particular problem at this time and it is reducing supply. We all know the issues that exist and that they will get worse. We are already dealing with people who are in absolute fear of evictions. We have had the removal of the eviction ban and I cannot imagine how I, my office and some of our councillors will deal with this. I had hoped I already had that answer on some level and I was going to ask for my usual leeway regardin…

They will get HAP tenancies, but it is a workaround. They cannot stay in that house.

Caithfidh mé a bheith i bhfad níos cúramaí as seo amach. Tá mé ag iarraidh smacht a fháil ar ais ó Facebook-----

-----agus Instagram ach tá cuid mhór fadhbanna maidir leis sin. Sin an fhadhb atá agam faoi láthair. Táimid ag caint ar an nGaeilge agus an fhadhb atá againn ná nach bhfuil go leor daoine ag labhairt Gaeilge istigh nó lasmuigh den scoil. Tá cuid mhór fadhbanna ann. Tá cuid mhór oibre déanta fosta ach níl go leor déanta. Níl an plean atá de dhíth déanta. Níl dóthain naíonraí, bunscoileanna, Gaelcholáistí, agus níl dóthain oibre déanta ó thaobh na hollscoileanna. Caithfimid na píosaí sin a chur sa phlean. Tá mé sásta…

We are back dealing with this issue. I think I said before that we have a number of energy crises. We have the situation created by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and we have particular issues containing and controlling the energy providers. We are finally having a proper conversation about windfall taxes and the actions that are absolutely necessary to ensure there is a bit of order and there are manners and that we can protect our people, to some degree. My colleagues will be dealing with this later in our Priva…

International oil and gas prices have fallen and the Government has spoken about how it would at this stage have expected energy companies to pass that on. There is talk of engagement and ministerial discussions with energy companies, but we are going to have to see action given how under pressure families are. Households have been left to try to find the money to pay unaffordable bills. We have heard the Government's statements – there is a general acceptance that people are being ripped off. We can talk about hed…

I would appreciate it if the Minister could provide an update on the work of the Office to Promote Competition in the Insurance Market. I am talking specifically about the difficulties that exist as regards public liability insurance. There are a large number of community organisations - community centres - that either cannot get insurance or are offered ridiculous premiums. We know what has happened as regards personal injury guidelines. There is more to be done from a legislative point of view on duty of care, et…

I thank the Minister of State. In fairness, we are in a better place than we were, although I could argue that we should have reached here earlier. We could all point to examples. There is a community centre in my constituency that was being charged €11,000. A claim could be made against three organisations – the community centre, a company and a community organisation - and each of them would see an increased premium. Turning to specific sectors, a significant number of bouncy castle companies are operating in the…

We just need to see more, better, faster, quicker. The onus is on the Government to ensure that the conditions are as good as they can be-----

-----for more insurers to enter the industry. Be they community organisations, businesses or community centres, a large number of people have been under significant pressure for a considerable amount of time. Because of GoFundMe, the generosity of people and the fact that part of this happened before we entered the cost-of-living crisis, some of them were able to get through the gap. There is an unfairness to this. We must ensure that the reform of the duty of care and other legislative measures are put in place. W…