During the general election, you could not move but for tripping over another promotion of €200-a-month childcare. Every party on the Government side was at it. That is what happens in elections and now, unfortunately, we have been told this promise will fade into dust and there will be no movement on it in the upcoming budget. It is extremely cynical and stressful for parents. We have the worst-funded childcare in the OECD. We also have the worst childcare cost-to-wage ratio in Europe, with workers struggling to p…

I hope the Tánaiste can clarify exactly what our position on the Palestinian state is because I am genuinely baffled. On one hand, we recognise the Palestinian state, we support the Palestinian people and we support the ICJ case but, on the other hand, Congressman Brian Mast was hosted in Leinster House last week. He believes all Palestinians are guilty, including Gazan babies. We have also had a severely repressive turn towards Palestine solidarity protests. The Tánaiste will be well aware of what happened to Moth…

Why are protestors being attacked by the Garda?

I hope the Tánaiste looks into it.

It is regrettable the Minister is not here. There are very few debates or discussions on workers in this Dáil and he should be here. I particularly wanted to ask him - he should come back before the end of the debate - to apologise to workers for the insult he delivered to teachers, who are a huge section of the workforce in this country. He invited somebody who was basically an anti-union billionaire who insulted workers to launch his campaign. I have not heard an apology for that. I was also amused to hear the le…

I welcome the parents and campaigners to the Gallery. I have seen these women at the Dáil more than I have seen some TDs. That is how often they are here. They are absolute heroes for campaigning for their kids in this way. I will mention Dublin 15 because some may be under the illusion that the pilot project in the area has done something magical. It absolutely has not. As has been mentioned, the 12 places that were allocated last September still have not been provided. From talking to people on that task force, I…

I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to amend the Criminal Evidence Act 1992 in the interests of balancing the right to privacy, the right to healthcare and the functioning of the criminal justice system, to prohibit the disclosure of counselling records in criminal proceedings in criminal trials for sexual offences; and to provide for related matters. I welcome survivors, therapists and relatives of victims to the Gallery to hear this. Sexual violence and abuse are deeply traumatic for…

I move: "That the Bill be taken in Private Members' time."

Serious allegations were made about the policing of a protest by Mothers Against Genocide. Since then, TDs like me have been accused of not telling the truth. More seriously, women involved in the protest have been made out to be liars by the Garda Commissioner and by the Minister for Justice. I want to clarify the situation. What does the Taoiseach think about this turn in policing? We were told that the Commissioner reviewed footage and was satisfied there was no wrongdoing. He stated, "Searches of individuals ar…

I am aware of that.

They were not named.

This is a litany of systemic failures. It is not one incident here or there. Issues include non-medical springs being used, unnecessary hip operations being carried out, defective equipment repair mechanisms with regard to X-rays, IT - Wi-Fi used in the chemotherapy unit rather than having its own Internet - and infection rates way above the norms. These have been brought to light by whistleblowers. Nothing less than the resignation of the board is needed to allow the hospitals to move forward. A public or statutor…

Previous speakers referred to obesity, screen time for children, children not getting enough sleep and the importance of playing football. That was quite incredible in the context of a debate designed to deal with a succession of ongoing failures at CHI. I do not want to partake in hyperbole, particularly as health workers are the absolute salt of the earth. Everybody who has any experience of our health service knows the dedication, hard work and stamina it takes to work in such a system, particularly one that is …

I want the Minister to report on the impact of data centres on us reaching our climate change targets. As he knows, 21% of all metered electricity use is now coming from data centres, whereas all residential dwellings create 28%. It has increased five times in eight years. It is the dominant driver of increased electricity demand in Ireland according to the SEAI. How can we reach our targets with this amount of data centres?

That is all very interesting, but if we have such a love-in with data centres we are not going to reach our emissions targets. We are already set to have a 57% shortfall for emission reduction for transport, buildings, waste and agriculture and a shortfall of 12% for renewable energy production. We face €26 billion in fines. How are we to pay that? How is the State to deal with that because of the policy of attracting data centres? The Taoiseach has been quoted as saying we are "demonising data centres" in Ireland …

The Taoiseach made that comment when speaking at a data centre-linked company called Hanley Energy. There are two issues. Most of AI is utterly useless in terms of the impact for humanity, in comparison with actually dealing with climate change issues. There is no question most AI is not necessary. There is no effort by any of the companies to get people to reduce their online storage, which could be done easily. Most of us could do that. The Taoiseach has said emissions will be offset by renewable energy. It seems…

In comparison with reaching climate change targets.

We should mark that this time ten years ago, we were in the thick of the battle against water charges. Let us put it on record - it was the most successful anti-austerity campaign at the time when all the austerity was heaped on working, working-class and poor people. This week and this month the Minister swore blind that the Government has no intention of reintroducing water charges. The Taoiseach said the same thing. This week, the Government had a chance to show it meant it by voting for a Bill put forward to re…

What we are seeing in the world economy right now is a historic turn-away from free trade and globalisation to protectionism, but it is a trend that has been under the surface for some time. The context for this is that post 2008 when the financial system collapsed and capitalist growth slowed, there has been an economic malaise in general and increased competition between the US and China. The multinational companies that Trump hopes will relocate to the US have done very well from globalisation but, nevertheless,…

Kate spoke on RTÉ radio about her trauma of being raped by three men and then the trial that followed and the intimidatory atmosphere at it. Sophie was interviewed on "Prime Time" about her abuse as well. Kate said that we have an epidemic of gender-based violence and that people are being retraumatised in the legal system as well. The manosphere is operating unchecked and unregulated and is spewing violent misogyny such that 54% of men believe power and control over women is very important, and 46% believe they sh…