This is Eating Disorders Awareness Week. Tomorrow, a briefing will be held by relatives about this matter. Over the past 20 years there has been an absolute explosion in this most deadly, fatal mental illness. Yet, we still only have three beds for people with eating disorders. Some 200,000 people suffer with such disorders. Eight beds were to be opened at Connolly Hospital Blanchardstown. Nothing has happened. We need beds because this is such a complex mental health issue. Psychiatric hospitals are not able to de…

Is that by the end the year?

All right, go on.

I would like to raise with the Taoiseach one very important and particular aspect of healthcare and that is for trans people. I am sure that he, like me, is concerned about the demonisation and erasure of trans people that is going on worldwide. I am sure the Taoiseach would also agree that trans people have a human right to healthcare. The waiting list is a decade long in this State right now. It has increased by a year. We have the worst trans healthcare in the whole of Europe and it is also getting worse since t…

I am very concerned about the plight of the Palestinian people, as I am sure we all are, but I am also specifically concerned about Irish citizens who the Taoiseach's Department helped to get out of Gaza. In particular, he may recall Ibrahim Alagha, whose family I am sure the Taoiseach and his Department officials played a role in assisting in November 2023. One of the family members got left behind. He was only 18. He is now 19 and he is marooned and alone in Egypt, in a strange country. He is the brother of Ibrah…

Yes.

I am tempted to talk about child school places, but I want to talk about adult disabled people because it has been almost one year since the care referendum this Government lost because disabled people got organised online and actively and defeated the care referendum whether we like it or not. They then went on to defeat the Green Paper which was another Thatcherite plan of the previous Government to force people into work. Can the Minister of State name anything that has been positive for disabled people that hap…

What are the minimum standards expected of the Minister's Department and the agencies connected to it in respect of workers' rights, union rights and the right to join a union? Government policy is now to outsource in relation to energy, waste and water. A number of union-busting companies, such as Veolia, are looking to get contracts with this State and other states. It is engaged right now in a strike in Sheffield in the UK. Workers are visiting Dublin today in relation to this.

Veolia is a very large French multinational that specialises in extracting money from public services in various countries. In Sheffield and in the UK, 78 workers have been laid off for their right to join a trade union and to have their union, Unite, recognised by their employer. I am hoping this means we will have no such relationship with Veolia into the future, although this State has not had a good record of checking what companies do. We had the Gama situation, the anniversary of which is this year. We have h…

I am sure the Minister of State will join me in sending solidarity to those workers who are making a huge sacrifice for their jobs, pay and conditions, and in calling on Veolia to clean up its act and recognise the union. I hope this State will not have contracts with Veolia. It is important to put that on the Dáil record, so this does not happen in this State.

Connolly Hospital serves a massive catchment area of about 331,000 people in Dublin west, north and mid-west and counties Kildare and Meath. These are areas where the population of this country has increased so enormously. The hospital also takes all the road traffic accident cases from the M50. Connolly Hospital has one CT scanner. It broke down last Thursday, so for six days patients were being ferried and shuffled all around the city-----

-----and staff were spending money. That hospital has asked since 1998 for a second CT scanner. Will the Minister get a second CT scanner for Connolly Hospital?

Will that include the CT scanner? It would be nice if you mentioned that, the actual subject of the question.

Some Deputies have said they are not from rural areas but we all eat food so we are all entitled to speak on the topic. Also, the animals which provide the food are everybody's concern. No special privilege is afforded if you are a rural dweller or a farmer. We talk about the food economy but what about the welfare of the animals in that food economy? Nobody wants to eat food that is based on cruelty but that is happening in our agrifood sector. I want to talk in particular about the pig industry. When I was partic…

The Minister should be here.

It can.

Half a million young people are living with their parents, including two thirds of under-35s. The Government has said today that people can go from the back bedroom to the back garden or alternatively to Boston, Berlin or wherever. Young people in my constituency told me when we were out canvassing that we would not see anyone over 23 in the area and that young Blanchardstown is in Australia. I will be parliamentary here. This Government has just given a massive "F you" to young people on housing. The Government ha…

With respect to the Social Democrats, they should not have started the debate with the likes of that.

Deputy Troy can answer after my time.

People who are profiting from the housing crisis are coming in to answer about it. It is unbelievable. Not everyone had a chance to buy a gaff when they were 20, like the Minister of State. He said he was not a person of privilege, but he is. I want to go back to the Government itself. It wants to pivot to the private sector. IRES REIT profits have increased 3% since the statement by the Taoiseach on Monday. Landlords got tax breaks of €160 million. The Government is feeding the beast and landlords are not interest…