Can we remind Fine Gael Members?

We were all horrified when we heard that a woman and three junior and senior infants had been stabbed in broad daylight outside their school last Thursday. Our thoughts and prayers are with them. Once it was leaked that the attacker had not been born in Ireland, anyone could have predicted what followed. That is, anyone except this Government and the Garda Commissioner, who insist, despite all the evidence, that Garda resources are adequate and that Dublin is safe. The far right was quick to mobilise and a riot ens…

Hear, hear.

I take this opportunity to welcome home the highly trained peacekeepers of the 122nd Infantry Battalion who returned from south Lebanon at the weekend. It was genuinely uplifting to see their families welcome them home. I wish them all the best as I do those of the 123rd Infantry Battalion who are rotating in at the most dangerous time for decades in the Middle East, while the EU gives full support to the slaughter of Palestinian people and smugly and brazenly continues to justify that mass slaughter as defence. Th…

I am happy to speak on this report. As the Minister knows, in Sinn Féin we saw this Consultative Forum on International Security Policy as unnecessarily political and narrow. I attended the four days of the forum and contributed to each of the sessions. We made clear in our submission our vision and ambition for Ireland as a neutral and independent state, playing a key role in peacemaking, peacekeeping and humanitarianism. Within that, we outlined our belief that our neutrality should be enshrined in our Constituti…

In the context of our responsibilities as outlined in the report, I urge the Tánaiste to use every means open to him, to move heaven and earth, to stop the bombing of Gaza and the raids on the West Bank, and ensure that this ceasefire that was announced last night is permanent. It is six and a half weeks late but at least a ceasefire has been announced. Netanyahu did not want a ceasefire because while the war goes on, the investigation into 7 October waits. He would happily go on slaughtering innocent children to s…

This is a very important question for the Women of Honour. As the Tánaiste is aware, they were taken aback by what they felt was a trivialising of their request and the assertion that its inclusion in the terms of reference would make the process in question unworkable. I believe the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act is extremely important in our Defence Forces because a disparity and polarity of power exists between superior officers and junior members of the Defence Forces reporting to them. There is a huge …

The Minister is misleading the House.

Another woman for the Taoiseach to mansplain to.

We have kept this motion simple. We are asking the Dáil to refer Israel to the International Criminal Court in the name of Ireland, humanity, decency and the international rule of law, given the murder of UN staff, the targeting of journalists, the killing of their families, the evisceration of men, women and children, and the killing of ICU nurses and doctors. I saw the last ever interview with Dr. Hammam Alloh of Al-Shifa hospital yesterday before he was murdered by Israel. The interviewer asked him why he did no…

I ask the Tánaiste to get involved with the Office of Public Works, OPW, in the context of its actions in relation to the acquisition of lands at Castletown House in Celbridge. The community of north Kildare has rallied behind the acquisition of the lands and is dismayed at how it is being publicly pilloried by the OPW. That office needs to focus on engaging professionally and energetically with the landowners and the community rather than releasing over-the-top statements about closing Castletown House. We do not …

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach Gníomhach agus leis an nGrúpa Neamhspleách as an rún seo a chur ar aghaidh. In every poll, the electorate has shown itself to be in favour of keeping our military neutrality. It is, as our popular President called it, a cornerstone of our foreign policy as a State. That neutrality is all the more precious in light of Russia's war in Ukraine and Israel's ongoing war crimes being committed relentlessly and with political impunity against the civilian men, women and children of …

That is what it is becoming.

It is quite clear that the Government has washed its hands of health in the same way it washed its hands of housing. This is why I have constituents across north Kildare who cannot afford it but who are pushing themselves financially to pay for private health insurance after they have paid their taxes including USC, and PRSI, not because they have notions but because they want to stay alive. Elderly constituents or people with health conditions tell me they scrimp and save to afford the private health insurance so …

As we speak here this evening, Israel is raining hell on Gaza. It is horror beyond measure. I am sticking to raw politics tonight because I do not have the language to deal adequately with the human slaughterhouse scenes that we see on our screens. The EU leadership needs to immediately up its game for Gaza and the Palestinian people. Millions of Europeans looked aghast at the antics of Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last week. In whose name was she acting? What was she doing, thinking she was representi…

As my party's junior spokesperson on defence, I will direct most of my budget contribution on the crisis in the Defence Forces. It is fair to say there will be hurt and disbelief in barracks and bases across the State this week because the Defence Forces can be in no doubt that the Government values them by plámás only. If the Government valued the Defence Forces at all, it would not have given them the paltry provision they have. It is so paltry it will leave the Naval Service alone treading water and not at the o…

I thank an Teachta Ó Murchú for sharing his time with me. I am extremely concerned about all our section 39 and section 56 workers, such as all those working in the Irish Wheelchair Association in north Kildare and Dara Community Living in north Kildare. I welcome the Disability Federation of Ireland, the National Federation of Voluntary Service Providers, and the service users, or, as I like to call them, the citizens of the State, to the Gallery here today. I would like to give a special welcome to Ms Carol O'Don…

Gabhaim buíochas don Ghrúpa Réigiúnach as an rún seo. There has to be a real concern about the morale in the Garda and their stated positions recently. I do not want to get parochial around this. I have spoken about the fact that we have such low Garda numbers in north Kildare before. I believe that we are at a critical stage. I welcome the fact that the Minister is here. I come from a Garda family including my father, grandfather, several uncles and cousins. While my father retired from the force as a superintende…

I am also very glad to speak to this Bill on this Stage. Its wide provisions are welcome, particularly the piece in Part 2 to which the Minister of State referred earlier whereby a person who provides a character reference on behalf of a convicted sexual offender would be available to be cross-examined by the court. That is really welcome. I am also happy to say this is particularly welcome to see as it relates, as was mentioned by my party colleague, to the earlier work of an Teachta Ó Laoghaire and an Teachta Mar…

I wrote a couple of pages on this issue but I could have written a book on the state of school transport in north Kildare. The Minister knows how often I have been in touch with her about this, particularly about the 41 children from Rathcoffey and Straffan who are trying to get to school in Celbridge and Maynooth. She knows how often I have stopped her in the Chamber to tell her about the trouble these families are having because they cannot get a place on a school bus for their children. I tell her about the moth…