The housing crisis has changed to a housing disaster, as the rocketing rents and record homelessness figures show. We have reached a watershed in this country where having a job and going to work no longer guarantees you a roof over your head, whether to rent or buy. The social contract is not the only thing broken; the people coming to my constituency office are broken too. In the past year, homelessness is up by 20%, and 22% for children, but as bad as these statistics are, they do not show the people who couch-s…

Homelessness is increasing all of the time.

As the Taoiseach knows, over the past two years my party leader, Deputy McDonald, and others have been raising the alarm about the decision by the Department of Health to effectively shut down the north inner city drugs and alcohol task force. It is a mystifying move given the task force is so badly needed. Unfortunately, the Taoiseach's most recent written response on this to Deputy McDonald simply repeats a narrative that is just not accurate and with which no progress has been made over the last two years. All t…

In its report, Understanding the Irish Economy in a Time of Turbulence, the NESC recommends transposing the European Union directive on adequate minimum wages in order to do two things, namely, to strengthen the national system of collective bargaining and to increase collective bargaining coverage. The research shows that countries with high collective bargaining coverage tend to have a lower share of low-wage workers and tend to have higher minimum wages relative to the median wage and overall, lower pay inequali…

Like most people, I have watched the RTÉ crisis with dismay and disappointment. Unlike most people, I had a sneak preview of how the public duty of the national broadcaster was at complete odds with its commercial devotion to its advertisers and sponsors. At a meeting of the Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action last December, RTÉ did not seem to be able to join the dots on how it was covering the climate crisis, on the one hand, while accepting sponsorship and advertisements from car manufacturers, inc…

I will open my short contribution by saying that when we consider the situation in the upper echelons of RTÉ and Horse Racing Ireland, not to mention the national children's hospital, it shows how valuable clarity is and how often it is best noted by its absence. The Bill before us also lacks that clarity on how the proceeds of this windfall tax are to be distributed and used. We in Sinn Féin are anxious that they be used for the people who need them most. Among those are the people who get up early in the morning …

I have a question on the consultative forum on international security, which starts this week. Up until the welcome intervention from our Uachtarán, this was very much a conference for the select few by the selected few. I have already expressed concern around that. I thank the President formally for his intervention on behalf of all the people. I would also-----

Okay. I have made the point several times in the Dáil that this forum would be over by the time people knew about it, as opposed to a citizens' assembly. Now that the necessary public attention has been brought to the matter, I have been contacted by some doves, as opposed to hawks, who have told me they would like to attend but there are no spaces available. Is there any chance the Government could make more spaces available so that we can at least get more doves into the audience, if not on the panels?

I am very glad to hear the Minister will not oppose the motion because our asks are quite straightforward. We have put them to her this evening on behalf of people across north Kildare, including Leixlip, Celbridge, Maynooth and Naas, who are already struggling with the vicious series of mortgage rate hikes, exorbitant rents and a deep cost-of-living crisis. Even to get out your front door now to get a few bits and pieces for children going back to school, you are not talking about a €10 or €20 note; you will not g…

I am taking this question on behalf of Deputy Carthy. Will the Tánaiste outline the establishment figures for the Army, the Naval Service and the Air Corps, the current number in each branch and the numbers in the years 2020 to 2022, inclusive?

The number of personnel in the Permanent Defence Force, PDF, stood at 8,828 in 2019. In March of that year, it was 8,366 while today it stands at what I had understood to be 7,797, although I believe the Tánaiste gave a different number.

It is 7,764. I note that in the response to a recent parliamentary question tabled by my comrade, Deputy Carthy, the Tánaiste stated that his immediate focus would be on stabilising the number of personnel in the Defence Forces. I welcome that because retention is the most important thing. We have to retain the military personnel who are already trained and in whom money has been invested. I agree with that. Will the Tánaiste outline the timeframe within which he believes the number of personnel will be stabilised?…

In April, Lieutenant Colonel Conor King, general secretary of RACO, said that we cannot recruit ourselves out of a retention crisis. He is right because we would just be putting water into a leaky bucket. The figure I have for the number of discharges in 2022 is 891. That was higher than the figure for any year since 2017. The Tánaiste mentioned the working time directive at a recent meeting with PDFORRA. Can the Tánaiste confirm whether the Defence Forces have begun recording the working time of their personnel as…

Have they been recording the working times?

I ask the Tánaiste to outline his intentions regarding the acquisition of primary radar; if matters have progressed to the extent that either the Office of Government Procurement or the contracts branch of the Defence Forces are actively working in support of this; and if the Defence Forces have begun the work of identifying suitable locations for installations.

The figure that is bandied about for the cost of this primary radar is €300 million. The Minister for Finance, Deputy McGrath, referenced the €176 million capital budget for the Defence Forces in budget 2023 and stated that the Government was going to prioritise the development of our primary radar capability. I understand that, as of March, an initial planning team has been established and market research and a foreign visit has taken place. Can the Tánaiste give any more information on that? I ask him to outline …

I heard it in the media and I just thought that maybe------

A starting point.

In the report on the high-level action plan that was published in March of this year, the recommendation regarding primary radar is accepted in principle rather than being accepted, as most of the other recommendations were. Delivering primary radar really is a prerequisite in ensuring the surveillance of Irish-controlled airspace. I have spoken to members of Air Corps. There is a worry about this. I know, as a united Irelander, that it is something that we are going to have to be able to do on our own in the event…

Is the Tánaiste willing to apply the terms of reference provided by the Women of Honour group to the planned statutory inquiry into abuse and bullying in the Defence Forces?