I said "your colleague" Minister.

Minister, I said "your colleagues in Government".

Maybe the Minister should check out the comments of his colleagues in government.

They called it free housing. The Minister interrupted me and was so glib and dismissive. The only people getting free housing in this country are the cuckoos, vultures and developers with their cash cow leases. I suggest the Minister educates himself about who he is in bed with. He seems unable to grasp that. Put social and affordable housing back on the Poolbeg site. A price of €450,000 is not affordable. Do not pretend that Sinn Féin has caused this housing crisis. Do not bottle it.

I welcome the opportunity to support the motion proposed by the Social Democrats. It would be a great start for children to be born in a national maternity hospital that is owned and run for the State, by the State and by the rules of the State, without any sleight of corporate hand or torture of language and logic as to ownership and ethos. The St. Vincent's Healthcare Group's statement last night that the group must retain ownership of the site for the delivery of integrated patient care on the Elm Park campus is…

I am proud of the input Sinn Féin had in tabling amendments to this Bill. The essence of our amendments are about what "just transition" should mean. I am bitterly disappointed with the just transition aspect of the Bill and I assured my constituents in north Kildare that we would do everything we could to define it. This Bill is the easy part. I have no doubt that it will pass but it is important that we get the just transition and climate justice parts of it right. The Irish people are sensible about this. Everyb…

Go raibh maith agat, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle. Go raibh maith agat freisin to all the people who travelled to Dublin today to protest against the lack of action on their cause and brought their protest to their capital city. I am delighted to speak on the Sinn Féin motion. Wherever a dodgy block is sold or big bucks are to be made off the backs of the home buyer, home builder or worker, immediate redress is required. Full and immediate redress is the only way to address the wrongs inflicted and the damage done to pe…

I intended to raise the lack of child psychological services in my constituency of North Kildare, but news that Kildare County Council intends to close the playground in Kilcock next week, for 18 months, has me seeking urgent intervention. This playground is a lifeline to children and families, particularly children with additional needs, because it proactively and inclusively provides a temporary breather for these children while they are waiting for services. These families, and local schools whose autism spectru…

I am pleased to support the motion. What happened last month was like something one would see in a Netflix movie - a Ryanair aeroplane taking off from one European capital, heading north towards another European capital, and being subjected to an effective hijacking by a leader styling himself on a dictator. In reality, it was the news. A plane full of Europeans and Americans flying from Athens in Greece to Vilnius in Lithuania got MiGed to Minsk and Lukashenko and his onboard gang of KGB thugs got their priority p…

I am one of the many very lucky people who have received their first dose of the vaccine. On the day of my visit, the efficiency of the staff was outstanding and I would like to recognise that and thank them here in their Dáil. Maith sibh. Last week, the WHO said that vaccines may be the light at the end of the tunnel but that it is important we do not get blinded by that light. It said that too many of us in Europe are not vaccinated and that caution is vital. We are all dying to see our families, get back to norm…

I want to raise the mystery of vanishing crèches in housing estates in north County Kildare. Developers get planning permission, advertise and sell on the basis of estates having crèches but when the families move in, there are no crèches. Those involved have been abandoned by developers, usually in favour of more homes or, perhaps, the developers state they are going to wait until all the phases are sold. Last year, north County Kildare was down hundreds of crèche places promised by Ardstone Homes and Cairn Homes.…

I want to raise the employment of behavioural analysts who, as with other key members of staff in education, are being taken over by the Department of Education and brought into the public sector system. The Labour Court has been clear that the Department has to engage but the Department is of another view. I have received responses to parliamentary questions to this effect. Meanwhile, Saplings Special School in Kill in my constituency of Kildare North is extremely worried that it will lose its behavioural analyst,…

I hope the Minister agrees we have to do something about this urgently. Will the Minister tell me what he can do about this? The Minister, Deputy Foley, is not engaging properly.

I appreciate the strong words from the Minister, Deputy Coveney, regarding the horror unfolding in Gaza. They are a dignified change from those of his predecessor during the assault on Gaza in 2014. Strong words are necessary from Ireland, a country that was occupied and knows the cosh of the coloniser. This week, Gaza is awash with anguish. There are reports that 60% of electricity lines are down. Water pipes have been destroyed by Israeli bombing and tens of thousands of people have no access to clean drinking wa…

This Bill has merit as regards the fair deal scheme and family farms and businesses. I am sure there is great regret in homes across the State that funds that went out cannot be recouped. The care of their elderly is preoccupying many families at the moment and it never stops, because true as night follows day, we are all getting older. There is just no way out of that. While the fair deal aspect of the Bill has merit, I regret that it takes no proper account of the ongoing privatisation and commodification of the …

I wish to go back to the issue of the algorithm, in respect of which, I believe, the necessary detail is distinctly lacking. I wrote to the Minister about this last year as well. While the algorithm is a central aspect of the exam, it appears in the Bill as only a passing reference in the context of the standardisation process. This does not make any sense. This year we need absolute transparency. The passing reference to the algorithm does not in any way absolve the Minister from her responsibility to publish deta…

Tonight, people in my constituency of Kildare North are reeling. The raid on houses by global wealth funds has left them stunned. As Deputy Ó Broin pointed out, the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, has gone back on what was set out in the Fianna Fáil manifesto. Instead of clipping wings, as promised, he has given wings to the wealth funds. This is the Red Bull Government. A total of 135 homes were scooped out of 170 in a housing development in my constituency. Fianna Fáil promised to ring-fence a miserly 30% of ho…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Private Members' Bill from the Social Democrats. I commend Deputy Cian O'Callaghan on his timely debate to repeal Part V leasing. It needs to go because when it comes to housing our people, a 25-year lease is about as prudent as taking truckloads of public cash and setting fire to them on a public green. With so many houses being snapped up by long-term leasing, it looks like public money will be piled high and set ablaze, like in Mullen Park in Maynooth in my constituency…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Private Members' motion on a three-year ban on rent increases for citizens, many of whom are barely hanging on, spending a disproportionate amount of their income on what is their home. People who are renting are living in homes, not properties. This motion is especially welcome and needed in this era of the vulture and the cuckoo, two forms of avian life that are avoiding the biodiversity devastation. Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party have made sure that these ar…

I am dealing with several constituents in north Kildare whose children are living with chronic pain. There are hundreds across the State left without a full-time pain management consultant or the chance of a necessary first appointment. I cannot imagine what it is like to have a child suffering constant chronic pain. These parents would take this pain in a heartbeat. These parents and I have so far only received holding letters back from the State referring to care that is being provided. The parents are categoric …