This is a budget for the rich and powerful in our society, namely developers, vulture funds, big landlords and millionaires. It is certainly not a budget for PAYE workers, the homeless, housing applicants, families, children, the disabled or even social welfare recipients. This Government is completely out of touch with ordinary people. Those in government live in a bubble here in Leinster House. Is it that they do not know or do not care that there is a cost-of-living crisis? Families are struggling to make ends m…

For almost two years, we have seen the Israeli state deliberately attempting to exterminate the Palestinian people by bomb, bullet and starvation. Gaza is now one big concentration camp and 2.3 million people are facing annihilation and starvation. Some 65,000 people have been murdered, including 25,000 children. Every international agency of note has condemned Israel, including the international courts. Last week, the United Nations deemed what is going on in Gaza as genocide. The prime minister of Israel is subje…

The acid test of the bona fides of this Government on carers and caring is the immediate abolition of the means test for the carer's allowance. This has been the demand of carers and Family Carers Ireland for years and was promised by all political parties during the course of the last general election. It was understood by the public that the means test would be abolished within the first 100 days of this Government, but of course we are still waiting. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael misled the public again. The Ministe…

What is happening in Gaza is the ultimate appalling vista with 65,000 people murdered, including 25,000 children. Every day, on our television screens we are witnessing the deliberate destruction of the Palestinian people by bomb, bullet and starvation. Gaza is now one big concentration camp and 2.3 million Palestinians are facing obliteration and starvation. In January 2024, the International Court of Justice found that the Palestinian people in Gaza had a plausible right to be protected from the imminent risk of …

The Government must stop the insurance rip-off. Insurance companies are still ripping off the public despite the fact that claims and awards are significantly reduced. Claims statistics show a fall of 40% in the claims between 2019 and 2023 and awards are down over a third. The Central Bank has pointed out that premiums increased by 17% between 2020 and 2023. At the same time, insurance companies' profits are at 13%, more than twice the international rate of profitability of these companies. The Alliance for Insura…

The child poverty and child homelessness statistics are absolutely shocking. They are an utter scandal. We as a nation should be ashamed of ourselves. There are 104,780 children living in consistent poverty, up 45,000 in a year. There are 225,000 children living in families below the poverty line, and 5,014 homeless children in emergency accommodation, up 14% on last year. These are not just statistics; they are real individual children living in real families. Barnardos, the children's charity, has confirmed that …

There has been no public eye care service in south Tipperary for more than 12 months. The former permanent consultant, Dr. Hillery, retired last September. She provided a wonderful service for a long number of years. She gave more than adequate notice. Unfortunately, the HSE has failed to fill the vacancy and provide a vital service. There is now a huge waiting list, running into thousands, with hundreds of children on the list who have never been examined. The HSE advertised a permanent post on a temporary basis. …

A fit-for-purpose school transport service is absolutely essential. The current system operates about 8,200 vehicles on 10,600 routes. This year, it distributed 142,000 tickets and aims to cater for another 100,000 students by 2030. However, there are recurring difficulties with the scheme every year. This year, some parents were told at the last minute that no service was in place even though they had got tickets already. With reference to an example from my own constituency, children with disabilities obviously h…

I welcome this motion being brought forward by Sinn Féin. It is a timely motion due to the time of the year and the upcoming budget. It is important to continue to focus on the cost-of-living crisis, a crisis that is pushing more and more families towards poverty. I want to share with the Minister of State a very sad and disturbing story of a family in particular difficulty relating to energy costs. The family, who are in my constituency, contacted me recently and asked that I come to visit them as they were not in…

The prevention of antisocial behaviour requires a wide range of social, economic and community actions. These include education, training, employment, income, social inclusion, community activities and policing. Garda policing is one of the most essential elements in tackling antisocial behaviour. For a start, we must be open, upfront and honest about the number of gardaí available to police our streets and communities. We had a bizarre situation recently in south Tipperary, where two Government Oireachtas Members …

Disabled people are entitled to live life to the full. They must have an opportunity to take full part in society, education, healthcare, housing, employment, justice, transport, entertainment and so on. This strategy fails to outline an urgent concrete implementation plan, and such a plan is needed if Ireland is to comply with its obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The strategy is generalised, non-specific, lacking in detail and lacking in funding, and this …

The right to education is a fundamental right for all children. It is enshrined in our Constitution and in international conventions. Many children with additional needs are denied that right today. There are still children awaiting school places for the 2025-26 school year. That is absolutely shameful. There are a further 168 children with allocated school places who cannot take them up because the facilities are not available. There are hundreds more children without appropriate school places who have to travel f…

The local training initiatives, LTIs, run by Tipperary Education and Training Board, ETB, at Spafield family resource centre in Cashel, Knockanrawley centre in Tipperary town, the Cahir Development Association facility in Cahir and the Littleton community centre, have been abolished. This has an impact on the most vulnerable people in our society. This is unconscionable and wholly unacceptable. Tipperary Education and Training Board's funder, SOLAS, has left the board €1.5 million short of its required budget for G…

I thank the Tánaiste for the reply. The local training initiative is a valuable service that has been in existence for more than 20 years. It provides a leaving certificate qualification over two academic years for students or trainees who are not suitable for mainstream education. It provides modules on subjects such as computers, communications, work experience and mathematics. The closure of the service and these courses affects 41 training places across the four sites. It also impacts six staff members who will…

I welcome the motion from the Social Democrats. It is very important and opportune. Families across the country are struggling to make ends meet. The cost-of-living crisis is an ongoing crisis that is no longer temporary or once-off. Everything is going in one direction, which is up. This includes food prices, energy prices, rents, mortgages and transport. Energy prices, for instance, have increased significantly over the years and never come down. Our energy prices are one of the highest, if not the highest, in Eu…

Local government is the beating heart of democracy. That heart was torn out of democracy with the abolition of town and borough councils in 2014. They were replaced by committees with no powers, functions or funding. This has done serious damage to towns across the country. I welcome the recent announcement regarding a local government task force but there is widespread concern about its composition. It is heavily loaded in favour of individuals and bodies with existing connections to local government management. T…

The student fees issue shows how out of touch the Government is and how unfair it is to students and parents alike. Third level education should and must be available and affordable to all. Students and their parents have to plan financially for the coming academic year and are surely entitled to know the costs involved. The failure of the Taoiseach, Tánaiste, Ministers for Finance, public expenditure and reform, further and higher education, who is present, and many other Ministers to refuse to answer the question…

Over ten years since the successful completion of the Clonmel flood relief scheme, householders and businesses are finding getting insurance flood cover impossible or it comes with very heavily loaded premiums. The Clonmel flood relief scheme was completed in 2013 at a cost of €44.5 million. The scheme has been completed to a one-in-100-year protection level and it protects all areas adjacent to the River Suir in the town, including the old bridge, the quays, Irishtown, Waterford Road, Davis Road and over 500 house…

I broadly welcome the Bill, which provides a mechanism for workers to access the Social Insurance Fund where their employer has ceased trading but has not been formally wound up. The Bill addresses the 2018 Supreme Court judgment that found that Ireland did not properly or fully transpose an EU directive on the protection of employees in the event of insolvency. That was seven years ago, and this had been mentioned and recommended as far back as the Cahill-Duffy report in 2016 and the company law review in 2017. Be…

Local government is the heartbeat of democracy. The Fine Gael–Labour Party Government abolished borough councils and town councils in 2014 and replaced them with committees that had no power, no functions and no money. I think it is already accepted by almost everybody, including the former leader of the Labour Party, Brendan Howlin, that it was a very bad decision. The programme for Government commits to the establishment of a local democracy task force. Will the Taoiseach please outline when this task force will …