The inability of people to access a driving test in south Dublin is an issue I have been raising for years. At the moment, 10,000 people are on the waiting list for the testing centre in Tallaght. This is the longest waiting list in the State. It represents 12% of the State-wide waiting list. The centre in Deansgrange in Dún Laoghaire has the third longest waiting list. In June 2021, the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, said the backlog would be cleared within four months of exiting the Covid situation. Clearly, this h…

I do not believe that people fleeing war and savagery are responsible for people sleeping in cars.

That was mentioned earlier. It has been happening for years in this city. There are plenty of houses but unfortunately they are in the wrong hands and they are being used for the wrong purposes. Child homelessness is endemic once again. There are more than 3,000 children without a place to call home. This is the official number. We do not know how many are sharing box rooms or sitting rooms at night, with their parents, in homes of other family members, or just staying with mammy's or daddy's friends. This Governme…

Believe it or not, I was head of Sinn Féin Youth in 1981. For a whole generation, particularly in Dublin, who at that time were teenagers or in our early 20s, the fire in the Stardust complex changed us forever. Forty-eight people died and 214 were injured on that fateful St. Valentine's night. Now, 41 years later, the families who fought tirelessly for answers have still not got the full truth about how their loved ones died. The fire on St. Valentine's night 1981 changed many of us from that generation; an innoce…

We are calling on the Government to introduce an emergency budget to deal with the rising cost of living. None of us should have to make a speech outlining the challenges facing families. We see the evidence of that every day. Many of the people to whom I speak say they are at their wit's end and do not know how they will pay the next bill. They are dreading the postman coming up the driveway to deliver more of them. When one pulls into a garage, one sees straight away the increase in the cost of petrol and diesel.…

As Deputy Kenny said, the murder of Shireen Abu Akleh as she covered an Israeli raid in the West Bank was a serious violation of international law and potentially a war crime. She was clearly identified as a journalist. She was wearing press insignia but she was targeted by sustained sniper fire, as Members have said. The attempt by the Israeli regime to muddy the waters and claim she had been killed by a Palestinian is typical of its refusal to treat the Palestinian people with dignity and respect. The obscene and…

There were 14 rental properties on one rental website in Dublin 24 this morning. Three of them were basically sheds or granny flats in the bottom of someone's garden. However, many full properties sit on short-term letting sites, taken out of the rental market during a housing crisis and little more than profiteering. The housing market is a machine with many moving parts. That is the way I see it. The problem at present is that not many of those parts are moving anymore. Every time Sinn Féin or others in oppositio…

I stood here almost two years ago speaking on a Sinn Féin motion on the need to respect the demands of Irish people and to do something, anything, to mend the utterly broken system that is the Irish housing market. Housing was one of the biggest issues in the 2020 general election and the new Government made a great deal of noise about the delivery of affordable housing. Two years later, we are asking where the promised housing is. The Government's affordable housing targets lack ambition, as many contributors have…

The latest rent figures from the Residential Tenancies Board show no real relief for renters. It is not a shock to anybody that rents continue to spiral out of control for individuals and families. As the Minister will know, rents keep growing every year and show no real sign of stopping any time soon. As my colleague pointed out in respect of his area, the average rent for a new tenancy is €1,900, although that depends on the area and, in some areas, it is up to €2,000. The most shocking figure is that average ren…

Where is the just transition?

As my party colleague said, childcare fees for parents in this State are among the highest in the world, yet early years workers, who are highly qualified professionals, many with degrees, are paid some of the lowest wages of any sector, with far too many working on or just above the minimum wage. Sinn Féin's plan would reduce childcare fees for parents by at least one third for this year and next year and by two thirds the following year, but the Government saw fit to oppose that idea. Just like its response to th…

The question we are all asking tonight is whether the Government is doing enough. I have read the Minister of State's speech. He says he is aware of the challenges facing families and he has outlined some of the measures the Government is talking about introducing. The Government is contending that it has done enough. On this side of the House, what we are picking up from people, families and individuals is that it is not doing enough and that they are suffering. What we wanted to hear tonight is not what the Gover…

The Government has all but abandoned its responsibilities for children with disabilities. It will not even publish how badly it is failing to meet the crisis. It uses doublespeak to hide how badly it is doing. It shuffles children around and puts them in different categories to make it look like progress is being made. It is dishonest and deceptive. The way we are warehousing these children instead of investing in services and getting them the therapies and assessments they need is immoral. All the sleight of hand …

The Minister and I know that investment funds are currently spending billions of euro in the Irish property market. They are hoovering up properties. We also know that workers and their families are locked out of the market and do not stand a chance when some big fund can just buy properties in bulk and offer 30% over the asking price. It is obscene that big funds pay hardly any tax and are making huge profits at the expense of Irish people. And why is this happening? It is because Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have pr…

The Taoiseach does not want to respond to the question.

There is no mention of the citizens' assembly on drugs in the spring legislative programme. The Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Feighan, was before the Joint Committee on Health last week where he made a number of references to the assembly. He was talking of a way of dealing with the difficult outstanding issues and progressing them. Is this still a priority of Government and when does it intend to establish the assembly, as per the commitment in the programme for Government?

The brutal murder of Ashling Murphy has appalled us all. It has also shone a light on what women in this country have had to live with forever. Last night I watched a programme on television that highlighted the case of the Kerry babies. Joanne Hayes is another woman whose life was destroyed by a sustained campaign of institutional violence against her that lasted almost 40 years. The State apologies while trying to sweep our shame under the carpet are not good enough at this stage. Gender-based violence is endemic…

We need to remind ourselves that Dublin Fire Brigade responds to fires, car crashes, accidents, storms such as we are experiencing tonight and emergencies, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It operates 12 full-time stations, inclusive of the station at the Belgard Road in Tallaght. This work is being done even though the service is almost 100 firefighters short of what is required to adequately and safely man our fire stations. It is an almost daily occurrence that vehicles are unavailable for deployment owing to in…

If the Minister were to travel to parts of my constituency - and he can go out there now if he wants - he would hear the buzzing noise of scrambler and quad bikes. This goes on from early in the morning to late at night. These bikes are used on main roads and green spaces, without the least bit of regard for pedestrians or other road users. Users do not wear helmets or high-visibility clothing. They tear up and down the streets on dark evenings. There are near misses everyday involving children or elderly people ou…

People in Ireland are tired of the dire state of the public services that they rely on. Since the days of austerity, funding has been whittled away, and in many areas we are left with hollowed-out services. Nowhere can this be seen more than in our health service. We are told of all the extra money that the Government is throwing at it, when really, we are standing still when it comes to services. Waiting lists continue to climb, overcrowding continues to worsen and the National Ambulance Service and emergency serv…