I welcome the opportunity to speak on this topic today because this is an area I have deep expertise in. For ten years before becoming a TD, I worked in human rights and equality and for the second half of that decade, international protection was my primary focus. I find it incredible to listen to the statements from Government representatives here today calling for action on certain elements of our international protection system when they are part of a series of governments which, term after term over the last t…

Families up and down the country are struggling with energy affordability. Despite the fact this Government and the previous one failed to act on that and failed to invest in the grid and in renewable energy, what we saw yesterday was a report from another toothless task force telling us it will put forward recommendations next year. We need statements this week to discuss what action can be taken to provide targeted measures that will support people now and help them to survive this winter.

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this vital topic. I also acknowledge Deputy Mac Lochlainn for his continued efforts to push for this and the Minister of State's attendance here as the relevant member of the Government. I want to make a few points today. This is a community that has been consistently left behind. It speaks to an area of my portfolio, which is the trade and sustainable industry element. I am coming at this as our enterprise spokesperson. Overfishing, as we have heard from many contributors toda…

Táimid uilig sásta go bhfuilimid ag iarraidh Éire aontaithe ach caithfimid an obair a dhéanamh ionas go dtarlóidh sé. We in the Social Democrats welcome this motion because the work needs to be done. We need to prepare for and implement the suggestions to build that road towards a united Ireland. They are not new suggestions. They have been knocking around for a long time now. This is a position and a policy that we support wholeheartedly. We have a very young support base and a young voter base and it is such an e…

I know we all welcome the ceasefire in Gaza, fragile as it is, as we heard this evening, but it is disheartening that Palestinians continue to die at the hands of Israel. With continuing illegal annexation of the West Bank and the Tánaiste's own words calling what happened in Gaza a genocide, what is he doing to seek accountability for these crimes against humanity?

With respect, the Government has kicked the occupied territories Bill down the road. It appears set to exclude services, despite that being legally necessary and legally possible and recommended by Government backbenchers on the Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade. The ceasefire does not negate the ICJ ruling on the occupied territories, neither do statements on difficulties with services. We already have to differentiate on services from the occupied Palestinian territories under the EU-Israel associ…

Of course I support the peace and of course we also support the priority of delivering aid to the starving people of Palestine, but that does not remove the elephant in the room of the occupied territories Bill, because that is the very tangible way we can enact sanctions and action against Israel. The aid and leadership we provided are very welcome, but people are keen to hear that, just because there is a ceasefire, that does not mean we continue to trade with illegal Israeli settlements in violation of internati…

For a long time we have allowed the US military to use Shannon Airport. Over a number of years, we have seen countless protests on this subject - it has been decades, in fact - of a threat to our neutrality and a facilitation of US military operations which contravene our foreign policy. Despite this, on 12 October a US Department of War charter plane carrying troops and munitions of war to Israel was authorised by the Tánaiste and Minister for foreign affairs to stop at Shannon Airport. Why did he allow this and w…

In November 2023, the then Fine Gael leader, Leo Varadkar, told the Dáil that no US military flights going through Shannon were going to Israel. This seems to have been the policy of successive Irish Governments since 2006. Now it appears that as well as diplomatic clearance, the Department of Transport signed off on the plane carrying munitions of war through Irish airspace to Israel, as well as US troops. Why now? Cen fáth anois? After all that has happened, after all Israel has done with US support, is this acce…

It is 12 October.

No, 12 October, this month.

That is correct.

I find it baffling that the Minister cannot tell me why he has allowed this to happen. He is saying that it is the Department of Transport. Surely this is a foreign affairs issue, and surely he should be taking responsibility for it. It has been raised in this Chamber many times. It was bad enough that we have stood by and allowed munitions of war to pass through Irish airspace en route to Israel without permission, a crime the Government has failed to prosecute a single company for. It was bad enough that we have …

This morning I hosted a briefing with Uplift, ICCL and the Hope and Courage Collective. We talked about the dangers we all face online, including the security risks, the threats to democracy and the threats to our children, all posed by the lack of regulation of social media giants. We do not enforce the laws that we have. We were told by experts this morning that the perception internationally is that Ireland is not taking its responsibility seriously. We also heard about solutions, namely, making sure that recomm…

I wish to make three main points in my contribution: building defects are a legacy of lack of oversight from this Government; it is clear the parameters around redress are wrong and we are leaving people behind so let us fix it; and, finally, the burden for fixing this problem has been placed until now, on people who did not do anything wrong. Building defects are a legacy of a lack of oversight, and this legacy has crept into every aspect of people's lives. It is the wall that collapses, the dangerous fire escape …

In this budget, the Government has clearly prioritised big business interests and big developers over ordinary people, ordinary families and ordinary businesses. It is a "McBudget". It is hard to swallow what has been put forward, particularly when the Government had the chance to lift 40,000 children out of poverty, help families who are struggling by providing targeted energy credits, introduce a cost-of-disability payment or turbocharge the delivery of affordable housing. Expensive measures like the untargeted V…

Hear, hear.

I echo the words of the Deputy. This scheme has been life-changing for artists. Apologies-----

Thank you. As I was saying, it has been life-changing for artists but also for the rest of us as we benefit from their art. As the RTÉ ad says, "Ag tacú leis na healaíona, ag tacú linn." I have heard from many artists of how vital the scheme is. I am keen to ensure it is improved and extended. It is also a chance to explore a new model of how we support work that is a public good.

It is wonderful to hear all the analysis and statistics that are proving what a lot of us believe, which is that we have an economy that values a certain type of work. This type of pilot shows us there is other work that happens in society that should be just as valued and, when it is valued, we all benefit from it. It really is wonderful to hear that. I welcome the six-month extension but, like Deputy Ó Snodaigh, the artists I have spoken to live in this uncertainty right now regarding what will happen. We need so…