The Leinster House comedy club.

Bailíodh breis is €41,000 i bPort Láirge chun clinic soghluaiste máithreachais a chur ar fáil do mhná i nGaza. Tá an t-aonad seo i gCaireo na hÉigipte faoi láthair mar nach bhfuil cead aige dul isteach i nGaza. Tá mná ag iompar agus ag saolú leanaí i gcoinníollacha contúirteacha, míshláintiúla agus mídhaonna. Over €41,000 was raised by Gaeil ar son Gaza in order to fund a mobile maternity clinic for women in Gaza. This unit is currently stuck in Cairo in Egypt because they are not being permitted entry into Gaza. A…

In the south east, there are 330 adults and 113 children officially recorded as homeless. That is 70 families. In County Waterford alone, 110 adults and 37 children are in local authority-funded emergency accommodation. Those are only the official figures; they are the tip of the iceberg. They reflect people in local authority accommodation but they do not capture the hidden homelessness that every public representative in this Chamber encounters weekly - certainly those of us who operate clinics and have a listeni…

There was a time when every town and village had a family doctor. They were rooted in the community and known to everybody across generations. Today, that model is under real strain in urban areas but particularly in rural Ireland. GPs are the anchor of our health system. They are the gateway into our health system in most cases. They provide long-term, continuous care from cradle to grave, yet successive governments have failed to plan properly for primary care. In 2001, the Future Together report warned about sho…

Over the past number of weeks, I have listened intently to parents who are sick with worry. I have listened to special needs assistants who are lying awake at night wondering if they will have a job come September. These are jobs that they love and vocations they do with every fibre of their being. I have listened to children and their voices, which are really important in this debate. They simply want to feel safe, supported and included in their own classrooms. What have they been met with over the past two and a…

Ní leor sin.

If the Taoiseach listened-----

Can we get a medal for the Taoiseach?

Hear, hear.

The Minister of State does not need me to tell him that 2,300 jobs, at a conservative estimate, in our coastal communities are in jeopardy because of the quota deal reached in December 2025. The wider economic hit could reach €200 million. In ports like Dunmore East in my home county of Waterford, families are asking whether there is a future for them and their industry. When you step back and look at the decisions and attitudes of successive governments, their actions and, more critically, their inaction, it is im…

We need to see remote work become a right and not just a perk as it is now. It should be an entitlement for workers for whom it is available and not a norm when it makes sense for all the reasons that have been outlined. It is clear to us that remote working has clear family benefits, social benefits and environmental benefits as well as those benefits to the community that are often unseen and unremarked upon in this debate because, simply put, people have more time. This is about workers' rights. There are health…

So therapists will be reduced.

They have to.

A startling initiative.

We all accept the transition needed in our energy system. We need renewables and investment and we need to tackle climate change seriously, but we cannot balance climate ambition on the backs of working families. Most countries that are transitioning their energy production to renewable sources are now seeing decreases in the price of electricity. Why are Irish families not seeing that? Why are they still paying the third-highest household electricity prices in Europe? Why are more than 300,000 households now behin…

In less than five years, house prices have risen by 47.7%. That is a failure of the Government of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. It is a failure to respond, a failure to intervene and a failure to deliver. Over 2,000 family homes, which is a conservative estimate, have been bulk purchased by investment funds since the Minister's claim they had stopped it. In Waterford today, there is not a single housing assistance payment, HAP, property to rent. House prices are up 10.7% in Waterford across city and country. The avera…

Aontaím go hiomlán leis an méid atá ráite ag mo chomhghleacaí, an Teachta Ó Snodaigh, i dtaobh na háiteanna nach bhfuil meánscoileanna lánGhaeilge iontu. Tá an-chuid de na meánscoileanna lánGhaeilge atá againn faoi bhrú i dtaobh foirgnimh agus spáis. Tá éileamh níos mó ann ná mar gur féidir leo freastal air de dheasca an easpa infheistíochta i bhfoirgnimh, suíomhanna agus a leithéid. Táim ag smaoineamh ar Ghaelcholáiste Phort Láirge i gcathair Phort Láirge, a bhfuil ag feidhmiú as prefabs le blianta anuas agus nach…

The ongoing and very real impact on the community in Passage East in County Waterford and the serious shortcomings in response to recent flooding events must be to the forefront of the Minister's mind having visited there last weekend. My colleagues, Councillor Pat Fitzgerald and Deputy David Cullinane, and many residents have raised the need for an effective early warning system with timely and accurate information. This must be addressed as a matter of urgency. Probably the most frustrating issue that locals rais…

And who is responsible for-----

That is ridiculous. How many years in government now?