"One-way ticket I'd give her back to the shithole she came from". That is about the only thing I could repeat in this House among an awful lot of online abuse that was posted under the social media of our candidate in the Galway West by-election, Helen Ogbu. I am asking the Government to take action against online hate. The Tánaiste is no stranger to social media, both the positives and negatives, and I acknowledge that. Coimisiún na Meán needs the power to independently order the immediate takedown of individual p…

Táim sásta leanúint ar aghaidh.

Gabhaim buíochas le mo chomhghleacaithe as na leasuithe sin a chur síos. Aontaím leis an méid a bhí á rá ag an Teachta McGuinness. I dtuairim Pháirtí an Lucht Oibre agus i mo thuairim féin, tá gá le bord níos mó agus caithfidh an bord iomlán a bheith tofa. Tacaím le leasuithe Uimh. 3, 5 agus 22.

Chuala mé an méid a bhí le rá ag an Aire. Tá a lán cumhacht fós ag an Aire. Impím air glacadh leis na leasuithe seo. Bheadh sé níos daonlathaí. Tá iarrtha sna leasuithe na toghcháin seo a athrú ionas go mbeidh siad níos láidre.

Táim sásta tacú leis an leasú seo chomh maith. Aontaím leis. Tá sé fíorthábhachtach ó thaobh daonlathas agus trédhearcacht an bhoird agus na cathaoirleachta.

Tá mé an-sásta tacaíocht a thabhairt don leasú seo mar gheall ar an méid a bhí le rá ag an Aire faoin údarás mar bhord Stát agus mar gheall ar an gcomórtas PAS. Bhí a fhios agam cheana féin go raibh daoine ann a bhí agus atá mar Bhaill den Dáil agus go raibh orthu éirí as bord Stát roimh dóibh a bheith tofa mar Theachta Dála nó mar Sheanadóir. Aontaím go mór leis an leasú seo mar gheall ar na rudaí céanna a bhí á rá ag mo chomhghleacaí, an Teachta McGuinness.

Ar dtús báire, ba mhaith liom comhghairdeas a dhéanamh leis an Teachta Kyne as ucht bheith tofa arís ina Teachta Dála. Ba mhaith liom chomh maith mo chuid tacaíochta a thabhairt don leasú seo. Aontaím leis an méid a bhí le rá ag na Teachtaí Conor McGuinness, Hearne agus Kyne. Tá an saineolas agus an eolas ag an t-údarás chun é seo a dhéanamh go héifeachtach. Caithfidh an Rialtas ról reachtúil lárnach a thabhairt don údarás maidir le tógáil tithe sa Ghaeltacht. Caithfidh an t-údarás a bheith in ann maoin a cheannach…

Tá mé buíoch den Aire as an méid a bhí le rá aige mar gheall ar an scéim phíolótach agus mar gheall ar an méid a bhí curtha i láthair ag an Teachta Kyne. Caithfidh muid bogadh ar aghaidh leis sin. Ag an am céanna, áfach, bíonn an t-údarás ag obair maidir le cúrsaí tithíochta sa Ghaeltacht pé scéal. Ní aontaím leis an Aire nach bhfuil na scileanna ag an údarás. Tá roinnt scileanna aige agus tá daoine fostaithe ann. Caithfidh muid glacadh leis an leasú seo chun an chumhacht a thabhairt d’Údarás na Gaeltachta ionas go…

The Government is spending €5 million on building a temporary platform at Adare for the Ryder Cup, yet there is a €35 million missing link between that temporary platform and Limerick Colbert Station. As a result, the Government is spending €5 million on a temporary platform that will only be able to go from Adare to Limerick Junction, bypassing Limerick city, which is a 15-minute drive away. Should the link not be funded - the €35 million Kerry curve - to allow services into Limerick city?

We need the train to connect to Limerick.

The Taoiseach is turning into Bertie with these answers.

I want to talk about the delays in the roll-out of BusConnects in Limerick, a city the Minister knows well and that he has said a lot of positive things about previously. We were promised this in 2025, and 2025 became 2026, then 2027, and is now 2028. From what the departmental officials have said, we know that the NTA does not have enough funding when it comes to the roll-out of new services and that is why we are seeing a deprioritisation of public transport by the Government, particularly compared with the previ…

Ba mhaith liom ar dtús mo bhuíochas a ghabháil leis an bPáirtí Sinn Féin as ucht an rún seo a thabhairt faoi bhráid na Dála anocht. Molaim agus molann Páirtí an Lucht Oibre an rún seo. The most basic test of any housing system is really quite simple; it is whether ordinary people can access secure and decent housing. In this country, we have arrived at a situation whereby the country is divided between haves and have-nots. The haves have property and secure housing and the have-nots do not. When the Minister of Sta…

I want to ask the Minister what actions he proposes to take in light of the monthly rise in homelessness and the record number of evictions that we have seen detailed in the release of the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB, data last week, and if he will make a statement on the matter.

The RTB data shows that 7,062 eviction notices were issued in the first three months of this year. While there is an increased number of landlords, some of that is down to the regularisation of tenancies. Will the Minister's homeless prevention framework, which he said is coming, have clear targets and timelines, year on year and quarter on quarter? If it does not, then it will effectively become redundant very quickly . What legislative measures similiar to, for example, the homeless families Bill or the Simon Com…

The Minister spoke about prevention measures but the fact of the matter is that the most effective prevention measure that we had in recent times was the one that he severely restricted, namely the tenant in situ scheme or the ability of local authorities to acquire homes through second-hand acquisitions. The number acquired halved between 2024 and 2025. Will the Minister prioritise homeless prevention by allowing local authorities to use second-hand acquisitions for homeless prevention where it is not practically …

I thank the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach. I wish to ask the Minister if the Government will carry out a review of the licensee system in relation to the plan to allow landlords to rent out modular units adjacent to the principal private residence under the revised proposed exempted development guidelines. The reason I ask is because there are a number of loopholes with the licensee system and the protections that are there for tenants are non-existent.

I raise this issue particularly in light of a very good report that Threshold did last October looking at the licensee system and the category of people in the licensee system who were, when it came to renters' rights, effectively invisible. The rent-a-room scheme does not come under the RTB Act, so there is no security of tenure there and no real renter's rights. That might be fine when you are talking about a room in someone's house but if you are talking about a modular unit, it is a separate physical entity. Wh…

My concern here in relation to the licensee system is that in the arrangement they have with the person from whom they are renting the room, most people do not even realise it is a licensee agreement until there is a dispute. Then when there is a dispute and they go to the RTB, they find out that they, in effect, do not have very many rights. There is a real need for clearer regulations that safeguard licensees, who are very much in a grey area. There are very limited grounds on which a licensee can challenge a sud…

I welcome the Bill and the opportunity to speak in this debate. I used to work for a TD who sat on the Joint Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution. I remember when that legislation was going through and how politically difficult it was. I also remember all the stuff that went into the legislation in order to get the legislation through the Dáil and to get the referendum passed. While the eighth amendment referendum brought us in out of the cold and stopped us being so abnormal and so cruel it was ne…