This question is on the shots fired at our peacekeeping soldiers in Lebanon. Will the Tánaiste provide a comment on this?

I thank the Tánaiste and I welcome the swift and stern diplomatic response we had to this incident through the United Nations. As the Tánaiste has said, this is a pattern of behaviour. There is no sense this pattern will stop. We are lucky there were no injuries or loss of life but if, God forbid, we see further instances such as this or an escalation, what is open to us as a State in terms of escalating actions against Israel? Will we continue to démarche through the United Nations? We know that legislatively we h…

That is interesting. Is it the Tánaiste's hope or expectation that the Commission will bring some options to the Foreign Affairs Council meeting on Monday week? The occupied territories Bill will be coming forward. I am sure the Tánaiste's attention has been drawn to the legal action that has been taken by a transnational group of lawyers against Airbnb due to its operation of services in the occupied territories. Senator Frances Black hosted a briefing in the audiovisual room on Tuesday morning. There was a very s…

What urgent actions will the Tánaiste and his Department take to ensure that the 505 squadron at Casement Aerodrome at Baldonnel is fully staffed and will not be forced to continue to operate at 50% capacity and at a reduced flying schedule?

Indeed. The fact that this had to take place outside of collective agreements highlights how unusual it is, and I acknowledge the Tánaiste's action on this. However, the reason this has happened is underpinned by a structural issue in terms of our airfields in the Dublin region, specifically Weston aerodrome. The Irish Times has reported that we have been losing technicians to the privately owned Weston aerodrome, which operates the privately run Coast Guard service. A ten-year, €670 million public contract underpi…

That is encouraging but, again, when commercial interests impact critical public services such as what should be operating out of Baldonnel, the State needs to act and look at those structural problems. One of them is the Coast Guard contract. It has been well debated here and in committee in the last Dáil and will be again. We have nearly €750 million of public funds helping to underpin a commercial enterprise at the expense of Baldonnel. That will need to be looked at. I accept, and I think the Tánaiste accepts, …

In the programme for Government, there is a commitment to publishing a national policy on adult safeguarding in the health and social care sector. The Taoiseach states a considerable amount of work has been done. Given the revelations in "RTÉ Investigates" about our older and more vulnerable residents in nursing homes, can we please have a debate this Thursday on the issue, when the Taoiseach can outline where he is with this and when we will see legislation? Can we please all acknowledge that the outsourcing of ou…

I move: That Dáil Éireann: condemns the actions of the Israeli Government in Gaza, and the destruction and conditions of famine they have wrought on the Palestinian people, resulting in starvation, disease and death; repeats its condemnation of the brutal attacks by Hamas in Israel on 7th October, 2023, its declaration that the taking of hostages is unconscionable, and its call for the release of all hostages by Hamas; deeply regrets the failure of the global community to intervene to force the occupying force to l…

Notwithstanding the announcement that the occupied territories Bill will go for pre-legislative scrutiny soon, the timeline articulated by the Tánaiste whereby this would not be passed until later in the year is, quite frankly, unacceptable. I ask for this to be revisited and that time be made at committee and in the Dáil to ensure this is put through before the summer recess.

I welcome Her Excellency, Dr. Jilan Wahba Abdalmajid to the Public Gallery for this debate. My colleagues and I missed the start of the debate because we were meeting the ambassador, so we are just catching up with what the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste said. We know that a bomb is dropped on Gaza every four minutes, on average. Since this debate began, approximately 15 bombs have fallen. Another 35 bombs will fall before the end of the debate, making 50 in total. More destruction, more war crimes and more death. We w…

The Labour Party will not be supporting the Government motion to cut the accommodation recognition payment from €800 to €600, nor will we be supporting the Sinn Féin amendment, which I call on its members to withdraw. Sinn Féin should support the parties of the left in opposing the motion and the €200 cut to the payment. Since the outbreak of the Russian war of conquest against Ukraine, we have been proud to stand in solidarity with Ukrainian people. When the Dáil last discussed this motion to extend the scheme in …

There is an unbelievable lack of legislation from the Government, which is a huge problem. Will the Taoiseach state when we will see the occupied territories Bill and the timeline to enact it? Is it the Government's intention to have it enacted before the summer recess?

On the same issue, we believe a cross-party motion from the Government and the Opposition in this area would be most suitable. The schedules as presented in the last couple of weeks have been modest on the Government side. We think it would be a good offer if this came through the Government's time.

The Green Party is only out of Government a wet week and we are already seeing-----

-----an increase in public transport fares. The new Leap card zonal fare is harshly and dramatically impacting commuters travelling through zones 2, 3 and 4 especially. This impacts the Tánaiste's own constituency. I got a response from the NTA that said it is going to begin a scoping exercise of the impact of the new fare structure. I have schoolchildren in my constituency going from Donabate to Balbriggan who have to pay an extra €25 weekly due to these fares. The scoping exercise should be cancelled, the fares s…

It is a national embarrassment that we are without detection systems in our skies and waters and must rely on the Royal Air Force, RAF. We have outsourced that element of our sovereignty for a long time. The Tánaiste brought a note to Cabinet on a radar detection system that he wants to bring on board. Will he provide to the House more details on the timelines and costs involved?

I thank the Tánaiste. We are so far behind in our capability. Is it envisioned that what is going to be provided and online for the State will be of the highest technical standard compared with other states? Will we be bringing in equipment to a specification that is perhaps ten or 20 years behind other states? We must improve our national security. Only when we are minding our own shop can we promote our positive neutrality. State actors who were previously allies of ours are no longer trusted so we need to invest…

The provision of modern fit-for-purpose capabilities is important. There would be more trust from this side of the House if we were not having the parallel debate on the triple lock and what is coming down the tracks there. There are places we can land on in terms of the extraction of Irish citizens and ensuring that capability can be raised but the multilateral backup of the UN for peacekeeping missions is still vital. I am concerned that debate will impact on issues like this or investing in our cybersecurity. I …

Europe Day celebrates peace and unity in Europe, but as we know and are witnessing there is no peace in Gaza and the occupied territories at this moment. This is a huge responsibility and weakness in the foreign policy of the European Union and how it operates in its neighbourhood. It is now more than 50 days since any food or medicine has been allowed into Gaza. Europe, with a few exceptions - Ireland being one and Spain another - has, by and large, remained silent. If not silent, it has tacitly supported Israel's…

I for one do not doubt the Minister of State's personal bona fides in terms of his approach to this role, the success of which everyone in the Gallery and beyond wants to see. If the Minister of State is successful, it will improve the lives of families and children that need special education. However, one of the first acts that the Minister of State could do today is to encourage the Minister to withdraw this insulting amendment to our motion.