Is the Government reopening the July provision?

The Taoiseach mumbles. He does not enunciate clearly.

You do not enunciate clearly. You mumbled. I did not hear what you said.

These are important issues and it is important when the Head of Government addresses them that he is audible, clear and I can hear him. It is not a case of whether the Taoiseach agrees with me or not. He seems singularly unable to acknowledge the real experience of disabled people who are telling him, and have told him for quite some time, that they are struggling financially. At times, they have told stories of making choices between heating and eating. Even in scenarios that are not that extreme, they are under h…

She talks about the uncertainty, the exhaustion, the guilt and the anger.

Can the Taoiseach please tell everybody that he is guaranteeing a school place for every child? Is he reopening the July provision?

Will every child have a school place?

It seems that there is no end to RTÉ's sense of entitlement in its attitude to the spending of public money or to the lack of oversight in that regard by the Government. This morning, I read that since 2021, the State broadcaster has splashed out - get this - €230,000 on limousine rides for celebrities, dignitaries and presenters. These are not to be confused with common or garden taxis. It spends hundreds of thousands of additional money on those. What is going on? How is it in any way appropriate for this type of…

-----of taxpayers' money.

Cuirimid fáilte roimh an Teachta Ennis agus an Teachta Kyne sa Teach. The Minister for foreign affairs has brought draft legislation to the Cabinet which will ban trade in goods from the occupied Palestinian territories. On the Taoiseach's way into the Cabinet this morning, he made it clear that services are to be excluded, so the Government has taken a wrecking ball to the original occupied territories Bill. The Taoiseach is aware that 70% of trade between Ireland and the occupied territories is in services and th…

Eventually.

The Irish people have always taken a principled and morally ethical stance on the question of Palestine. Of that there is no doubt. Unfortunately, the Irish Government has not followed suit. The truth and the honest position are that the Government has had to be dragged into taking any kind of positive stance, facing down the impunity of Israel and accepting that until there are consequences for Israel and the Netanyahu regime, they will continue to slaughter Palestinians, they will continue to occupy land and they…

It has.

Yes.

Yes.

What about the Attorney General's advice?

I am struck by the Taoiseach's boastful approach regarding the so-called metrics on housing. Those metrics are record and skyrocketing rents, record evictions and record homelessness. Last year, the State spent almost €500 million on emergency accommodation. Over the past decade, almost €5 billion has been spent on managing homelessness. All the while, homelessness continues to rise. Families are in hotel rooms, single people have nowhere to go, pensioners are facing homelessness, children are growing up without ho…

The Taoiseach is so glib about people who have no homes.

The Taoiseach is so glib.

The latest daft.ie rent report was published this morning. The consequences of the Fine Gael-Fianna Fáil rent hike Bill are now laid bare. Rents have hit their highest level in 25 years and are increasing at the fastest rate since records began and evictions are at their highest level since the Famine. This is devastating for renters. The rent rule changes announced by the Government last summer and introduced on 1 March are a disaster. What these massive rent hikes mean in real terms is that in Dublin, renting a t…