-----that has pulled the plug on regeneration. The Government cannot wash its hands of it and just say it is the council.

You will not catch me saying racist things, even if you record me secretly.

I was never on a council.

It takes a lot of courage to increase rents on council tenants.

The Currency reported today that, at the height of the genocide in 2024, the Department of trade authorised the export of €20 million euro worth of military-capable so-called dual-use goods, not just to Israel, but specifically to the Israel Defense Forces, IDF, or Israel's Ministry of Defense. What on earth was the Department doing sanctioning the sale of these goods, potentially for military use, to those organisations involved at the time of the mass slaughter of Palestinians? Did the Minister know anything abou…

These are modest amendments reinstituting some form of democratic oversight. I presume the Government is going to oppose them, because the whole purpose of the Bill from the Government's perspective is to gut democratic oversight and democratic input into the planning system. The public should know where this is coming from. The Collison brothers, two filthy-rich Irish billionaires, have developed seriously undue influence over the Irish Government via the neolibertarian think-tank, Progress Ireland. First, it was …

I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to amend the National Minimum Wage Act 2000 to provide for apprentices and young workers to be paid at least the National Minimum Wage. I will share time with Deputy Boyd Barrett. I am glad to be introducing this Bill. It is a Bill to end the super-exploitation of young workers and apprentices. We introduced a similar Bill in the last Dáil to abolish sub-minimum wage rates for workers aged under 20. At the time, the Government claimed to be looking i…

I move: "That the Bill be taken in Private Members' time."

We need retrofitting as quickly and as much as possible. It is part of the answer to the cost-of-living crisis and the climate crisis. The problem is that the way the Government has gone about it with its privatised model is now beginning to result in significant problems. I will give a few examples from my constituency. Philomena Doran, a 92-year-old widow in Oldbawn, got a 100% grant to get wraparound external wall insulation, but the external wall insulation was put on during Storm Chandra, when the building adv…

Another woman, Clare Hayes, got in touch, where the provider did not provide the necessary declaration for her to get the grant.

She did not get anywhere with the SEAI. Where are people meant to go?

That was one of them.

The work was during the storm and they-----

The Taoiseach rightly says that Israel has committed genocide in Palestine. I do not know whether he accepts that Israel is still committing genocide in Palestine but surely that has to mean something in terms of what he does. Surely it is a contradiction for him to say that Israel is committing genocide and then spend his time trying to ensure we do nothing to punish, impact or prevent the continuation of that genocide. Does the convention on genocide mean anything to the Taoiseach? If it does, he will vote to sup…

If it is symbolic, why would it damage Ireland?

I have participated in a lot of Europe Day debates. In fact, the first time I ever spoke in the Dáil was before I was a TD when as an MEP I was invited to address the House on Europe Day. Of all the set piece annual debates we have, this is the most sickening. Every time we get the same platitudes trotted out about Europe being a peace project and the European Union being a defender of democracy and being founded on the basis of fundamental rights. This bears no resemblance to the actually existing European Union. …

I have had the pleasure over the last number of months of visiting a lot of flats in the north inner city. This is in the context of both the by-election and the campaign against the rent increases, which is a Dublin-wide campaign even though we are at different phases. It is interesting to hear the TDs from the constituency talk because what strikes you is the very deep sense of community due to people living so close together. It is a very strong sense of community and solidarity. These are really great people. T…

The mistake can be righted at the next budget. There is a big campaign to ask people to reverse it. Ultimately, the vote was lost by one vote. There was an amendment to say we should not be increasing people's rents and should instead be hitting the big companies by introducing what is effectively a differential rates scheme. It can be reversed for next year. We need commitments from Labour and the Greens to do that, as opposed to charging people more. I wish to speak for a moment about South Dublin County Council.…

I ask the Minister about the long delays in invalidity pension appeals. I am aware of one such case but I wonder whether there are others. In this particular case, the original appeal happened in January 2025. It is now five months since there was an appeal to the chief appeals officer but there has been nothing back. This woman clearly cannot work. She has extreme migraines that mean she often cannot get out of bed. She can barely take care of herself.

In this case, the woman is often in so much pain that she cannot leave the house. Sometimes, she might be well and can function as others can, but on other days she cannot even open her eyes. She is obviously not in a position to find work. There is a question as to whether this case is illustrative of a wider approach of delaying appeals. The woman has made the point that she has the capacity to fight, contact a Deputy, write letters and do those things. However, she acknowledges that plenty of people cannot neces…