I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." The choice we have in this debate and in the vote tonight is whether the profits of social media companies or the health and safety of children are going to come first. That is the choice. The Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, himself said that the damage caused to young people by social media is the public health challenge of our time. The Minister, Deputy McEntee, when asked if we should turn off the algorithms, said we should. Simon Harris, the Tánaiste, said that some…

There is a gulf between words and actions here. The Minister of State said, and I would welcome it if it was true, that the Government is relentlessly committed to online safety, but that was part of a speech that was justifying why the Government is going to vote down this Bill. I repeat that the Bill is very simple and clear. It is an answer to the torrent of toxic material that is being fed to young people in particular. It is the answer that is being called for by a wide range of organisations and experts who h…

I mostly want to focus on some specifics and some particular questions. I will start with some general points that shape the particulars. The most obvious general point made by many is that this is a heartbreaking scandal. It is awful that so many children have been failed in this way, Harvey, along with his family, among them. It is a horrendous failure by the State. Now we have a process of various reviews, reports and lookbacks into the various medical failures at CHI. What should shape those reviews? What will …

Will it include general practice? Will it include the method for this? Will it include the waiting lists, which then were used to pressurise, or were part of the pressure on surgeons to do operations, and so on?

Will it also consider the points made by Deputy Coppinger about all of the information being made available to the families? Otherwise it is a very unfair playing field.

It was quite incredible to hear the Taoiseach at Leaders' Questions again and again refuse to condemn the criminal US and Israeli bombing of Iran. His refusal to tell the very simple truth that this attack is in violation of international law is a shocking illustration of his Government's subordinate position to US imperialism and his moral cowardice in seeking not to irritate Donald Trump in advance of meeting with him. Over 700 people have been killed so far. Israel has commenced a land invasion into Lebanon forc…

That is a lie. Check the record. You are lying, Taoiseach.

I have not been silent.

I did not lie about you.

I had an AV room briefing-----

Condemn the murder of children, Taoiseach. Why can you not condemn the murder of children?

On Saturday, I attended a powerful protest organised by the Affordable Ireland campaign. It was led by disabled people and disabled people's organisations. The focus of the protest was the cost-of-living crisis in general but in particular a demand for an emergency payment for those who have seen €1,400 in cuts savagely implemented in the past budget. A striking feature of the speeches was people responding to the ridiculing that happened in here about the notion that people are making real choices to heat or to ea…

War is a racket. It is an opportunity for many profiteering companies and individuals to try to rip people off. With Trump's new reckless, illegal, criminal, imperialist war in the Middle East, energy prices are going to rise even higher. In some cases, they already have, so the cost of home heating oil has gone up €80 since last Friday, for which there is no justification. That oil would already have been bought before the bombing started. The Taoiseach said earlier that he was going to raise this price gouging wi…

This Saturday, disabled people and the Affordable Ireland campaign will be on the streets demanding an emergency payment after the Government took over €1,400 from them in the last budget. So far, the Government has refused to concede. There is no money for disabled people. There was no money for SNAs until people power forced the Government back. There is no money for electricity credits. What is there money for? There is money to develop an Irish arms industry and to give to the French arms industry. The French m…

The planet I am on is a planet where the Taoiseach introduced a budget that cut income for disabled people by €1,400. Absolutely shameful. The planet I am on is where he introduced a budget that, according to the Parliamentary Budget Office, significantly increases the rates of child poverty and poverty among older people, and decreases the income of the poorest people in this country by 4.4%. That is the planet I am on. They are all facts from the Parliamentary Budget Office. This is the same planet where the Taoi…

-----neither Brussels nor Beijing but instead, stand up for ordinary people in this country.

It is a battlegroup.

I did not say that.

Is the Taoiseach calling for EU and NATO battlegroups-----

It is in the document. Deal with it.