Should the councillors not get to vote on it?

Council management is on it contrary to the vote of the councillors.

But the Taoiseach agrees that the councillors should get to vote and it should be suspended until there is a vote of the council.

We want to give power to councillors, not council management.

The councillors.

I raise the matter of a group of children who are being left behind by this Government. Those are children with mild or moderate learning disabilities and complex needs. Mothers of children with Down's syndrome have written to me to express how abandoned they feel. They say that the Government is intentionally misleading people by talking about special classes when 89% of those classes are designed for children with autism. It is welcome that we are getting autism classes but the Government should be honest about t…

I had a look at petrol and diesel prices before I came into the Chamber. The Circle K on Belgard Road in Tallaght is charging €1.85 per litre for diesel and €1.84 per litre for petrol, even after the two rounds of VAT and excise cuts. A year ago, the average price for diesel was €1.76 and for petrol, it was €1.68. There is, therefore, still a big additional cost for ordinary people. In my constituency, many people are basically forced to drive because public transport is so bad and inadequate. It depends on where t…

The Government response to public opinion, to the stop the game campaign and to the massive pressure it is now under is a continuation to its basic approach to the issue of Palestine. It is to have words. It is to hide. It is to engage in cowardice. In this case, it is to hide behind the FAI. The Minister for sport says he will personally not go to the game but then hides behind the FAI and refuses to take a clear position. What is needed from the Government is absolutely clear and it is what is being called for. T…

The Minister wants to scrap the triple lock. She wants to be able to send Irish troops abroad on international missions outside of the framework of international law. She wants to be able to send Irish troops on NATO-led or US-led missions. That is her political position. I believe that equates to getting rid of neutrality but that is a question for the Minister. My question is whether she will allow the people to decide. Opinion poll after opinion poll has shown public support for neutrality and the triple lock. W…

It is not continuing under UN law. That is the whole point.

It is not continuing under UN or international law. It is outside the framework of international law.

Most of the members states were involved in the invasion of Iraq.

I do not think so.

The idea that there has been any real public consultation here is a joke. Micheál Martin said we were going to have a citizens' assembly on neutrality. That was scrapped and replaced with a consultative forum packed with warmongers, NATO heads and academics with links to the military industrial complex. That was the Government's public consultation. What a joke. Allow the people to decide. Give the people a referendum. If the Government is so confident in its arguments, let us have it out and allow the people to de…

I mentioned Russia.

The Minister of State claims he has a mandate. What does the Fianna Fáil manifesto say? It says it will continue to protect and promote Ireland's military neutrality, including sensible reform of the triple lock legislation. That is not what it is doing, is it? The triple lock is gone entirely. We look at the heads of Bill, which make it clear. The heads of Bill state that the Bill will provide for the removal of the triple lock. It is gone. Fianna Fáil does not have a mandate for this. We look at the presidential …

That is your mandate.

It is called international law.

This goes back again to the triple lock, this time on the international implications. I ask the Minister whether the new Bill would have allowed Ireland to participate in Trump's illegal war on Iran. We heard from a top civil servant, despite seeming objections from the Minister and her junior Minister at the committee, that if the triple lock was not there, Ireland could have participated in the invasion of Iraq. If the triple lock is gone, and if the Minister gets through with her Bill, will there be anything sto…

Waging a war?