When I was told that I had 90 seconds to talk about tourism, my first thought was "Aw fliuch", because tá sé ag cur baistí i gconaí an t-am ar fad, so we have to make use of the fliuch or the wetness in Ireland. One of the ways to do it would be to promote Ireland as a more climate-friendly destination to people from the likes of Spain and the south of France. They could come here, get a little bit of coolness and have a great experience. To tie in with that, i ndáiríre, we also have to make sure that we have prope…

I understand he may not be able to turn up. I will speak as long as I am able. Like everyone here, we are appalled at the Israeli state’s absolute dismantling of the West Bank over the years, whether it is allowing settlers to de facto annex parts of it in their own right or whether it is the state policy of dividing it up so as to make the West Bank no longer viable. This has been going on for decades and it is absolutely abysmal and reprehensible. It is on the same level as they have been treating the people of G…

I am just here in the nick of time. I welcome the opportunity to speak on this legislation. As others have said, it is a mishmash, and probably worse for that fact. I want to focus on the section dealing with access to counselling records in sexual offence trials. Last week, Beyond Surviving conducted a focused consultation with survivors - 52 individuals who engaged between 6 and 9 June. These are people who know the harsh reality of the courtroom and understand the consequences of how legislation is drafted in a …

As I and others have said in this House, the measures were too little and too late. Nevertheless, we are extending them for another period of time. I would have preferred to have seen them extended to September because I cannot see the Strait of Hormuz crisis being sorted out by then, given the incumbent in the White House. The measures are welcome insofar as they are coming forward, but they should have been for a longer duration and for greater amounts, while being cognisant at all times that the bigger picture, …

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach Gníomhach. If Deputy Tóibín comes in, I will cede to him. I support this motion in principle and if gets to a vote, I will vote in favour of it, in some ways, symbolically. The message has to be sent out in any forum that Ireland stands in solidarity with the people of Palestine. We know we will ultimately vote on the Government's amendment, which I will not support. In the context of what people are being asked, and I hope this will be the case after the debate, I agree that…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on preparation for any type of future impact on our State. The one we had recently was obviously the ongoing fuel crisis related to Trump's illogical and downright dumb actions in the Strait of Hormuz and the way the United States and Israel are attacking the Iranian regime. It is an admittedly corrupt and murderous regime but that is not how you topple dictators, and we are suffering the consequences. Five years before that, we had to deal with the Covid pandemic. Ten years befor…

Here we are again with yet another extension. Nobody in this House disputes the value of the legislation but we have been bringing this Covid-era legislation on for five years to allow outdoor dining. At this stage, we have to get to the real legislation. My understanding is it has been tied up at committee with other stuff added on. We should have stand-alone legislation and get it through quickly to give permanent security to the many businesses that are feeling the pressure, especially with fuel price hikes. We …

The run-up to the Residential Tenancies Act 2026 was overshadowed, as we debated, by a massive increase in evictions. We will see if the Act delivers stronger protections going forward. In the meantime, I will highlight again a loophole that becomes more attractive now. It concerns overcrowding and refurbishment. Overcrowding complaints still fall under the Housing Act 1966 and the 2019 housing standard regulations, and not the new legislation. The definition of "unsuitable for habitation" is quite broad. In a tigh…

There is the issue in the legislation itself, there is the bigger picture nationally and then of course there are the more parochial local issues. I am not quite sure, but I know I have been shifted around in the speaking rota so I will deal with the local issues first in case I have to cede the time later on in the discussion and, if not, I will use it to elaborate on the bigger issues. The Government is talking about widening the NTA's remit across the country. I have an issue with the NTA's remit here in Dublin …

People with disabilities face additional rising costs and are struggling in light of reduced supports. The Government provided one-off cost-of-disability supports in the aftermath of Covid-19. In budget 2026, all of those were removed and nothing else was put in place. At least one in four people with disabilities is at risk of poverty. That is a terrible statistic. Previously, I have referenced that the cost of living with a disability might average up to €15,000 per year in the current economic climate. That is w…

I concur with my colleagues about the ongoing Israeli atrocities in Gaza and their mistreatment of 14 Irish citizens. I would like to see the Minister do as much as she can on this. The issue I want to raise is that in Ireland right now, a worker can give 20 or 30 years of service, pay full PRSI, pay the higher rate of tax, contribute to the economy every single day and then the moment they face a serious illness, they are hit hard. After a handful of statutory sick pay days, they are pushed onto a flat-rate paymen…

I am flagging the issue. I am not expecting overnight action but in the context of the budget, it could be a process moving on. I am a firm believer in developing an entrepreneurial and creative society and giving people the opportunity to move forward. However, we have to protect the most vulnerable, as I and others have said all the time. The old Marx quote is probably the only bit of Marxism that is still relevant today: "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs." There are people who h…

On 29 April during the debate on my Private Members' motion, we had a very good debate on the need to reform the in camera rule in the family law system. Equally, the issue of court-appointed experts was also brought up. If someone wants to make a complaint about a social worker, for example, and they are trying to be in line with the in camera rule, they can do that by making a complaint to CORU. I am aware of a situation where people allege that they were gaslit and sometimes lied about during reports as children…

There is a lot of emotive debate over this issue. The Irish people have consistently spoken out in terms of wanting to preserve our neutrality. In terms of Ukraine, for example, we have been keen to emphasise we are militarily neutral. As my Labour Party colleagues mentioned earlier, what we do not have is the military capacity to defend ourselves in any way, shape or form, or to patrol our coastlines. I note the Government is talking about investing in remote control-type of weaponry. We should be paying our Defen…

First, I want to acknowledge, given the headline topic we are discussing, that NAMA played an important stabilising role at a moment of national crisis. I was there at the time and was involved in the Government that made the decisions. I saw the logic and supported its establishment at the time under the circumstances that were forced on people. However, it is also clear that NAMA's record is mixed, due to what were largely Government decisions. I acknowledge that NAMA had an independent mandate but it was given a…

Things have got worse since I spoke about this last year. I had a few more minutes then, so I have to rush. The 2025 Article 17 habitats report has come out since last year’s debate and it shows we are sliding backwards. There have been improvements in a small number of habitats and targeted conservation work by volunteers has helped some species but overall we are neglecting our country and basically spitting in the face of our many volunteers. The report shows 90% of Ireland’s EU protected habitats remain in poor…

As other Deputies have referred, when the RTB published data, it confirmed a huge upsurge in evictions in the first three months of this year alone. A figure of roughly 7,000 was mentioned but in Dublin, which includes my constituency, 2,500 householders were handed notice during this period. During the debates last year and at the very start of this year, the Government's argument was that allowing landlords to reset the vacant properties to the new full market rates was necessary, especially to try and attract in…

This coming Monday, the European Parliament will vote on a framework that will allow gene-edited foods onto Irish supermarket shelves with zero consumer labelling and no safety screening. While we have our own ban on the cultivation of traditional genetically modified organisms, GMOs, we cannot, under this legislation, ban the import and transport of EU-approved genetic material for food and animal feed. There is a real risk that Irish organic farmers, whose livelihoods depend on keeping their crops entirely new ge…

I welcome the chance to speak on this Bill because I can see the logic in the State being prepared for the way industry, technology, national security and environmental concerns are changing. I take on board what the Government said about this Bill giving our enterprise agencies the flexibility to operate in a globalised system that is more competitive, more AI enhanced and more security sensitive than ever before. The Industrial Development Acts of the 1980s and 1990s - when I grew up - were not designed for an er…

We have talked a lot about energy security, which is a very important issue, but I want to raise another issue that affects every household in this country and that is our food security or, more accurately, our lack of it. The Minister for agriculture describes the Government's Food Vision 2030 as strategy for a world-leading sustainable food system, but it is not a food security plan. In fact, the evidence shows that Ireland will not be able to sustain itself indefinitely without major agriculture and dietary chan…