What about all these people now?

I represent the constituency of Dublin North-West. The communities of Finglas and Ballymun have some of the highest deprivation in this country. The Minister has been out to visit us in Ballymun. I was at a community safety meeting in Ballymun just two weeks ago where members of the community outlined how there are primary school children walking to school past drug dealing. There is open drug dealing going on outside a school while children are walking to school. These children are not safe. These communities are …

Tairgim: “Go gceadófar go dtabharfar isteach Bille dá ngairtear Acht chun an Bunreacht a leasú.” I move: “That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to amend the Constitution.” This is my first Bill to be brought forward in Dáil Éireann. The Forty-first Amendment of the Constitution (Right to Housing) Bill 2026 seeks to put a right to housing into Bunreacht na hÉireann. The housing crisis is the most serious issue facing our country. It is an emergency and a social catastrophe. The most shameful thin…

Tairgim: "Go dtógfar an Bille in am Comhaltaí Príobháideacha." I move: "That the Bill be taken in Private Members' time."

The response from the Government to the cost-of-living crisis that has come on top of a cost-of-living crisis is absolutely inadequate. The Government response is miserly in comparison to the scale of suffering in the country. We are seeing rising numbers of people living in poverty under this Government. The Minister claimed that the Government is addressing these issues. The Taoiseach goes on about addressing and caring about child poverty. One in four children in this country is growing up in poverty right now. …

The Government had no problem giving back cuts to investor funds and developer funds in the budget but it will not give them to people who need the money.

That was a substantive point.

I am not shouting. I am making-----

Younger generations, renters and workers are being broken by the Government's housing policy failures. Today, we hear that last year there were 20,000 eviction notices issued to private renters, the highest we have seen since the Famine, and up 41% in the last quarter, made worse by the rent hike Bill. We are seeing evictions increasing on a scale we have not seen in this country. These evictions are causing a trauma to every person who is experiencing them, while house prices are also spiralling out of control. Yo…

I want to raise the issue of children in my constituency who are currently attending the Finglas Parochial National School. These children have additional needs and should be prioritised and yet do not have the classes they were promised and for which the school was sanctioned in 2024. These children are spending two hours a day in a community hall and this is not good enough. These children should be in classrooms receiving the education they have a constitutional right to and which they need. I was at a public me…

I thank the Minister of State. I reiterate that it is absolutely unacceptable that children are left for two hours a day - this is their education – in a community hall. The teachers have to re-set up every time. They do not have the proper toileting or sensory spaces. These are not appropriate school places. It is unfair. As one parent said last night, it is cruel for the Department and NCSE to be sanctioning and allocating school places that then are not actually being delivered. There is a real issue here. It is…

House prices are completely out of control and have been for a long time. They have increased by 68% since 2020 when Fianna Fáil took over the housing Ministry - 68%. In Dublin, the median price of a home is €500,000. That is half a million euro for a home. What is the Minister doing to address the issues that are contributing to inflation in the market, such as dysfunction in our housing market, ghost bids, gazumping and opaque bidding processes? What is he doing to address that?

Does the Minister accept that we have a serious problem in our housing market? We can look at it in terms of the gap between advertised sale prices and actual selling prices. We have a problem with that massive gulf and it is ordinary people - families and individuals - who are being squeezed on house prices, which are absolutely unaffordable. What is happening in the housing market can be seen on the Crazy House Prices Instagram page. People are highlighting it. This is going on right now. There is case after case…

I am very concerned because what we saw from the previous Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael Government was a commitment to address gazumping, ghost bids and the problems in the market. I am deeply concerned because the Minister is again making commitments to review it but I am not sure about the timeline for delivering changes and action on this. You can read article after article about this. We have examples of estate agents using AI photos to show potential properties and the ads regulator not enforcing. There are massive pr…

So are arrears.

That still leaves a gap of 250,000 households.

Yes, it does.

Some 50,000-----

There are 300,000 already in arrears.

The US and Israel are bombing Iran in a clear breach of international law. We have seen this playbook in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is not about regime change for the people of Iran; it is about regime change for US and Israeli interests. You do not bomb a school, killing hundreds of children, while claiming to stand for peace. Israel is bombing Lebanon. It is continuing its genocidal war in Gaza. The Government must call this out for what it is. It is wrong, illegal and it will not bring peace. This is about neocolo…