I urge that the framework specifically rules out these drones operating in residential areas. They cause considerable physical and mental health damage to residents who are suffering under them. The Minister of State said in his reply that the drone companies must comply. They are "subject to national laws, including environmental, planning and data protection laws". How come Manna Air Delivery was not so subject for two years? How come it was operating in bases that had no planning permission? Its representatives …

I have huge sympathy for the people affected by this in Donegal, Mayo, Clare, Limerick and other areas because I live in an area where we had the blight of pyrite. So many housing estates in our area were affected because the quarry was situated there. It did not regulate itself and there was a lack of Government regulation. Thousands of people were impacted by this and I campaigned on it and held public meetings on it over the years. This is slightly different but the principle is the same, namely, developers have…

The Taoiseach talked about Keir Starmer being decent and resetting relationships. If ever there was a Prime Minister who did moral bankruptcy, it is Keir Starmer. Here is somebody who got in with a huge Labour majority and proceeded to lean in to racism, anti-migrant sentiment, transphobia and every single thing you can think of. He inflicted austerity on pensioners and the disabled. Let us talk about Palestine. Deputies here are meant to be supporting Palestine and yet they are congratulating Starmer and wishing h…

These annual statements are important. It had to be called out when they were not tabled in June last year. However, they also have to be real. We saw remarkable progress in 2015 with the same-sex marriage referendum passing after a grassroots movement. This was followed by repeal, the Gender Recognition Act and huge social progress. However, this is a completely different decade. Hostility, transphobia, homophobia, misogyny and racism are being unleashed. Within Ireland, while the Government is not doing that or a…

If there is anything we do not need during a climate emergency when we are literally having a heatwave right now - we had one two weeks ago and we will probably have many more over the rest of the summer - and when the world is literally burning, it is the Minister is coming in today to lift the passenger cap on flights at Dublin Airport. People are saying that we need this for growth. We need to do something about the climate emergency and we should actually be reducing flights rather than aiming to increase them …

There are issues for residents. An earlier speaker said that everyone living in a house near the airport knew this would happen. In fact, people did not know. There are lots of much older communities in the area that predate the airport. People certainly did not know there would be relentless growth of the airport. The impact of airport noise on people's sleep is being studied worldwide, including by Dr. John Garvey, director of the sleep laboratory at St. Vincent's hospital. His evidence shows that airport noise l…

Consistently, socialists who have been elected here have come in and expressed our opposition to these powers being extended. We are in agreement with the ICCL, the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, the UN human rights committee, Amnesty International, and a myriad of legal experts and civil liberties campaigners. The Irish Government likes to portray our country as a liberal democracy, yet it has this parallel legal system where there are no juries. The ICCL highlighted six defects in its submission on t…

In 2024, parties were falling over themselves, as we know, including the Minister’s, promising parents €200 a month childcare. The latest Fianna Fáil meeting was talking about €786 per month, possibly, later on this year, so it will be like €200 a week will be nearer the mark. However, the real problem we have is childcare provision. The private childcare model is simply not working for parents. With so many more providers falling out of the sector, we need a public model.

The problem is that the private childcare model is being heavily subsidised by the State, but even with these subsidies it is simply not working. Discovery Montessori in Castleknock has written to TDs, for example, in my area. It is the latest childcare provider saying that the core funding model cannot work for it. The fee freezes mean that it would not be able to meet its costs in wages, utilities, insurance, etc. I do not have a way of checking out all of those claims, but what I will say is that there is no way…

I do get that it is the first step but it is a very slow process. It needs to be a lot more ambitious and radical. It took long enough for a realisation that the State needed to lead on childcare in Ireland. In other countries, it is par for the course. Things like training schools have to be set up where people would be guaranteed decent pay and conditions. It is appalling what many childcare workers are paid. It would be good if the State was able to underwrite it in the same way it does for education, by keeping…

The FAI released a statement on 12 June justifying playing Israel behind closed doors and outside Ireland. It spoke of consultation with stakeholders, in particular the Palestinian Football Association which the statement strongly implied backed the FAI's position. Today, the Palestinian Football Association has had to release a statement saying it did not endorse or support the decision to proceed with the games: "[O]ur position regarding Israeli football remains unchanged and unequivocal." It stated that: "[T]he …

Today's statement was contradicting the way the FAI used that.

I recall in the Dáil about a decade ago when Leo Varadkar was the Minister for Health. He said that he would almost become a socialist when it comes to the issue of the drug companies and the health industry. It did not quite work, obviously. Here we are again asking why it is taking so long for drugs to be approved in this country. These are drugs that we know are having life-saving impacts. We are a small country so, in some ways, a rare disease in a small country is even more difficult. Cystic fibrosis is very c…

If ever there was a Government policy that was just so reckless and servile, it is this policy of welcoming and allowing data centres at the cost of our environment but also now at the cost of the pockets of ordinary working-class people. For the second month in a row, Ireland has the highest electricity prices in Europe. They are 52% higher than the European average. The average household in the country is paying around €400 a year more for its electricity compared with the EU average and, incredibly, it pays twic…

The world has its first trillionaire, thanks largely to the policies of the likes of the EU and the G7. Should billionaires exist? Should a trillionaire exist? Elon Musk is now richer than 46% of the world's population, 3.8 billion people. He makes $1 million a minute. It has been estimated that $1 million could feed 5,500 for a year. It is wealth you cannot even spend. It is wealth that is not in any way used to further humanity. As we see, he is able to persuade kids in Belfast to throw rocks-----

-----and people to hate trans people. Should such a person exist?

It is very clear what it means.

We have billionaires as well. It is not just an American thing.

We have billionaires. I asked whether billionaires should exist.

The Taoiseach is picking out one example.