Genuinely.

People with disabilities in this country consistently live in poverty and experience financial struggles much more than the general population, as we have heard in detail from my colleagues this morning. Addressing the cost of disability is not giving something extra for people with disabilities as an act of generosity or pity. It is about creating a more equal Ireland and realising the rights of a group of individuals who face huge barriers to the realisation of those rights. It is about showing people the respect…

You are in government.

Schools.

In his opening comments, the Minister said that the Government fundamentally believes in the right to claim asylum, yet, this legislation brings us in exactly the opposite direction as a State. That has been the case since we have seen this Government take office, where we have simply seen an attack on international protection as a concept, and language and rhetoric that demonises people in their most vulnerable moment, despite our history and our own experience as a people. It is not, therefore, surprising that th…

The Taoiseach said in 2013 that the triple lock is at the heart of Irish neutrality. The Government proceeds to say it supports neutrality while it advances its plans to abandon the triple lock, even though, in poll after poll, the people say they want to protect Irish neutrality. We need a serious discussion about it this week.

First, I would like to move amendment No. 2 to the motion.

Okay. To summarise it briefly, it is a small amendment that simply adds a day-one entitlement to the request for remote working. This is based on the fact that I am currently working on legislation in this area which I will soon be bringing to the floor of the Dáil. I will come back to that at the end of my comments. I thank the Labour Party for bringing this important motion forward. Remote and flexible working is something I am passionate about. As I said, I am currently drafting legislation on it. I appreciate t…

I will spend my time speaking about international law and global order, which has been the focus of some of the Minister's comments. Increasingly the talk we hear from leaders in our Government and from other European leaders is about the global order and the rules-based order. I am so frustrated with people essentially speaking out of both sides of their mouths. We cannot speak about global order without recognising that we are the global order. It does not just sit over there. It is us. We live and breathe it. We…

On behalf of the Social Democrats, I welcome this Bill to finally regulate home care services. The Social Democrats have long advocated for a statutory right to home care and this regulatory framework is an important element of that. As it stands, home care services remain unregulated, despite the vast majority of home care hours being funded by the HSE. While State-provided and State-funded home care is subject to HSE standards and policies, that is no replacement for statutory independent oversight. Unlike the nu…

Compliance with the law is not a gift for X to give to this State but this is the benevolent tone in which it announced this morning that it will indeed comply with law in jurisdictions where that law exists. This belated assurance for geo-blocking, which in itself is hugely problematic because it can be so easily circumnavigated, is too little, too late. It is not surprising that we are hearing this tone from this tech company because kid gloves is the approach that this Government and this State has taken to deal…

But they are not doing-----

It has not got to X yet.

There are regulatory bodies supposed to deal with it.

The UK is threatening to block. The Irish Government could be much stronger.

When I think of AI, I get so excited, because I genuinely see this as an evolution of us as a species from when we first picked up tools to a point in our history where we are about to see those tools take on a life of their own. It is genuinely awe-inspiring to consider the transformation that could bring to us as a globe and what it could do for us as a population, but sadly, the other thing I think of is that we cannot have nice things. Unfortunately, the way AI is being governed and managed is wreaking havoc on…

I start by expressing my solidarity with the protesters in Iran and condemning the brutal repression they are facing. This week has brought into sharp focus how action or inaction at EU level has a real impact on our citizens. Commitment to the European project means being an active and critical participant in it, willing to push back and push hard on trade deals, laws and regulations that impact on all of our lives. Today I will talk about how our active and critical participation as a member state of the EU could…

The CSO's labour force survey before Christmas found that we have significant increases in youth and long-term unemployment. The youth unemployment rate is nearly three times the average unemployment rate and it is clearly becoming much harder for young people to find work. What is the Department doing to address this increasing gap in our labour market?

I find it frustrating that when we highlight issues or concerns about rising youth unemployment and long-term unemployment rates, they seem to be batted away with lines like those that the Taoiseach used earlier and that we are hearing now to the effect that we have got so many people in work, that the rate is record breaking and that this is the most important thing. Essentially, the point made is that we should all be grateful that people have jobs at all. Níl sé seo maith go leor. We have seen a distinct rise in…

I encourage the Minister of State to go beyond the numbers and talk to young people herself. The young people I speak to tell me about the difficulties they have in finding employment. Beyond the statistics that the Minister of State is setting out, we have to simply acknowledge this. As I mentioned, and as we know from history repeating itself, it is a canary in the coal mine. We know it is an indicator of a broader concern across unemployment. We know there has been an erosion in the quality of the work that is o…