Rory Hearne

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…

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…

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. T…

Last Friday, figures showed that we have reached the highest level of homelessness in this State's history. We also have the highest number of evictions in this country since the Famine. There are 2,500 children who have been in emergency accommodation for longer than one year. The Taoiseach knows that has a devastating impact on children. Many are in my constituency, Dublin North-West. One mother…

I cannot believe the Taoiseach is justifying-----

Why punish the-----

So history started on 7 October, yes?

Tá ríméad orm an deis seo a fháil chun labhairt ar Sheachtain na Gaeilge. Nílim líofa ach, cosúil lena lán daoine, táim ag déanamh iarracht mhór chun an Ghaeilge a fhoghlaim arís mar tá Gaeilge i mo chroí. Tá ár dteanga dhúchais ag fás arís. Tá sé istigh i gcroíthe a lán daoine ar fud na tíre. Tá a lán daoine ag déanamh iarracht mhór leis an nGaeilge sa tseachtain seo. Tá sé tábhachtach dom dul la…

Gabhaim buíochas le Sinn Féin as an tairiscint thábhachtach seo a chur chun cinn. Tá géarchéim tithíochta ar fud na tíre. Tá éigeandáil ann. There is a housing crisis all over this country. It is an emergency. Is fadhb ar leith í sa Ghaeltacht. There is a specific crisis that affects the Gaeltacht. That is, of course, because tá todhchaí na nGaeltachtaí i mbaol agus, mar sin, tá todhchaí na Gaeilg…

What about the State investment scheme?

Why is there not more? The Government is bringing in investment funds.

By throwing renters under the bus?

This is about social media, is it?

I am not taking aim at the Minister of State but it is deeply disappointing that the Minister responsible, Deputy James Browne, is not in the Chamber for this. These are the first statements on homelessness under his Ministry. We are told he is at a subcommittee. Surely, that subcommittee could have been rearranged and he could have had the decency to be here. I am not taking it out on the Ministe…

I thank my colleague Deputy Rice for bringing this motion forward. It is a really important motion and is core to the Social Democrats. Why we are here and what we are about is ensuring that people have access to universal public healthcare as a human right and as a public service, regardless of where they are from and regardless of their income, that they have access to that most basic and fundam…

The shambles we have seen over the past few weeks would suggest that either the Government does not adequately understand the crisis it is overseeing or the real meaning of inclusion for our children. The decision to cut the number of SNAs was a decision to cut, regardless of how the Government wants to spin it. It was a reduction and a curtailment of the duties on which an assessment would take p…

It is not working.

There needs to be a massive change in the approach to remote work in legislation to formalise it as a legitimate labour entitlement and a right and to ensure that remote working is harnessed to support people and communities. Ireland needs a national target for remote work. We need to facilitate and support companies to support workers to ensure that the right and access to remote employment is a…

Next month will mark three years since the publication of the Shannon report into sexual abuse of children at St. John Ambulance. Despite the passage of so much time, we are still waiting for recommendations to be implemented. Now there are question marks about the independence of a national safeguarding officer. I am told that survivors have been trying to meet the Minister but they have been ref…

It is very disappointing to again see the Minister's failure to support a measure which could help the housing crisis. I thank Sinn Féin and Deputy Doherty for bringing forward the motion. Unfortunately, it is one of many areas where we are seeing the Government claiming that its policies are being developed to promote affordable housing and to promote delivery of housing but, in fact, they are, w…