Mary Lou McDonald

Your press release, Taoiseach.

The press release. You are not chairing a committee.

Hear, hear.

Tens of thousands every year. Watch that now. Watch that bubble.

Do you want to keep people in their homes?

What is this? This is extraordinary.

Yes.

More than 100,000 children are now living in consistent poverty. That number has jumped, astonishingly, by more than 45,000 in just 12 months. These were the alarming figures reported by the Children’s Rights Alliance this morning. This is particularly shocking at a time when the economy is performing well and public finances are very, very strong. It comes at a time when the Government refuses to…

For sanctions.

Why is the Central Bank still accommodating warmongering?

That is not true.

Most Irish people do not realise that the Central Bank of Ireland is involved in the sale of Israeli war bonds and will be horrified to learn that the Central Bank provides Israel with the permission or approval it needs to sell these war bonds throughout the European Union. No other European central bank provides this permission. It is given here, in Ireland, on the watch of the Government. Thes…

I am happy to tell the Taoiseach how.

Níl aon freagra agatsa. The Taoiseach is right on one score. I have a very long and established pattern of harassing and haranguing successive Irish taoisigh and Governments for their inaction on Palestine. I will grant the Taoiseach that. By the way, it is a pattern that I intend to pursue for as long as Israel acts with impunity and for as long as there is genocide and an occupation in Palestin…

Yes, that is correct.

Exactly.

You are.

Do something then.

That is no reason for the Taoiseach not to do what he can do now.

That is false.

I am not bullying. I am advancing an argument in the face of a genocide.

There are also rules regarding answers.

What about the war bonds?

Hear, hear.

Yes. It could stop the sale-----