Mary Lou McDonald

We would do nothing else if we were to do that. I am concerned that the Taoiseach is not recognising the problem or his part in it. The Taoiseach is not a commentator; he has been in government for a very considerable period.

I said to the Taoiseach that we have 25% less public dentists-----

-----than we had in 2006. Therein lies the root of the problem, and we need to address it.

Cuirim fáilte ó chroí roimh Larysa Gerasko. The ambassador is very welcome. Today, we think first and foremost of the people of Ukraine. Three years ago, Russia launched a brutal criminal invasion of Ukraine. Putin's invasion continues to be an attack on Ukraine's right to self-determination, sovereignty and peace. It is also a violation of international law. We have witnessed the largest land co…

I want to be very clear. Ireland has built a powerful voice for peace and justice in the world. We are seen as an honest, credible actor in international affairs-----

-----because of our status of being military unaligned and our long-standing tradition of neutrality. Ireland's neutrality is our strength. It is now about showing leadership on the world stage, finding solutions, de-escalating crises and contributing to peacekeeping. Ireland's principled refusal to embrace military might as a means of resolving the world's problems is respected. Neutrality is pa…

Le trí bliana anuas tá muintir na hÚcráine tar éis an fód a sheasamh go cróga i gcoinne ionradh brúidiúil na Rúise ar a dtír. Tá gá arís le meas don dlí idirnáisiúnta agus do cheart na hÚcráine flaitheas, féinchinntiúchán agus saoire a bheith aici. Ní féidir ligean don Rúis tairbhe a shaothrú óna ionsaí bagrach míleatach. Caithfidh an tsíocháin a bheith i réim. The people of Ukraine have spent thr…

Another day and another revelation of Government waste of public money. Over the weekend, it emerged that in 2017 the National Gallery of Ireland purchased a scanner at a cost to the taxpayer of nearly €125,000. The scanner has never been used because a suitable room could not be found to accommodate it. This equipment, which cost the people €125,000, has sat idle for eight years. This of course w…

Let us do that then, will we? If the Taoiseach is citing Fitzgibbon Street Garda station as an example of efficiency and delivery, I am afraid he has chosen a bad example. It took years and years to be delivered. I resisted-----

It did. It is in my constituency.

I resisted in my opening remarks citing the children's hospital, but I now feel moved to do so as it is the example of the type of incompetence and waste we have seen writ large. It all has its foundations in a Government culture of utter disregard for public money, which is reflected in the response the Taoiseach gave. He said that all of this is incomprehensible, not acceptable and not good enou…

I asked whether this matter was raised at Cabinet.

I want to know what the Taoiseach and the Government will do-----

-----about this and other instances of waste like this.

Says the man who does not build consistent levels of social housing.

Who is responsible for that?

The ultimate check and balance in the Oireachtas is, of course, that the Opposition holds the Government to account. Central to this are slots for Leaders Questions and Priority Questions that are the Opposition's opportunity to hold the Taoiseach and his Government to account, yet they persist in holding that logic on its head, the most basic premise upon which we carry out our democratic busines…

It is unacceptable. It will not fly. I am on my feet to make that clear to the Taoiseach.

The parents of children with special needs face a constant battle to find school places for their children. The idea that any child is forced into a lottery for the chance of getting a school place is unthinkable, and yet it is happening. The child's future is down to the luck of the draw. The child whose number does not come up is left behind. The mother of Jay Meehan from Waterford is quoted tod…

12. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on health will next meet. [2680/25]

Jesus, Mary and Joseph. I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle. That is a very generous allocation.

Access to general practitioners is under pressure right across the State but particularly in some areas of very grave disadvantage, one of which is Summerhill in Dublin 1. For the past eight years the Summerhill Family Practice operated by the charity GP Care For All, has provided 2,632 people with GP services in the north inner city. That service is under threat because of Revenue rules. This mat…

30. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on EU and international affairs will next meet [2681/25]

I raise with the Taoiseach the remarks made by the US President - or I should say the threat made by the US President - in respect of the Gaza Strip, in which he openly countenanced the mass expulsion of the Palestinian population and the annexation and seizure of those lands and their development, he seemed to suggest, into some form of Riviera. I would like the Taoiseach to agree with me that an…

"Housing delivery is the number one priority for this Government." That is the opening line of the statement issued by the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste following the first meeting of the Cabinet committee on housing. From this meeting, they had promised a slate of new and dynamic ideas, they said, to tackle the housing crisis, but that has not materialised. In fact, they have brought nothing new at …