Paul Murphy

I do not think the Government gets it. If it got it, we would not have seen the scenes we saw over the past ten days. That is a result of the Government not listening and not acting. One in five people is at risk of poverty. Two in five parents have skipped meals or cut back on what they are eating in order that their kids can have enough to eat. Hundreds of thousands of people are in arrears in o…

I want to remind the Government that the group which led the way on the cost-of-living struggle until the past week or so was disabled people. Outside the Dáil they again led the Affordable Ireland campaign protest a few weeks ago. Why were they to the fore? It was because they were the ones who were hit hardest in the budget with €1,400 worth of cruel and targeted cuts. For months, despite all of…

2. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Taoiseach to report on his recent visit to China. [1552/26]

The backdrop to the wars, the genocides and the interventions we have seen over the past number of years is the rivalry between the declining power of the US and the emerging power of China. That is the context in which the Government has tried very vigorously to draw Ireland more and more openly into the US-led NATO camp. We can see now in terms of the war crimes being committed in Iran what that…

Just home, is it?

Sure they are using Shannon Airport for a war right now.

We are involved right now.

Of course we are. They are using our airport and our airspace.

How do you know that?

21. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on justice, migration and social affairs will next meet. [18703/26]

I thank the Ceann Comhairle. I have raised with the Taoiseach before the Northside Home Care Services workers who have been taking industrial action since January. Some of them are in the Gallery. He knows what the issue is here; it is about pay equality. Some of these workers have worked for 25 years and are getting just over €15 an hour. Others are on minimum wage and getting 30% less than other…

It looks like this Government will hang on to power for now with the votes of the Lowry lackey Independents. There is an important lesson for everyone in that. Do not trust these fake Independents. They are sheep in wolves' clothing. They are people who pretend to stand for the ordinary person, but in reality just seek to get into bed and into government with Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael. That is why …

-----and it is a lesson for those in government. The people on the streets are more powerful than the people who are supposedly in power. We have seen the power of ordinary people in the past week, and this must now be the start of a new phase of militant, effective protest involving trade unions and communities-----

-----mobilising for action on behalf of everyone in the context of the cost-of-living crisis.

The Minister of State, Deputy Dooley, was on the radio this morning and he was explaining why the Government has introduced this new package. He claimed, of course, that it has nothing to do with the protests or blockades; nobody believes that. Instead, he said it is because the measures that we introduced a number of weeks ago were wiped out by the international price of oil going up. How could h…

Deputy Quaide sends apologies. He was able to make it on Tuesday but not when it was rescheduled. He has been raising this issue consistently so I thank him. We all clapped in this Chamber, or perhaps it was in the convention centre, for our healthcare workers. I recall going outside my house, like people all across the country, to clap for our healthcare workers and thank them for standing on th…

The Minister responded by saying that this does not mean the Government will not support workers. He said that staff may receive full pay for three months, which is correct but we are coming to the end of that, followed by half pay for a further three months. People have their childcare bills, their mortgages and the costs of just existing in this cost-of-living crisis. They have a lifestyle based…

This is a mean Government. We knew it was a mean Government already because we saw the last budget, which was a giveaway budget for the developers, a giveaway budget for Google and a giveaway budget for the fast food giants but it took money out of the pockets of ordinary people and targeted disabled people, in particular, with swingeing, mean cuts of over €1,400 per person per year. We therefore …

These are not landlords.

A total of 91% per cent of them are not landlords.

Fine Gael's manifesto for the last election states: Fine Gael will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes. We will unequivocally support Ukraine. I presume Fianna Fáil's manifesto said something similar. The Government supports them as long as it can use them to drive an agenda of militarisation and undermining of neutrality. However, when it comes to Ukrainian people who have fled Putin's i…

The Deputy can look at the figures. It does not make any sense for landlords to use this scheme. I am not saying we will not find the odd case here or there. It does not make any sense because people can make more money in other ways. They can make up to €1,166 a month tax-free from the rent-a-room scheme. They can get €600 from this, and they are going to be able to get €400 in the future. The va…

7. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his attendance at the most recent meeting of the coalition of the willing in suport of Ukraine. [18701/26]

On 5 March, the Fianna Fáil Minister of State, Deputy Robert Troy, told the Dáil that: Ireland's position on the use of force where there is no UN mandate or authorisation is well established and known. For fear that anyone is in any doubt, let me be clear: it is wrong and it is illegal. He said that the use of force without UN mandate or authorisation is wrong and illegal, which is absolutely c…

19. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his Department's statement of strategy for 2025 to 2028. [18702/26]