Paul Murphy

Last Tuesday, I introduced a Bill to ban pig mutilation, sow stalls and farrowing crates, which the EU has already committed to phase out and for which the Minister is already giving grants to farmers to move away from. The question is whether he will take a lead on this, as the Government did under pressure from campaigners on fur farming, where it moved ahead of the rest of the European Union to…

What provoked me to introduce this Bill was undercover investigations carried out by the National Animal Rights Association and Animal Rebellion Ireland. There were two separate investigations on six different farms, chosen at random. Video evidence was produced, which I watched. It was horrendous. The Department has been sent the footage but I do not know if the Minister has had a chance to watch…

Pigs are highly intelligent, sociable creatures. The farms were selected at random and all of them demonstrated horrific conditions for pigs. They were in a desperate state. Dead pigs were just lying there, as were pigs that were severely injured and heading towards death. Pigs were trapped in very small spaces. They are in grim indoor spaces and they never go outside in their whole lives. Some 3.…

Yesterday, 94 Palestinians were killed in Gaza. Forty-five of them were killed while waiting for aid from the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Today, so far, 87 people have been killed, and every day has a similar horrific number of casualties. In just one month, 600 Palestinians have been killed and more than 4,200 have been wounded by Israeli fire near aid distribution sites. A new low in…

Every time we raise this issue, we get the same response from the Government, which is, basically, to ask why we are not thanking it for all it is doing and for not being as bad as the western states that arm, fund and enable this genocide? I am sorry. We, and the public, have a higher standard of no complicity in the genocide. That is not only a moral standard; it is a legal standard. Under inter…

Constantly.

As the Minister will know, there is a two-tier system in place in respect of homeless HAP. Those who entered the scheme after July 2022 are able to access a higher rate than those who entered before that time. This has resulted in an unjust situation where people are faced with the prospect of renewed homelessness in order to be able to access the higher rate. I will give an example from my consti…

We in People Before Profit are strongly opposed to the two safe country motions we have before us and that I will focus on in the time available. These are draconian motions that designate countries with appalling human rights records, such as Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia, as safe. The motions allow for people to be deported to so-called safe third countries even when they have no connection to that…

I want to raise the inexplicable decision to cut SNA hours at Firhouse Educate Together National School. The school is already struggling to cope, with only eight SNAs catering for more than 90 children with additional needs. One parent wrote to me to tell me that her son started in the autism unit and with the amazing support of his teachers and SNAs was able to transition to a mainstream class a…

The year 2024 was the hottest on record. Temperatures were 1.6° above the historical average. Europe is now in the grip of another heatwave. In France, 300 people have been hospitalised, and two people have already died from the heat. They will not, unfortunately, be the last to die this summer across Europe. We urgently need to stop pumping more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Fossil fuels …

It is another week of unspeakable horror in Gaza, with scores of people killed every single day, many of them - maybe most of them - while queuing for food. Another week of aid being used as a weapon of war against starving Gazans by the Israeli, US-backed, so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Another week of distraction, reframing and excuses by most of the western establishment who enable, fu…

I support for the call for statements on Pride. I also call for a debate and a motion to be brought forward by the Government, if it wants us to sign up to this European armament programme called SAFE. It is part of ReArm Europe, and entails €150 billion worth of loans, effectively to be paid for by the public into the pockets of the armaments industry in Europe. It was announced on Friday that th…

I thank Deputy Ó Snodaigh and the campaigners on this issue. It is outrageous that there are still people today walking around with historical convictions for the so-called crime of being gay. The Government, of course, will say no one should be criminalised for consensual sexual activity, but a working group was set up to examine disregarding those convictions back in 2021 and still nothing has b…

I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to amend the Animal Health and Welfare Act 2013 to improve the welfare of pigs by prohibiting teeth-clipping, tail-docking and castration, limiting the use of tusk reduction and regulating sow stalls and farrowing crates. I start by thanking the National Animal Rights Association, NARA, especially Laura Broxson and Dr. Alice Broug…

I move: "That the Bill be taken in Private Members' time."

I welcome the long overdue publication of this report. AsIAm has pointed out that it is worrying to see references to amending the Education Act, which could delay the action we need to see. All parents know, and the Government acknowledges in all its statements, how crucial timely intervention is, but for many it is not delivered. I will take the opportunity to raise an important related issue. …

128. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport if he will abolish the TV licence and replace it with a tax on big tech companies to fund public service broadcasting. [35187/25]

The TV licence is a regressive, unjust tax.

The richest household in the country has to pay the same €160 as the poorest eligible household in the country.

Increasing numbers of people are voting with their feet and boycotting the TV licence. Will the Minister read the writing on the wall, scrap this regressive tax and replace it with a levy on big tech corporations?

I thank the Minister. I presume he accepts that the tax is deeply unpopular. Licence sales have plummeted since the Tubridy scandal and everything else that came out in terms of the behaviour of those at the top of RTÉ. In 2022, €950,000 was paid. This dropped to €825,000 in 2023 and €790,000 in 2024. This represents a drop of more than 155,000 households that are refusing to pay, either in protes…

The Minister might tell us if considers all the countries across Europe that have abolished TV licences not to be constitutional democracies. Is the test of being a constitutional democracy having a TV licence? He might clarify that. I presume he is aware that just over one third of funding for RTÉ and public service broadcasting comes from the TV licence. It is not even where a majority of fundin…

It sounds like the Minister is interfering now.

When Russia invaded Ukraine, schools organised shows of solidarity with Ukraine but when it comes to Israel's genocide in Gaza, some teachers are being silenced and their clothing choices are being policed. I contacted the Minister recently about Harcourt Terrace Educate Together National School where members of staff have been told not to wear their Keffiyeh scarves. Keffiyehs are simple pattern…

This Bill is a very serious attack on freedom of speech and the right of people to protest. Mo Chara from Kneecap is being prosecuted in Britain for opposing the genocide and expressing solidarity with Palestine, and now the Government here is trying to pass legislation that would allow him to be prosecuted here too. Section 3 of the Bill expands the legal definition of provocation of terrorist a…