Paul Murphy

Another year, another cursory debate and then another voting-through of draconian legislation tonight. I will speak against and vote against the legislation but the Government and the vast majority of the Opposition will vote in favour of curtailing basic civil liberties. The Special Criminal Court was established 53 years ago, supposedly on an emergency basis. The original emergency for which it …

Over the weekend, the world’s biggest military power, under Trump, launched an unprovoked and illegal air assault on Iran. The Taoiseach has repeatedly refused to condemn this assault. I invite him again to condemn it now. We need to have a debate in this House on the US assault on Iran, the situation in the Middle East, and the imperative of defending our neutrality and ending the use of Shannon …

Last year, the International Court of Justice held that all states are under an obligation to abstain from entering into economic or trade dealings and to prevent trade or investment relations with the occupied territories. There was no mention of an obligation just relating to goods. Instead, it was all trade and investment relations. The Government has in the past few months discovered some lega…

Will the Government lay the advice before the committee?

The Taoiseach will not condemn the US.

It is happening in our airspace.

3. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the Labour Employer Economic Forum; and when it will next meet. [32309/25]

The number one issue facing many workers is housing, and the Government has repeatedly claimed both that it will deliver new social homes and that the planning system is to blame for the lack of delivery so far. This month, however, funding for the delivery of almost 500 social homes has gone up in smoke. Almost 3,500 planned social homes, many with full planning permission, are in jeopardy now, f…

19. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on health will next meet. [33925/25]

I want to raise the poor state of healthcare for those suffering with allergies in this country. Many parents are forced to spend huge amounts to travel abroad to get their children the treatment they need. I spoke to a woman a few months ago who had to go to America for six weeks. She had to pay €8,000 for treatment. She was also out of work for six weeks and had to pay for accommodation. That is…

I found the “RTÉ Investigates” programme horrifying, obviously, and very difficult to watch. It was clear that the older people were not being treated as human beings, with decency, dignity and respect. Instead, many were being treated simply as a burden – a burden for whom there were not enough gloves or incontinence pads. They were treated like sacks of meat thrown on the chair, as was the case …

I want to thank all the participants in the Global March to Gaza, particularly the Irish ones, for the support we received from ordinary people in this country. I express my wish that everyone currently being detained by the Egyptian authorities is released, able to go home, and to continue to apply pressure to prevent the sort of scenes we saw yesterday where more than 50 people were killed by Is…

It is interesting in debates in the House and on the media how the Government will not own its own proposals. It tells us that what it is doing is going to increase investment in the rental sector and that will ultimately bring rents down. That is the underlying logic of what the Government is doing. However, it refuses to say the bit in the middle in terms of why this is going to increase investm…

2. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Taoiseach when the climate action plan progress reports for the remainder of 2024 will be published. [29328/25]

13. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Taoiseach if he will provide an update on his Department's interdepartmental group report on the Dublin city task force recommendations. [32307/25]

24. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Taoiseach if he will provide an update on the progress of the national security strategy. [32308/25]

51. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence if the general scheme of the defence (amendment) Bill 2025 removes, rather than reforms, the triple lock; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31229/25]

First, I thank the Social Democrats for using its time to allow this joint motion to be debated. There is a lot of obfuscation from the Government and an attempt to mislead people in the countermotion and in the Minister’s speech. It is true that the Central Bank does not sell, endorse or oversee these bonds, but the key point is that it is facilitating the sale of Israeli bonds across the Europe…

You are.

You are.

Well below the market rate.

I asked a question about a Government press release.

Thanks, Ceann Comhairle. This is an incredible, brazen display by the Taoiseach. It really is.

Three times now the Taoiseach has been asked effectively the same question. I am going to ask it again. It is not clear to me if the Taoiseach does not understand his Government's proposal, he is misleading the House about his Government's proposal or the press statement issued by the Minister, Deputy Browne's Department is inaccurate. The Taoiseach needs to clarify for us which it is, because not…

It is what it says in the press statement. It states: "All landlords". What the Government is therefore saying to existing and new tenants - all of them - is they get the limited protection of the 2% or CPI if it is new, for six years. At six years it is a free for all. Landlords get to reset to market rate. There will be six 2% increases and then 40%, 30% or an unimaginable level that is simply n…