Paul Murphy

At the same time as he pretends to be standing up for the rights of backbenchers, the Taoiseach is halving the opportunities that exist for backbenchers and others. Why is he doing that? It is because he wants to play this game of allowing people to pretend they are in the Opposition when they are in the Government. It will be resisted.

Have you read the UN charter?

3. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Taoiseach to report on the implementation of the well-being framework launched by his Department. [6432/25]

It is hard to imagine a more impactful measure on the wellness of both people and the planet than insulating people's homes. I want to raise an incredible case in my constituency where a family is being threatened with prison for retrofitting and insulating their home. In 2018, Clive Ryan from Kilnamanagh received a Government grant from the SEAI to retrofit his home with external wall insulation.…

It was just regular. Then they said that he needed planning permission but he does not have it, and he must pay a fine or take it off.

Yes, but so far it has been denied. It has not been accepted.

11. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet Committee on Disability will meet [6433/25]

On Friday parents of children with additional needs were forced to sleep outside the Department of Education to try to fight for appropriate school places for their children. Earlier that day, the Government announced 254 new special classes in schools. That is much less than the 400 that had been promised. However, when you delve into the detail there are not even 254. I have correspondence with …

9. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence if he will provide details of the proposed changes to the triple lock; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6071/25]

8. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Taoiseach for an update on the establishment of a Cabinet committee on water quality. [6090/25]

33. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on EU and international affairs will next meet. [6431/25]

11. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will abolish subminimum wages for young workers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6496/25]

Will the Minister finally abolish the legalised discrimination and super-exploitation of young people in this country who are currently legally paid as little as €9.50 an hour, purely on the basis of their age? Will he abolish these subminimum wage rates whereby those under 18 can legally be paid less than the minimum wage? The can has been kicked down the road for years now. It is time to abolish…

The Minister of State says we should not rush into a decision. It is two years since this Dáil passed a Bill that I brought forward to abolish these rates. The Government brought in a timed amendment to delay it for a year so the Low Pay Commission could report. The Low Pay Commission studied it with the ESRI study, as the Minister of State said, and it came out with clear recommendations. The Min…

Where is the nuance? Will the Minister of State tell me why 18-year-olds should be legally paid 80% of the minimum wage? They cannot tell their landlord they will only pay 80% of the rent. They cannot give a supermarket 80% of the cost of their groceries. What is the objective justification for paying a young person less than the minimum wage purely on the basis of his or her age? When is the eco…

76. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if he is aware that the emissions impact of imported liquefied natural gas, LNG, is worse than that of coal; and if he envisages the building of either a State-led or commercial LNG terminal in that context. [7030/25]

Is the Minister aware that the emissions impact of imported LNG is worse than even coal? It is the dirtiest fossil fuel. Despite that, the Taoiseach has said that we will "have to have an LNG facility of some kind." Will the Minister be going along with the Taoiseach? Will that be a so-called State-led project, as the previous Government was in favour of, or a commercial LNG? Can the Minister upda…

I note the Minister simply ignored the actual question. That is obviously a prepared answer; he has a prepared question. I could go again. Is the Minister aware that the emissions impact of imported LNG is worse than that of coal? This is research from last October by an environmental scientist called Robert Howarth. I will give the Minister some of the lowlights. The paper states that "LNG is 33%…

It is not my contention, Minister. I do not claim to be a climate scientist. It is the contention of those who have researched the matter. Perhaps the Minister is going to ignore the science on it. The answer in terms of energy security and resilience is, first, to stop expanding data centres. They are putting our energy usage on an accelerating upward track - they are going to be at 30% by 2030 …

Hospitals, Minister?

I have to say it has been a pretty depressing debate so far, with a few honourable exceptions. Most of the Deputies have swallowed and then regurgitated the spin from big tech. I find it incredible that we had a speech from the new Minister of State with responsibility for AI and its only reference to climate change is about AI being used to help us address sustainability and climate action. There…

We are heading for climate catastrophe. We know that 2024 was the warmest year on record - 1.6 degrees above pre-industrial levels. Already, extreme weather events, hunger and sickness related to climate change are responsible for the loss of 300,000 lives a year. That figure, unfortunately, will only rise. We now have a climate denier in the White House. He says, "drill, baby, drill", but here w…

Will the Taoiseach abandon the plan to import expensive-----

-----and dirty fossil fuels from America and will he reverse the course on data centres?

The signal the Taoiseach is sending is that he does not care about the climate change challenge and about the emissions targets, because we will blow right past them. He does not care. He does not care about the bills that are going up for ordinary people. He does not care about people who are forced to pay carbon taxes when they have no other way to get to work. He does not care about energy res…