Cian O'Callaghan

The cost-of-living crisis is putting huge pressure on households around the country. This Government is showing contempt and disdain for those households by giving the bare minimum of 60 minutes for this proposal to be discussed and scrutinised here. Why is it afraid of proper scrutiny and discussion of the proposal and why is it afraid of people putting forward alternatives?

The Social Democrats are supporting the extension of the excise reduction. With petrol and diesel prices pushing back towards €2 a litre, loading on another hike next week would be too much for people to absorb. People are already put to the pin of their collar. They simply cannot keep up with constant price increases but, make no mistake, this extension is not a plan. What we are seeing is a Gove…

Now we know, the Government's report into Aughinish Alumina will be a classic fudge. On the one hand it will say, it cannot rule out the possibility that Irish alumina is ending up in the Russian military supply chain. On the other hand, it will fall short of making any concrete conclusions. This is despite that exports of alumina to Russia have more than doubled since the war broke out. The Tánai…

The Tánaiste must surely know that these exports are feeding Putin's war machine. Does he not think it is unusual that Ireland is one of the very few European countries where our exports to Russia have increased since Russia invaded Ukraine? That has been driven by the exports of alumina that have more than doubled. Where does the Tánaiste honestly think that alumina is going? It is going into the…

I welcome this important discussion on the topic of Irish unity and its fiscal implications. It deserves analysis and fundamentally respect for the people, who will ultimately decide the future of this island. There are real challenges in any transition to unity but there are also very significant opportunities. The future of this island should not be reduced to a balance sheet. Fiscal implication…

It is customary for a copy of the Minister's speech to be provided during Private Members' business and it is regrettable that was not done on this occasion. It is also regrettable that in a ten-minute speech, it was after eight minutes that the Minister decided to turn to the substance of the motion. Not all of it, but a lot of the contribution did not specifically address the items in the motion…

2. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation if his Department carried out a risk assessment in advance of publishing a tender to establish a new framework agreement for the provision of Microsoft solution renewals and associated services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51706/26]

The Office of Government Procurement's Microsoft licensing framework expires on 13 September 2026. The estimated value range of the proposed new framework is between €750 million and €1 billion according to a reply the Minister gave me. Has his Department carried out a risk assessment in advance of publishing the tender for this new framework? I ask this at a time when other European countries are…

I thank the Minister of State for the answer. Have alternatives to Microsoft actually been looked at as part of the process? That is what I am asking about it. There are a number of alternatives out there that other European countries and states are moving towards. They are doing so for value-for-money reasons and so they are no longer technologically dependent on the US but can rely on European-r…

What I do not understand is why alternatives to Microsoft have not been at least explored as part of this process. The German state of Schleswig-Holstein recently moved 30,000 staff from Microsoft to LibreOffice, Linux, Thunderbird and Open-Xchange. It is saving more than €15 million a year. The senior Minister has just told us we should always be looking for efficiencies and reforms and I agree. …

There are millions here that the Government could save.

I was waiting for both of them to stop. President Zelenskyy's visit to Ireland yesterday was cut short due to another deadly attack on Ukraine. At least 17 people were killed and more than 50 injured overnight after missiles rained down on Kyiv. As we speak, emergency workers are at a collapsed nine-storey apartment searching for survivors in rubble. This is the biggest attack on Kyiv since the w…

Australia acted more than four years ago, as soon as Putin invaded Ukraine, because it did want to have anything to do with the supply of raw material to Putin's war machine. It was abundantly clear to Australia that it needed to act and it did so. More than four years later, the Government has not acted. That is despite the growing evidence staring the Government in the face. Exports of alumina f…

I thank the proposers of this motion for giving us the opportunity to raise important issues around the cost of living. The Social Democrats have said time and again that the Government needs to introduce, as an emergency measure, targeted energy credits. The Government seems to have no interest in doing that. It has no interest in the fact that people on low incomes across the country are struggl…

I move: That Dáil Éireann, pursuant to Standing Order 33, and with effect from 1st July, 2026, approves the Thirteenth Report of the Standing Committee of Selection, copies of which were laid before Dáil Éireann on 26th June, 2026.

2. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance the steps he is taking to ensure that the Central Bank is acting in accordance with international law in relation to its role as the home state for the Israeli bond programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48495/26]

Israel is still issuing war bonds across the EU and using the money to fund the genocide. While the role of approving these bonds has been moved to Luxembourg, Ireland remains the home member state for Israeli bonds. I am asking what steps the Minister is taking to ensure the Central Bank is acting in accordance with international law regarding its role as home member state for the Israeli bonds.

I welcome any engagement the Minister has with the EU Commission on this but there are actions the Irish Government can take. It was very clear when the Central Bank officials were before the Oireachtas finance committee about a year ago that the bank was saying it would comply if there were any domestic law or instruction on this. Indeed, in the Minister's reply he spoke about the Central Bank fo…

I support any engagement the Minister is having with the EU Commission on this. However, we have independent advice from the Office of Parliamentary Legal Advisers that Ireland could indeed take action to restrict Israeli bonds. It concludes that there is a case for unilateral Irish action on this if it is framed on public policy grounds. I have given the Minister the reasons it could be framed on…

The Deputy did not call for a vote on that amendment.

On amendment No. 1, there was not.

7. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance the action he is taking to tackle dark money in the Irish financial system; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48197/26]

There is a significant issue with the amount of criminal money laundering going through Europe. There is €647 billion in crime proceeds washed through Europe every year. We have €5 trillion in domiciled investment funds hosted in Ireland. The Garda has warned of an explosion in the recruitment of money mules. What is the Government doing to address dark money? I am aware of the action plan but the…

As the Tánaiste said, there are 30 actions in the action plan but none of them address the chronic under-resourcing of enforcement. This has been flagged for years and we have a situation where billions and billions are being funnelled through Ireland. The Garda has a backlog of tens of thousands of money laundering cases waiting to be examined. The financial intelligence unit and the Garda Nation…

The other key gap is the national risk assessment identified serious issues and significant risks with regard to crypto assets, yet the action plan only has two measures on such assets and misses a whole range of risks. It misses, for example, any scrutiny of peel chains where criminals break large crypto amounts into small, tiny transfers to hide the trail. It misses any analysis of unhosted cry…