Cian O'Callaghan

Medical experiments were conducted on children in our major paediatric hospital. Corrosive springs were inserted into the bodies of extremely vulnerable children. No ethical approval was sought for the use of the springs and the families did not give informed consent for these procedures. This was not an isolated incident. The litany of failures raises serious questions about whether Children's He…

Government has a role here when report after report shows that recommendations are not being implemented. Government has a role to ensure that those recommendations are implemented. If that had happened in this case, we would not be in this situation. If the Government will not set up a public inquiry into the cases of the families affected, who are calling for that, what is it going to do to sort…

Will the Minister meet them?

I wish Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett the very best in the coming weeks as he undergoes his treatment. He has been a vociferous campaigner both inside and outside this Dáil for many decades. I very much look forward to him resuming that work. Last night, senior UN humanitarian officials released a joint statement pleading with the international community to act on Gaza. For over a month, no commerci…

In just the past week, The Ditch has reported that Lufthansa illegally transported more than a tonne of munitions through Irish airspace to Israel. Facilitating supply of key components to fighter jets that are dropping bombs on Gaza is utterly reprehensible. Have reports that Lufthansa illegally transported munitions through Irish airspace been investigated by the Government? Is the Taoiseach goi…

I welcome the Taoiseach's strong condemnation. I agree that all hostages should be released immediately. I also welcome his condemnation of air strikes. However, I asked the Taoiseach about the issue at hand, which is that parts of fighter jets are being transported illegally through Irish airspace to Israel. These fighter jets are then being used to drop bombs on people in Gaza through the air st…

I agree with those two proposals. The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, said that the pre-election promise of 40,000 homes did not damage trust in the Government. That is an incredible statement to make and a slap in the face to the tens of thousands of people looking for somewhere affordable to live. I propose there should be time this week for the Minister to come into the House to make an apolo…

15. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan asked the Taoiseach for an update in respect of the programme plan for child well-being. [17121/25]

On child homelessness and the 4,653 children growing up out of home, I want to mention one such young person. Arash is just 14 years old and has spent the last three months in emergency accommodation with his parents and baby brothers. He is 21 km away from school, with no direct links to it. Arash told me that he is 14 years old and should not have to fight this hard to get his family a proper ho…

34. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on infrastructure will next meet. [17122/25]

Yes, priority questions cannot be grouped.

2. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan asked the Minister for Finance the mitigation measures his Department will implement given the recent ESRI working paper on the impact of deglobalisation and protectionism; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16440/25]

Given the very serious announcements last night, what mitigation measures are going to be put in place?

I agree that the priority must be to minimise the damage. A major amount of work will have to be done on that. In respect of support measures for impacted workers and sectors, will anything be done domestically? Will anything be done at EU level? I previously suggested that the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund should be repurposed to support specific sectors during this crisis. In the conte…

With regard to the EU response, I agree that it needs to be level-headed, and that negotiation is the way to go. I also accept as part of that there is the potential for further actions by the EU. It is not realistic to think that that will not be on the table if negotiations do not work. There is a particular risk for Ireland in terms of the differential trade tariffs between the EU and the UK. W…

60. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan asked the Minister for Finance if he will take steps to ensure that the Central Bank is not facilitating the sale of Israeli war bonds and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16240/25]

The devastation that is happening in Gaza - the attacks on civilians and hospitals we are all appalled by - are being partially funded by the sale of these Israeli bonds. The head of Israel Bonds told investors that purchasing bonds was the best way to help Israel's war campaign. Ireland is a signatory to the Genocide Convention and under that convention, we are obliged to ensure that our State's …

According to the head of Israeli bonds, these bonds are being used to fund their war campaign, which is genocide. That is a fact. The second fact is that Ireland is signed up to the genocide convention and we have obligations under that to ensure that none of our State institutions are operating in a way to facilitate genocide. We have those legal obligations so why will the Minister not act in li…

It makes absolutely no sense at all to accommodate a much-needed special school in Belmayne in prefabs, next door to brand-new classrooms that are not yet in use and that were specifically designed for students with additional needs. Why should children with additional needs be accommodated in prefabs in substandard conditions when a much better option is available? There is a site available in th…

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. He indicated that existing accommodation must be utilised. That is exactly what we proposed – to use the brand-new classrooms. He said that using the existing classrooms designed for students with additional needs would require repurposing and that there are technical issues involved. That would be nothing compared with the work that will have to be don…

The Government has spent years trying to convince religious orders to contribute to redress for the survivors of mother and baby homes. These efforts started in January 2021 when the then Minister, Roderic O'Gorman, first wrote to the orders saying they may wish to consider making a financial contribution to redress costs. His begging letters were ignored. In May 2023, the Government appointed for…

I have not been asking for the Government to wait around in the context of a redress scheme; I am asking what it is going to do when it comes to going after these religious orders. This has been going on for years. We are talking about religious orders with assets worth hundreds of millions of euro, partly financed off the back of incarceration, forced labour, vaccine trials and forced adoptions. …

While inflation on many good services has abated compared to what we experienced from 2021 through 2023, it simply would not be correct to say that Ireland's cost-of-living crisis has gone away, as I am sure we all agree. Lower inflation rates do not mean prices are falling; they just mean prices are not rising quite as fast as they were previously. The period of severe inflation between 2021 and …

Tomorrow, Donald Trump will take a wrecking ball to the world economy. His goal is clear and unambiguous, that being, to cause maximum damage. Yesterday, Trump said his tariffs would make his country go boom, which brought to mind the Hindenburg disaster because, as far as plans go, tariffs are up there with filling an airship with flammable gas. Tariffs are toxic to trade and economic growth and …

The Taoiseach just confirmed that trade with Canada is flourishing without the provisions of the investor court, so we can have strong trade without those provisions. To get back to the key point about supporting workers and sectors impacted by the announcements that will take place tomorrow and thereafter, are there plans at EU level to put in place supports? The European Globalisation Adjustmen…