Peadar Tóibín

Cuirim fáilte roimh an mBille seo. Self determination is the most important political and democratic right. We in Ireland have learned that lesson hard. London rule has cost this country dearly. Millions of Irish lives have been lost through famines and wars and millions of people have been forced to emigrate as a result of that right. In case anybody has forgotten, Brexit has reminded us again. I…

I move: That Dáil Eireann: notes that: — Ireland is an outlier regarding the spiralling cost of living, and a Eurostat report this week showed we are the most expensive country for housing, health, energy and alcohol, overall prices are 36 per cent above the European Union average, with health costs in Ireland being 85 per cent higher than the European average; — a study by Barnardos found tha…

The data centres are doing that.

The Aontú Private Members' motion is designed to reduce the cost of living for families. It is designed to reduce the pressure on families across the country. The Minister of State is right to some extent. There is no doubt that the wars in Ukraine and in Iran, for example, have increased the cost of living for families. However, this Government is the main architect of the rip-off Ireland that is…

15. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on health will next meet. [49215/26]

In the past there was a system of phased dispensing that was paid for by the State. It evolved into patients getting blister packs. In disadvantaged areas and areas of low income many people who had blister packs had the cost covered by the Government. The Government recently brought in changes to the way this is to be paid for. It did this without discussing it with pharmacists on the ground and …

29. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his recent meeting with US President Donald Trump; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49216/26]

The vast majority of data centres in Ireland are owned by American technology multinationals. As the Taoiseach knows, data centres are swallowing up increasing amounts of our electricity. They are putting the grid under enormous pressure. The costs in relation to constraints and bottlenecks are so high now that energy companies have to switch off their turbines and energy users have to pay those e…

Ireland's energy system is a mess at the moment. We have the highest domestic electricity prices in the whole European Union. We are enormously exposed to shocks. Our grid is falling apart at the moment. It is not able to handle the electricity that is coming onto the system at all. It has happened as a result, in large part, of an absence of investment since the crash. We have had infrastructure …

Gabhaim míle buíochas leis an Teachta Charles Ward agus leis an bhfeachtas atá ann mar gheall ar defective blocks, agus de bharr an rúin atá os ár gcomhair faoi láthair. Communities have been battling for years in relation to the very basic premise that the house they have paid for should be of a standard that they can live in and that can stand. Communities have been battling for years in defenc…

13. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on water quality will next meet. [46909/26]

One of the most basic responsibilities of a Government is to keep water in the taps and keep the lights on, yet in County Meath our water infrastructure is that of a developing country. County Meath towns are regularly without water and new housing estates are being delayed as a result of the water infrastructure. I know of one housing estate that has to wait more than a year for Uisce Éireann to …

Yes.

Fifty years.

23. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the recent UK-Ireland summit. [46910/26]

Some 85% of asylum seekers who come into this State are coming from Britain through the North of Ireland. It is by far the biggest pathway for the movement of people in relation to the asylum process. We enjoy a common travel area with Britain but there have been significant problems over the past number of years. That is because there are three separate jurisdictions and not a lot of sharing of i…

It is possible to have an Irish sea border and still enjoy the common travel area-----

-----just with the use of passports and driver's licences in relation to British and Irish citizens.

Will the Taoiseach bring this up with the new British Administration, please?

Nobody has the precise figure because of the movement of people.

I am only telling the Taoiseach what the Minister said.

There are serious spatial development problems in this country. The Minister is long enough around these Houses to recognise that, and he should recognise it. A demographic change that has accelerated in recent years has been one of population moving from the west coast to the east coast. Currently, 40% of the population lives in the greater Dublin area. The GAA did a very good report recently on…

We are living in a rip-off Republic at the moment and the Government is the architect of it. Families are being hammered on a daily basis by ever-burgeoning prices on a range of necessities of life. The price of electricity has risen by 57% in just five years. Ireland has the highest household cost of electricity in the whole of the European Union. The ESB, a semi-State operating on the basis of G…

It is the main driver of the increase in the price of diesel. It is a blind tax. It takes no consideration of people's ability to pay. In actual fact, it hurts those on low incomes the most. This is the most detached Government in generations. It simply does not get it. It does not understand what is happening in people's kitchens - the pressures, the stress, the anger. People are a toothache or a…

-----it is the Government's plan to raise petrol by 27 cent per litre and diesel by 32 cent per litre. That is an incredible thing. Is this not the ultimate two fingers to the people of this county who are in trouble in terms of the cost of living? Will the Taoiseach commit today not to increase fuel taxes on 31 July and to give the people of Ireland some respite?