Ivana Bacik

This is the reality of life under Russia's grinding war.

What can the Taoiseach's Government do to ensure that Irish-made components do not end up in Russian weapons?

The decision to overturn planning permission for a new critical care wing at the Rotunda Maternity Hospital is deeply disappointing. The staff there provide exceptional care to women and babies. However, the building is failing them. The Rotunda is the busiest maternity hospital in Ireland and one of the busiest in Europe. Yet, vulnerable premature babies are being treated in facilities that are s…

Oh, no.

I listened carefully to the Taoiseach's response and it is more of the same. It is Government as bystander and that is not good enough. It is not good enough for the Taoiseach or for the health Minister to say how disappointed they are with a decision of an entity created by the Government. It is simply not good enough either for the Taoiseach or the health Minister-----

You are critical of planning decisions.

Sorry, I did not interrupt you.

As I have said, and I hope I get more time, it is not good enough for the Taoiseach to govern as a bystander because he is in government and, indeed, he was in the previous Government. The planning process was established by Government. It is now up to the Government to do something about this decision. What I did not hear from the Taoiseach was any clarity about the long-term plans for the Rotund…

It is not a soundbite.

Proposed by the Government.

That is not what we are saying.

Where is the clarity?

Some 60 years on, everyone agrees there must be a resolution to the State’s scandalous handling of thalidomide. What is needed now is a fair and full resolution for the survivors, for their families and for their mothers, many of whom are now in failing health. As the Irish Thalidomide Association has warned, the clock is ticking for this small group of just 40 survivors. They have had too many fa…

And the Taoiseach will be meeting them before the end of February.

As we all know, it has been raining solidly since what feels like forever and communities across the country continue to deal with the fallout of flooding. In that time, my office has also been flooded - with pleas for help from terrified renters who are starting the new year with eviction notices. Things were already bad enough for tenants, but the Government's appalling new rent law has given la…

I think we can agree on one thing. There is a housing emergency.

There is no doubt about that. I have certainly welcomed, as have my Labour colleagues, positive aspects of the legislation. However, the unfortunate truth is that these are undermined by the provisions that enable rent hikes, which incentivise rent hikes and incentivise evictions for the purpose of rent hikes. That is the problem, and it is a problem that renters across the country are experiencin…

Last week, on 5 February, the first annual report of the mother and baby institutions payment scheme was quietly released. It had been completed in June 2025 and relates to the year 2024. It had gathered dust on the desk of the Minister, Deputy Foley, for seven months. I had asked the Minister a number of times in parliamentary questions why the report had been delayed. The special advocate, Patr…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the recently published Kenova report. I pay tribute to Jon Boutcher, Iain Livingstone and the Operation Kenova team. Their work was victim-centred and groundbreaking. They have proven that an ECHR-compliant investigation into a Troubles-related incident is possible, despite decades of denial and obstruction by successive British Governments. I will speak to va…

I raise the case of Seamus Culleton, the Irish citizen and Kilkenny man who has now spent five months imprisoned in an ICE detention camp in Texas. Yesterday, the country was silenced, listening in as Seamus phoned "Liveline" to speak about his ordeal. Last night, I spoke directly to Seamus's sister Caroline and heard more details about the appalling conditions in which he is detained. There are 7…

If I may say, that is a most unsatisfactory response. The Taoiseach has conflated, wrongly in my view, quite a number of issues. Of course countries have migration laws. Of course, the successive Irish Governments have for many years been trying to regularise undocumented Irish citizens in the US. However, we are talking about an Irish citizen who has been detained in inhumane conditions for five…

The objective is to get him out.

Of course.

Just two days from now, 14-year-old Joseph Oyekanmi, his two brothers and his mother face deportation from their Dublin home. There is enormous concern in my constituency and in the area of Sandyford, Dundrum and Kilternan, where they have been living, where they have been integrating with the local community and where there has been a huge groundswell of support. Councillor Lettie McCarthy and I …

Thank you.