Ivana Bacik

2. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet Committee on Justice, Migration and Social Affairs will next meet. [18693/25]

I wish to ask about Government policy on accommodation and international protection. On Friday, we saw the Government confirm it would not proceed with opening an IPAS centre in Coolock on the former Crown Paints site. We are all aware there has been a very violent and nasty campaign against the opening of an IPAS centre there. There were local public representatives who bravely stood in support o…

Yes.

13. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Taoiseach to report on his recent discussions with President Zelenskyy. [16742/25]

I thank the Taoiseach for the briefing. First, I wish to express my own deep solidarity and that of the Labour Party with the people of Ukraine as they face what the Taoiseach has rightly described as an existential threat to their country and, indeed, to European democracy as a result of Russia’s brutal war and bombardment. I want to ask about three specific ways that we can show solidarity in a …

29. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee that deals with rural affairs and community development will meet. [25316/25]

On 4 March, the Taoiseach told me, rather tetchily, "There is no resiling or rowing back from our commitment to addressing the issue of climate change". All I had done that day was to raise concerns that the new Government was not serious about climate action. That view was grounded in my reading of the programme for Government and the Taoiseach's ministerial appointments. He was quick to tell me …

I stand by my remarks. Actions speak louder than words. For all the Taoiseach's protestations, we are not seeing actions from this Government that indicate a seriousness about tackling climate change. This is not just a matter of presentation. The Taoiseach said it is irresponsible to oppose LNG. He again raised the issue of energy security but a commercial LNG plant is not about guaranteeing ener…

I want to raise concerns with the Taoiseach about the Government's so-called free HRT scheme. I pay tribute to Joe Duffy, who has announced his retirement from "Liveline", for shining a light through the programme on the experiences of women in menopause, women dealing with a cancer diagnosis and others whose lives have been made liveable by access to hormone replacement therapy. As we all know, t…

I begin by offering my deepest condolences also to the family of the late Garda Kevin Flatley, his wife, Una, his children, Aoife and Erin, his entire community and his colleagues in An Garda Síochána. On behalf of the Labour Party, I pay tribute to Garda Flatley and the dangerous work he did, and all his colleagues do, in front-line policing. We all owe them an enormous debt for keeping our commu…

Of course, we support any initiatives that will help to tackle the scourge of vacancy and dereliction but it is simply not good enough for the Taoiseach, as leader of the party that has held the housing brief for five years, to pass the buck to local authorities. That is not good enough. He speaks of a "razor-like focus" on tackling vacancy and dereliction. That is exactly what we are not seeing f…

We welcome anything.

Where is the central leadership?

After 20 months of bombing, more than 50,000 people have now been killed in Gaza. A further 117,000 have been injured, thousands of them children. What we are witnessing is a genocide, and we do not use that term lightly. It is in truth a systematic extermination of the Palestinian people through bombardment tactics by Israel and now through starvation tactics as well, as we have seen a denial of…

It has been 71 days.

9. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the National Economic and Social Council, a statutory agency operating under the aegis of his Department. [22231/25]

25. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet Committee on Northern Ireland will next meet. [13746/25]

The so-called housing tsar debacle has left more questions than answers, and not just about salary either. The Minister for housing has been very quiet in responding to these questions. We need to hear from him in the Dáil. He must come to us to explain how he proposes his new housing activation office will work. He cannot leave explanations to the Minister of State with responsibility for nature …

It is very difficult to take seriously the Government's commitments on infrastructure or on housing delivery. On infrastructure, what is clear from the correspondence and the revelations about Uisce Éireann is that it simply has not been provided with the necessary additional resourcing to enable it to step up to provide the vital connections that are necessary to ensure building at scale. On the …

When?

Israel must be made accountable for the genocide it is perpetrating upon the Palestinian people. We are seeing the appalling escalation of the ongoing brutal bombardment and now starvation tactics that are being used upon a civilian population in Gaza. We are hearing desperate appeals for help from aid agencies and the UN, and we are seeing so many horrific deaths, including of children and civili…

I wish everyone today a happy May Day. Many workers across the State are looking forward to a day off on Monday; a public holiday introduced by the Labour Party to mark International Workers' Day. It is important we mark this day. Its purpose is more than just celebrating the progress made on workers' rights in the past 100 years because May Day is also when we shine a light on the continued explo…

-----and stick with that 2026 deadline? Can he give workers a hope on May Day, a hope for the future, to move them out of the poverty trap?

I have certainly acknowledged positive advances made for workers' rights, fought for and campaigned for by trade unions and the trade union movement. At a time when we are seeing significant divisions emerging between the Tánaiste and his senior coalition partner in Fianna Fáil, perhaps this is the time for him to carve out a space on workers' rights that emphasises the difference between Fine Gae…

I second the motion and commend my Labour colleague, Deputy Eoghan Kenny, who has devised this motion and tabled it with such passion and strong advocacy. I welcome those in the Public Gallery who join us for the debate. We have quite a number of parents and groups campaigning on behalf of children who have been deprived of their right to an education by the State. I will single out from my own co…