Ivana Bacik

The Minister for housing has declared a "war on dereliction"; fighting talk and a striking turn of phrase. This is the Government's tactic. It is to flood the airwaves with repeated announcements, deflect responsibility and spin its failures to save face. This week, the Tánaiste sought to pin responsibility for vacancy and dereliction on councils alone, a convenient distraction from years of Gover…

We all know the arrangement.

I have listened carefully and the Taoiseach's answer is again a textbook response by Government. People like the young mother in my constituency are sick of central government looking to claim ownership for any win but absolutely looking to absolve itself of responsibility for any failure. It is buck-passing to local authorities and it is utterly shameless and meaningless to people who are looking…

Who says?

I want to raise the very serious issue of road safety with the Taoiseach. Ireland is now one of the few European countries where road deaths are increasing despite an official target to halve fatalities by 2030. Behind the figures of fatalities and injuries are lives lost, families devastated and communities traumatised. The Crowe report on roads policing was clear about the need for stronger enfo…

Before I begin, my thoughts are with the man who remains seriously injured in hospital, and with his family, following Monday's brutal knife attack in north Belfast. I also condemn the appalling violence perpetrated against Northern Ireland's migrant communities overnight and commend the work of the emergency services in response. We must all condemn those who seek to exploit any awful incident in…

I thank the Taoiseach for his considered response. Like him, I commend the judge, Michael White, on all his work and for taking on this report and giving us such a comprehensive picture. I agree that we need a debate in this House once we have had time to digest the full findings of the report. Unfortunately, however, there have been so many of these situations where we have seen paedophilia cover…

This is another step in ensuring survivors and victims are supported and protected and the justice system responds.

The cost-of-living perma-crisis is hurting all our communities, worst of all people on low and middle incomes. Spiralling costs in housing, health, energy and groceries are forcing people to spend more and more of their pay on bare necessities. This is causing real suffering. In this context, the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council has again issued warnings about the Government's spending. Five out of e…

It is how it is spent.

We supported them.

After their great win against the Netherlands last week, I begin by wishing the Ireland women's team every success tonight as they play France. Speaking of international sport, I raise the forthcoming Ireland-Israel football match. Football fans and all of us who are horrified by Israel's genocide in Gaza are concerned that this game will go ahead anywhere. We have been hearing from people who ha…

I would appreciate a response on my point on Aughinish Alumina. I acknowledge, as does the Labour Party, the strong steps Ireland has taken at international level in support of the rights of the people of Palestine. I welcome the Taoiseach’s confirmation that he has been engaging with Kaja Kallas on the suspension of the trade agreement. That is welcome but there is more that can be done. I am loo…

It is welcome that the impasse with the Rotunda Hospital has come to an end, and it is important that the principles underlying Sláintecare are upheld. I was concerned, however, by some of the language used by commentators in the debate, with men on social media and in national newspapers using derogatory terms like the "posh push", which is belittling of women and not helpful, especially given th…

Today's Environmental Protection Agency report confirms Ireland is nowhere near on-track to meet our climate targets. In fact, we are projected to achieve barely half of the emissions reductions required by law. In that context, the climate Minister’s interview earlier today with David McCullagh on RTÉ was extraordinary. The Minister urged us to look on the bright side throughout but, however he t…

Upgrades to the grid crawl at a snail’s pace. The Government is missing emissions targets and ripping up climate protections. It is a famine of ambition. Let us take transport. The Taoiseach's rhetoric increasingly tries to manufacture an urban-rural divide on climate and transport. Of course, we know some people will always need cars in both rural and urban areas.

However, children are breathing polluted air, our roads are choked with traffic, we have some of the highest asthma rates in Europe and in a cost of living crisis, households are spending a fortune on fuel and car costs because they have no other choice. There is endless outrage in this House expressed about bike sheds, particularly from the largest Opposition party, but we know a single car parki…

Where is the progress? Why can the Government not take climate seriously?

The Green Party is not in government.

Oh, no.

That is exactly it. We acknowledge where there has been progress but it is the scale of the progress that is the problem. It is the pace of change that is the problem. There is no sense from the Government of the necessary ambition or urgency to take the further measures required to achieve the emissions reductions we have signed up to. The figures speak for themselves. The Taoiseach may seek to s…

I reference the children's hospital because the Taoiseach is saying the environment is being weaponised to delay infrastructure provision but there are plenty of delays in the Government's infrastructure projects which have no basis in climate considerations. The figures in the EPA report speak for themselves. The Taoiseach's climate Minister may spin a good spin and he sought to blag on housing f…

He was doing the same this morning on climate.

The figures speak for themselves.

The Taoiseach cannot get away with this on climate.