Ivana Bacik

38. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on EU and international affairs will next meet. [7361/25]

I spoke earlier on the huge risks posed to the international rules-based order by the Trump presidency. It is a very important time for us to stand in solidarity with those campaigning for democracy. I am thinking of those in Ukraine and those of course in the democratic opposition in Belarus and in other countries around the world. Here at home, the Taoiseach said yesterday that Ireland would spe…

Go raibh maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle. This winter has set yet more alarming new records for people on trolleys in our emergency departments. That means more people whose care may be compromised because there is no space for them or no one to admit them. It means more risks for patients’ conditions to worsen in a place where they should expect to improve. I welcome the new efforts the Minister …

I have acknowledged there are issues with discharge rates at weekends. Clearly there are issues with workflow and management practices, but changes in workflow and management practices are no substitute for properly addressing the real issue underlying the crisis in healthcare, which is the issue of staff shortages. We are hearing from hospitals that know they need to recruit more staff, that have…

I will ask the Taoiseach again-----

-----when will the Government carry out the necessary recruitment drive?

When will it end the pause on healthcare recruitment so our communities can get the healthcare we so badly need?

Monday will mark three years since Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine. I wish to express my solidarity, and that of the Labour Party, with the people of Ukraine who have endured such devastation over those three years and have defended their country so courageously against Russia’s imperialist aggression. I condemn last night’s remarks by US President Donald Trump implying that Ukraine had starte…

What about the accommodation recognition payment?

We know that housing is the single most immediate challenge facing this Government - the civil rights issue of this generation. Last week, the Labour Party offered a motion that was the first opportunity for TDs to debate housing in this Dáil term. The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage was a no-show and there was tumbleweed on the Government benches during the debate. No senior M…

Is the Taoiseach saying that is ag insint bréaga?

That is being Jesuitical.

Everyone knew they were not.

The Deputy should sit on the other side of the House.

It seems that the Government and its lackeys on this side of the House-----

-----are simply going to use any opportunity to shout down members of the Opposition who are making serious points about housing. The Taoiseach is letting himself down.

The Taoiseach is letting himself down.

Instead of engaging seriously with the Opposition on our constructive proposals for housing, the Taoiseach simply engages in name calling and suggests we are misrepresenting things. I ask the Taoiseach to listen back to his housing Minister who was on the radio just now. He said that tax breaks were on the table.

That is an absolute statement of fact.

It is beneath the Taoiseach to say "ag insint bréag" about members of the Opposition and to accuse us of misrepresenting. The Taoiseach is in government. It is his job to fix the housing crisis.

We in opposition offered the opportunity for a debate last week but the Taoiseach and housing Minister did not show up. Barely anyone from the Government showed up.

We have another opportunity this week. The Opposition is providing opportunities-----

-----to debate and address the housing crisis but the Government is not engaging seriously.

We in the Labour Party have been showing up for years.

I express my sympathy to the family and friends of Quham Babatunde, the man who was so tragically killed in a knife attack on South Anne Street early on Saturday morning. Indeed, I express my sympathies and thoughts to those victims of violent crime that evening and in a previous incident in Stoneybatter, also in the city centre of Dublin. These shocking crimes illustrate for many a concern about …