Richard Boyd Barrett

AI potentially threatens to do to hundreds of thousands of workers what is being done to Covalen workers. That is why we have to act now. AI aside, there are mass collective redundancies where companies refuse to talk to trade unions - as is happening in this case - do not consult with workers, dump workers and leave them high and dry, even though they have made big profits. We have seen that befo…

I commend Deputy Charles Ward on his diligent and relentless campaigning on behalf of the tens of thousands of people affected by defective blocks. He is one of those people personally affected, along with tens of thousands of others. I commend all of those who work with him in the 100% Redress party, and all of those who have been affected by this issue, on their campaigning and their refusal to …

8. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on water quality will next meet. [41562/26]

Are there 20 in the room?

Met Éireann is saying that we are facing tropical temperatures tonight. It is absolutely baking out there and people want, and should be able, to swim. However, all across Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown there are warning notices saying people cannot swim. The reason - and I have raised this repeatedly - is because of the failure of Irish Water-Uisce Éireann to rehabilitate the water infrastructure and th…

The Taoiseach cannot go to Dún Laoghaire, I am afraid.

It was within three days.

28. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the recent UK-Ireland summit. [41563/26]

Workers at Haldane Fisher in Newry, one of the biggest construction supply companies in the whole of Ireland, North and South, and in the UK, are on strike because Haldane Fisher, a very profitable company, is offering them pay increases that are significantly below the rate of inflation. The workers reckon that they have actually lost about 3% or 4% in real income terms over recent years. Haldane…

I also ask for statements on the issue of historical abuse in schools. The Taoiseach said he will listen to the women from Cork who suffered the most terrible abuse. I raised the case of a man some time ago in the Chamber. He is in 70s and was abused terribly. His whole life has been impacted as a consequence. Coincidentally, he was in with me yesterday. He asked where the redress scheme is, if he…

13. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Social Protection to outline any additional disability-related supports he is planning to introduce in the upcoming budget to help disabled people with the increasing costs of living; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46362/26]

I commend Deputy Quinlivan and the committee on producing a very good report. I have not read it all yet, but I have read a fair bit of it and it seems like an important piece of work. Well done to them all. I am not a member of the committee but it is an important issue. I have a particular reason I want to raise a specific issue with the Minister of State in relation to people's access to educa…

Excellent. Can we also, then, have psychology departments in post-primary schools? That would be the next thing, something that has happened in many other schools. We know mental health issues are huge in terms of special needs, neurodivergence and so on but also just generally for young people. There should be, as there are in many other countries, psychology departments in every single school. …

It is an absolute scandal that we have tens of thousands of vacant properties in this country while people face homelessness and the effects of the housing crisis. I ask the Taoiseach to look into something I became aware of this week. I have written to Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council about it. I received a tip-off from a very credible source that there are 22 apartments in an apartment comp…

I have repeatedly asked for statements in the House about the use of Shannon Airport by the US military and about the use of our airspace to transport weapons to Israel while it continues to slaughter people in Gaza. Every single day, people are being murdered by the Israelis in Gaza, and we have very likely facilitated some of that either through the US military using our airports-----

-----or our airspace being used to transport weapons to these mass murderers.

4. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his attendance at the recent EU Council meeting. [22415/26]

6. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his attendance at the informal meeting of EU member state leaders in Cyprus on 23 April 2026. [31137/26]

I am involved with a coalition of Palestine advocacy groups, anti-war groups and others who are planning protests around the forthcoming EU Presidency, particularly around the shameful, inexcusable complicity of the European Union as an institution and as individual states with Israel's ongoing genocidal crimes against the Palestinian people. Would people not be right to protest? Can the Taoiseach…

How can it be acceptable when this regime is in the dock for genocide and commits crimes on a daily basis against Palestinians?

We are.

We tried.

There is no pressure on them.

29. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the revised national digital and AI strategy. [41561/26]

The Government narrative on this Bill is that it is largely a technical Bill that is going to put on a statutory footing what is already the practice in terms of eligibility criteria on residency and habitual residency for social housing. It is just technical and it is a tidying-up exercise, providing a little bit more efficiency for decisions of the RTB in the second instance. There is nothing to…