Richard Boyd Barrett

I apologise that I was not here for the earlier discussions. I was tied up at another meeting. I will follow on from Deputy Coppinger's contribution. I will preface my remarks by noting that there is a pretty awful history in this country of people who did not fit into the conventional idea of the Catholic family, marriage and so on being treated in a lesser way, not accommodated at all or even be…

I will throw in an extra issue because I am talking to the Minister. I do not know the next time I will get to. It is slightly off topic but it is under the Minister’s brief. It is another great unfairness that needs to be addressed and probably is between the Minister and the Minister for housing. It is about people who go over eligibility thresholds for social housing support. When they go over…

-----to access housing to get out of homelessness.

It would be a contribution to addressing the housing crisis were the Minister to look at it-----

I took advantage and I am sorry.

The statue of James Connolly is behind us and the portrait of Countess Markievicz is in the hall. They were two of Ireland's greatest revolutionaries who stood for working people and stood against empire. They set up the Irish Neutrality League in 1914. That is where our tradition of neutrality comes from. They were two of the greatest revolutionaries and they were revered by the people of this co…

You did that by pulling a stroke.

You did not even meet us.

That is disingenuous.

It is all out now. Giving the game away now.

The crash was a good imitation of stability.

Exactly.

They did not.

Yes.

You have not responded to our letter.

Probably going to close down that as well, are you?

Not for Taoiseach's questions.

In his regular statements, the Taoiseach is very happy to say - as am I - that Putin is a warmonger, tyrant and imperialist. The problem is, however, the people the Government wants us to ally with in the United States and Europe, are also brutal warmongers, imperialists and militarists. Trump is giving billions to Israel to commit a genocide in Gaza and is actively promoting the ethnic cleansing …

When I spoke earlier, I asked the Minister of State whether this Government will stop facilitating the sale of Israeli war bonds through the Irish Central Bank. It is an absolute outrage that that is allowed. Maybe the Minister of State’s official can fill him in there. I am quite happy if the Minister of State wants to confer with them.

Okay. The Government raised its concern for the Middle East. In his speech, the Taoiseach said that he condemns the attacks that Israel has resumed against the people of Gaza and the ongoing attacks on the West Bank. The Government does not call it genocide. Its European partners refuse even to mention the name "Israel" when these horrific attacks are taking place, but the Taoiseach says he condem…

As they bomb Yemen, they are pushing Europe to spend more on defence. Is not the European Union dancing to the tune of the Trump Administration -----

-----in its plans to ramp up military expenditure in Europe?

That is not an answer.

On a point of order, there are 20 minutes for questions and answers. If other people have questions, that is fine, but there is no strict time limit on this.

Fine, that is okay, but there is nobody else signalling and there are 12 minutes on the clock.