Catherine Connolly

Twenty-one individuals were shot.

The Government has checked and inspected them, has it?

I will take out the "s" and say "airport".

I actually blamed you.

Here we go again about nursing homes. A scandal has given us cause to talk about nursing homes. All the details of that scandal have been outlined. I am not going to outline them again. It is bewildering that HIQA had a report on one of the homes, Beneavin, in November, and it was substantially compliant. That in itself is frightening. I looked to remember, because my memory is faulty, when we clo…

Can I get the clock stopped for a minute to clarify something? I assumed we were letting Deputy Tóibín have his slot ahead of us and that we were sharing our own slot, which was six minutes each.

I thank Sinn Féin for tabling this motion. It is brief and to the point. I have no problem with implementing the recommendations of the Fifth Report of the Convention on the Constitution, which was quite some time ago now, for all Irish citizens on the island of Ireland. I have no difficulty with that. To follow on from my colleague, Deputy Stanley, it is not in the programme for Government, which…

I thank Deputy O'Gorman and the Green Party for bringing forward this motion and putting the spotlight on public transport. I am also grateful that the Government is not opposing it. I welcome the Minister of State's speech. I know he is heart and soul behind rail. I may get a chance to come back to that. The Minister of State acknowledged that "Public transport is not just about moving people fr…

Leanfaidh mé ar aghaidh ar aon nós. Níl a fhios agam cé mhéid nóiméad atá agam.

There are three speakers, if they turn up.

Tuigim. Leanfaidh mé ar aghaidh until they come. Go raibh míle maith agat. Unfortunately, the Deputy who made the allegation of sanctimonious rant against a colleague in another party has left. I cannot think of anything more inappropriate from a TD who is part of the Government that is standing over a housing crisis. The only sanctimonious rant that I have ever heard in this Chamber has been from…

I certainly do not agree with the Order of Business. We need to reflect on what is happening in the Middle East. We have had an unprovoked attack by Israel on Iran and the language around this is simply shameful.

It is an unprovoked attack on a sovereign, independent country and we are not talking about it or making space for a debate. This is an attack by a rogue state, which the Government has agreed is committing genocide, that has now gone into Iran, and is suddenly the moral conscience in relation to nuclear armaments, which Iran does not process-----

Israel is not even a member of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

I raise the serious matter of the closure of a dental practice in Oranmore, County Galway, more than three years ago. Approximately 200 patients and families have been left in an utter predicament and have been subjected to partial treatment, no treatment and so on. They have engaged. All of the TDs at the time had a meeting with the Dental Council. There is utter frustration and anger that the pe…

It was.

It is almost an identical concept.

In my three minutes I am going to repeat what I have said since the day I came in here. This crisis has been caused by Government policy. We have just come in from the Raise the Roof protest. There is no doubt each policy from each Government has intensified the crisis as it has failed to recognise - deliberately so - that housing is a basic human right. Each Government has dealt with it like an a…

8. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence the basis on which the decision has been taken to legislate for the removal of the triple lock; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31260/25]

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach Gníomhach. Baineann mo cheist leis an nglas triarach agus an cinneadh atá déanta fáil réidh leis. My question relates to the triple lock. Will the Tánaiste outline as clearly as he can the basis on which the decision was taken to legislate for the removal of the triple lock? If he can outline that in a rational way, I would be very interested.

Obviously, I cannot respond to the Tánaiste's five- or six-minute reply in one minute. He made many promises. We had promises in the Nice and Lisbon treaties and, separately, we have promises to end the housing crisis. There have been many solemn promises the Government has not fulfilled. For the Tánaiste to stand here and say he will fulfil a promise is not a response to the question I asked. My …

The Tánaiste has referred to hypothetical situations, which, he has told us in the past, he does not like to talk about because he instead prefers to deal in reality. The reality is that America used the veto to stop a ceasefire and allow genocide to continue.

I do not know if the Minister understands the Lisbon and Nice treaties. We had to vote a second time because of people's concerns regarding the militarisation of Europe and neutrality. We got solemn declarations, or whatever they are called, in the Nice and Lisbon treaties and the then Government forced the people to vote twice. The Taoiseach has told us the triple lock is a fundamental and core p…

Do I get in again or is this the end?

That is all I wanted to know.