Ruth Coppinger

-----so do not expect politeness.

A few things have come up in the news today to put this in context. Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, a renowned surgeon who heroically stayed with the people while they were being genocided by Israel is, unfortunately, probably near death. The man is unrecognisable and there has been an international campaign to have him released, which has unfortunately failed. He said, "They brought me here to kill me" an…

I was on them.

In the previous amendment, the Minister of State was sort of reprimanding people for using particular words. I am sorry but he is not going to get a polite debate because we should be absolutely enraged about what is happening to Palestine and the lack of Government action. I urge everybody not to have a polite debate. This has been one of the biggest issues in this country and, indeed, the world …

Student Campus college in Limerick suddenly closed last week, leaving hundreds of international students and staff in limbo. I was contacted by people in Limerick to raise this issue. Approximately 250 students were already studying in the school, with reports that over 300 additional students had paid fees before travelling to Ireland. Students were left with uncertainty regarding their education…

Maybe it is time that the State get involved in this rather than leaving it to any private individual or private company to set up a language school, take money off desperate people who want to come here and learn English, and then just go away with that money. The Minister of State has said there is no function for the Department here. I only got this answer handed to me as the Minister of State …

Just stay quiet and listen.

Enclosed hare coursing, like we have in Ireland, was banned in Britain in 1914. It was deemed unsporting. It is so contrived and unnatural. Those were the words that were used by the coursing clubs that agreed with it being banned. Ireland is becoming a complete and utter outlier on animal rights. I am embarrassed at some of the things that I am about to talk about here. If anybody is listening fr…

2. Deputy Ruth Coppinger asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on health will next meet [46895/26]

One of the biggest health issues that arose in this country related to Children's Health Ireland, CHI, scoliosis and child surgery. Now we find that four out of the eight groups have withdrawn from the scoping exercise that was to draw up the terms of reference for the inquiry. It includes the spina bifida and hydrocephalus paediatric advocacy group and many others. Another group has also reporte…

21. Deputy Ruth Coppinger asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his recent meeting with US President Donald Trump. [46896/26]

We already debated the issue of the Taoiseach's St. Patrick's Day meeting with Donald Trump, a misogynist, homophobe, transphobe, genocider, funder of genocide in Palestine and convicted rapist but-----

That is an actual fact.

I am going to go on because I am not having my time cut short. The Taoiseach now seems to find and be able to separate out reasons why he should do these things. The latest is that he says sport and politics should not mix, and he has said that in relation to the Irish team playing Israel. Yet four of his MEPs obviously do think sport and politics mix because they have signed a complaint about Gi…

It could have been one of the Taoiseach's Ministers.

The Minister is moving this with undue haste before the summer. It is absolutely wrong that a Bill of this importance is being guillotined after two hours and many of the amendments probably will not get a fair hearing. I will comment on this grouping of amendments, which talk about connectivity. We made these points on Second Stage. Balanced regional development has gone out the window. We also …

How could the Minister not accept such an amendment? It is as plain as anything that there should be some obligation on the DAA to review how it works. We only have a minute or so left. I have two very quick things. One concerns a resident who sent this communication last week. I was making the point about the DAA and insulation. This person said that as they typed the message in their back garden…

I just checked, and residents in the St. Margaret's The Ward Residents Group have asked to meet the Minister in relation to their Planning for Real proposal.

They said the Minister has not met them since before last summer, so we have two conflicting statements then. I have to believe the residents. They have now gone to court because they have not been able to meet the Minister. I also want to say something else because the Minister has used the issue of jobs to justify this. Nobody is saying that any jobs should be lost. This is actually about expan…

This is not the first time I have raised the issue of commercial drone fast-food deliveries in residential areas. Last week, we had the announcement from Manna Air Delivery, which was the company operating in Dublin 15 and Cork, that it is suspending and pulling out of Ireland. Residents who were suffering as a result of the noise and lack of privacy, and who had wildlife concerns, etc., but who …

I urge that the framework specifically rules out these drones operating in residential areas. They cause considerable physical and mental health damage to residents who are suffering under them. The Minister of State said in his reply that the drone companies must comply. They are "subject to national laws, including environmental, planning and data protection laws". How come Manna Air Delivery wa…

I have huge sympathy for the people affected by this in Donegal, Mayo, Clare, Limerick and other areas because I live in an area where we had the blight of pyrite. So many housing estates in our area were affected because the quarry was situated there. It did not regulate itself and there was a lack of Government regulation. Thousands of people were impacted by this and I campaigned on it and held…

11. Deputy Ruth Coppinger asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on water quality will next meet. [45030/26]

30. Deputy Ruth Coppinger asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the recent UK-Ireland summit. [45029/26]

The Taoiseach talked about Keir Starmer being decent and resetting relationships. If ever there was a Prime Minister who did moral bankruptcy, it is Keir Starmer. Here is somebody who got in with a huge Labour majority and proceeded to lean in to racism, anti-migrant sentiment, transphobia and every single thing you can think of. He inflicted austerity on pensioners and the disabled. Let us talk a…