Ruth Coppinger

Why are none of them here? It is very poor.

Why are we having this debate? That is the first question I want to ask. A child was horrifically sexually assaulted. We are not discussing gender-based violence. I have just come from a committee that the rape crisis centre set up. Four TDs showed up. Nobody from Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael was there. They do not care about that issue. A racist riot followed the assault. Massive harm was done to gar…

I want to send my solidarity with the girl who apparently was sexual assaulted and to her family. I hope she gets the care as well. I wish to ask the Taoiseach something related to gender-based violence. There was a report by Village magazine and The Ditch yesterday that a garda, who was corrupt and violent towards his wife and another woman, was awarded a medal of bravery from An Garda Síochána …

Gardaí who are corrupt, who pervert the course of justice over and over and over again, should not be awarded a medal of bravery for one act. There was no need. He could have been excluded from the award and the other gardaí could have been presented with their awards. What happened to zero tolerance for gender-based violence when the gardaí who are meant to deal with it are guilty of it themselv…

The Deputy is such a notorious feminist himself.

An honest debate about what? I did not hear the Deputy.

8. Deputy Ruth Coppinger asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on infrastructure will next meet. [52038/25]

A document was produced by Fingal County Council which identifies land banks, including one in Dublin 15 which could accommodate 20,000 homes. Today, I received a reply from Fingal County Council. It has 105 families with termination notices or notices of eviction in Dublin 15 alone. I am coming to the Taoiseach as a TD from that area reporting a humanitarian crisis. I want to highlight some of t…

They do not have the money for that, though.

There is a social crisis, an eviction epidemic, in Dublin 15, up the road from the Minister. The Minister knows it well. It relates to the decisions taken in the budget to give huge VAT cuts to developers rather than finance local authorities to build. There is a document from Fingal County Council about section 28 guidelines and housing growth requirements in Fingal County Council. It mentions a …

4. Deputy Ruth Coppinger asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the assessments that were carried out in relation to the impact the €500 increase in third level fees would have on accessibility to third level; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [56129/25]

I want to ask about the cost of going to college, particularly following the budget. In effect, people are now paying €500 more in third level fees. We have a cost-of-living crisis and this is impacting the ability of students and families to afford these costs. The poverty rate has actually increased after the budget by all of the metrics the ESRI has used. People are 2% worse off and it is inhi…

We can all do what we will with figures but the reality is that families and students now are paying €500 more than they were for the last two years. That is the reality because of the removal of the once-off measures and when we take into account the increase in costs, in rents in particular. The average cost of going to college in Dublin, for example, increased this year to €20,777 a year, a 3% …

The Minister is suggesting he might take away the free third level education with his comment there. Yes, there are a couple of issues. It is a bad situation when Young Fine Gael was asking for a €1,500 reduction in fees and only a €500 reduction was given. The union of students in Ireland, AMLÉ, asked for a lot more and has expressed huge disappointment at what the Government has done. The dropo…

Does a woman or person abused by someone in the Army have the same rights as other victims? The victims of crime Act 2017 does not apply to the Army. It applies to the Garda but not to the Army. In June, I raised a case here with the Tánaiste about a woman who was stalked, abused and assaulted by an Army officer. He used Army equipment, even an Army grenade, as part of that harassment. She made a …

I got an acknowledgement.

This is an issue not just for Donegal but for the entire country. A precedent is being set by the way the Government is dealing with this issue. I want to send solidarity to all the homeowners and people affected by this issue in Donegal. There are often attempts in this House and outside it to divide and rule between people from so-called urban areas and rural areas. The reality is that I live in…

Let us be clear why we are here listening to these North Korean-style eulogies for Simon Harris. We are here because-----

-----the Government made a decision-----

The Government made a decision to table a confidence motion in the Tánaiste when there was a rumour of a no-confidence motion that has not been seen-----

-----and has not been tabled.

It is very important that since we have the issue of broken promises and confidence on the table, we deal with all the Tánaiste's infamous promises. The first one, of course, relates to 2017 and the promise no child would wait more than four months for scoliosis surgery. The Tánaiste has a habit of making grandiose promises he cannot fulfil and we are now in a situation where Gillian and Stephen i…

Is the Government going to pass the occupied territories Bill in full? The Taoiseach indicated yesterday that it will deal with just one aspect and not with services. We need to know this before the presidential election next week-----

I am allowed to mention that there is an election coming.

I would like to ask the Tánaiste why he gave authorisation for a US military plane to land on Sunday, reportedly, that was en route with either troops or armaments to the Nevatim Israeli military base? He has committed to supporting the Palestinian people and supporting the Palestinian state.