Pearse Doherty

I am asking the Government to stop being a spectator. It knew about this issue for a year. Does the Minister believe her colleague, the then Minister for Health-----

-----should have been open with the families and the families should not have just found out about this last week?

Last week, mothers from Donegal travelled up here to sleep outside the gates of Leinster House. They did so in desperation because their children, ten with additional and special needs, do not have a school place for September. There is only one school in the county that they can go to, and that is Little Angels. It is now more than six weeks since I raised this on the floor of the Dáil with the M…

This needs to be sorted because a school in the hands of the State could be lying empty.

When?

Hear, hear.

President Trump's tariffs are an unjustified act of aggression that will damage the US and the global economy. A full trade war has the risk of unleashing a global recession and that is the scale of threat we possibly face. The stakes are high and now more than ever is a time for cool heads. Irish interests and the interests of ordinary workers and families need to be at the front and centre of ev…

That makes no sense.

Hear, hear.

My understanding is that priority questions cannot be grouped.

I have never seen that in the history of the Dáil. Priority questions are-----.

I ask that they not be grouped, with the indulgence of the Chair. It is not fair for them to be grouped. Question No. 1 relates to a major issue.

I propose that we not group them

I thank the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach for that.

1. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Finance to outline the potential impact on employment and tax revenues from possible US tariffs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16502/25]

This question relates to the potential impact on unemployment and tax revenues as a result of the announcement of US tariffs. We heard what Donald Trump had to say last night, with 20% tariffs being imposed on this State. Pharmaceuticals will not be the subject of a tariff, although we hold our breath in relation to that. We have the Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, and Department of …

Given that the ESRI and the Department of Finance have worked out these models, I put it to the Minister that we should very quickly have information on the 20% scenario outlined by the Trump Administration last night. The analysis done by the ESRI and the Department of Finance examined the potential impact of a US Administration tariff and gave us the numbers for it. They also looked at the impac…

The key here is negotiation and de-escalation. We need to get to a point where sensible and cool heads prevail. What happened yesterday was an act of economic sabotage by the US Administration in respect of its own economy. What was done will push up prices for American consumers. Obviously, the analysis was based on a 25% tariff, which was more severe than what we have seen, particularly as a tar…

Not true.

She was on a trade mission there the week before.

It is interesting that the Minister would not answer my question on support for tariffs that will lead to prices for Irish consumers increasing. For his information, Michelle O'Neill was on a trade mission to the US in the week before St. Patrick's Day. We will continue to use our influence. If Deputy Donohoe, as Minister for Finance, wants to score political points on this serious issue, that is …

3. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Finance the steps he is taking to protect mortgage prisoners from extortionately high mortgage interest rates; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16503/25]

The scandal of selling off mortgages to vulture funds has never been addressed. Just this week, the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman, FSPO, legislation passing through the Seanad is finally giving people access to the financial ombudsman. That was only one of the many promises that mortgage holders would be treated the same that was broken. What steps is the Minister going to take to prot…

That is all cold comfort to people who are mortgage prisoners. The Minister was one of the cheerleaders who cheered this on and told them all there would be no difference and that it would be no problem whatsoever and they would have the same protections. However, he failed to deal with the main issue we are addressing. There are 7,000 mortgages holders that are now being charged over 8.5% with t…

That was not the case.