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authorities. We want to ensure we are not dependent on the views of an individual director of services or head of housing. We want consistency right across every local authority so that, when people are fleeing domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, there will be a level

thank Deputy Coppinger for raising this issue. I extend my full solidarity and that of everyone in this House and every right-thinking person to the victim. Far from discouraging the students who gathered in protest, I commend them on what they did. Sharing abusive images

incomes are very badly exposed to these. The very last one, and the one that is raised in this question, is housing. These people are right up against it. They need help and they need

thank Deputy Farrell for raising this important issue, which was rightly raised in this House today. The British ambassador was present here today, as Deputy Farrell and others have raised this issue. I know the ambassador will convey the depth of feelings and concerns of Members of this

inject, from everybody's perspective, a degree of evidence into all of the things that all of us say in these Houses, which the public rightly expect. Are we doing it at a fast enough pace? That is a very fair question from Deputy Clendennen. An objective answer

recognise that it is a whole-of-house determination to do right here and, where we can improve things and make things better, that we would absolutely do that. The first step for us, of course, is the well-being check in terms of specifically having eyes

hear these sentiments by the Government now. We have been abused, heckled and shouted down by all sides of this House, called racist and far right and accused of creating division or undermining social cohesion. Yet, here we are now. The Government has caught up with our understanding … céad míle fáilte in Tipperary is well known, from the top of Tipperary right down to Rathcabbin. What happened in Roscrea was appalling. It is appalling what is still going on in Dundrum House Hotel . Hearns Hotel in Clonmel and many other buildings were taken over. These were

support Deputy Mac Lochlainn's request. There is also an issue of workers' rights within our very House in terms of the broadcast unit workers who are being paid well below the average pay for skilled work in that industry and who, in the summer recess

policy and seek Government permission to draft the safeguarding Bill. We will then work intensively and constructively with Members across the House to get the right piece of legislation passed in a timely manner. This is really important. I have been reflecting on this. I fully accept that

often the Government gets things right when it comes to housing, but in the case of the tenant in situ scheme it was working. What does the Government do when something is working in housing? It moves the goalposts. South Dublin County Council has seen a significant

Deputy is misleading the House. That is not right

want to put that on the record because there are many other people like this. I will finish by saying housing should be a right and not a privilege determined by the size of one's family. The restrictions on the tenant in situ scheme need

elected Taoiseach, we must all work together, constructively, to achieve the change that communities need. We are all aware of the housing crisis, the civil rights issue of this generation. We are all aware of creaking public services, of healthcare delays, of chronic staffing shortages across our schools

anyone in this country who is not horrified and haunted by the scenes Deputy Sherlock rightly mentioned in relation to young children and babies. There is no one in this House who wishes to deliver well-meaning statements. There is a whole array of people, including hundreds upon … they are doing this country, a small country, extraordinarily proud. I thank them for their work. It is right that we take every opportunity we can in this House to consider what further actions we can take to help press for peace and to end the onslaught

houses we need and bring this joined-up thinking that enables communities to grow and thrive. We must treat housing as a social good and a right rather than a commodity. That is the solution to this housing crisis, not Fianna Fáil's Bertie-era tax cuts

problems with that form of protest. I have articulated that from the very beginning. It is regrettable that others in the House cannot accept that the right to free movement should not be restricted by self-appointed groups. There are legitimate ways to protest - no issue with that

this is not just business as usual but a humanitarian situation. The bottom line for me in Mayo, right from the beginning when I first saw people's houses collapsing, was that nobody would be left behind or locked out of this scheme because they could not afford … their fault there was no regulation or there was light regulation. Indeed, I query the regulation in place right now. That is why the Minister for housing needs to look at having proper oversight of the quarries currently supplying aggregate and materials being used to build houses

move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I am pleased to bring the Central Bank (Amendment) Bill 2025 before the House. The Bill was initiated as a Private Members' Bill by Deputy Catherine Ardagh in February and, with her agreement, the Government has decided … progress in the first six months of my brief. Therefore, to ensure efficient progression of the Bill through the Houses, the Government has taken the right decision to progress the Bill in Government time, subject to amendments that will be worked on over the summer. Why does

bombing could have been prevented and that directed the establishment of a human rights-compliant investigation. Without Michael Gallagher, there would be no inquiry. It is important to state that clearly in the House today. The inquiry we are legislating to support exists because a bereaved father refused … heard. This Bill does not and cannot address that dispute, which is a matter for the courts. However, the House should put it on the record that the rights of families to meaningful participation in the process should never be negotiable. I ask the Minister to clarify

Member's Bills put before this House and the Government should accept those and work through them. People's right to reproductive freedom should be respected in this House. The 2024 Act contains no provision for parental leave or benefits for surrogacy families and this must be rectified … should be reviewed to ensure they are trans inclusive, especially the provisions relating to gametes. We often talk here about trans rights and we need to do that in law as well. We must make sure that our law is inclusive and not excluding people

question was whether the Government will investigate these issues, even if the Minister does not want to answer them right now. We do not need a housing tsar to contact Fingal County Council, have a meeting, discuss its needs and then organise the payment for whatever needs

thank the Deputy for raising this issue with the housing assistance payment. As he rightly says, the law is clear about people not being able to refuse a tenant on the basis of HAP. He is also right to highlight the fact that there are sometimes people trying

given commitments to people building houses before the handover. There was a lack of communication. On people building one-off houses, everyone should have the right to live where they grew up. If there is adequate land, road frontage, visibility and percolation, people should be allowed to build

free on the money that lady is giving them. How can that be right? Another woman contacted me. Herself, her partner and her two kids are living in a room in her parents' house. They got a mortgage, but the mortgage is not enough to buy a house … more than the original asking price. The Government is getting ordinary people who are trying to buy a house into bidding wars against vulture funds. It is not right; it is all wrong. We know people have a limited amount of money, but these vulture funds have

honest truth about it, if we are meaning to do something. There are vacant homes in Kerry, Cork and everywhere. Right around me are vacant houses. People will not rent when they have to pay back 50% of what they get from the rent. When they want their