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significant investment. The previous Government allocated funding to Drogheda and Dundalk under the urban regeneration and development fund for public realm works and housing activation measures. That is all really good. Great new communities are growing up in the area and they need to be supported by public … There is logic in what she is saying and I appreciate her raising it. I know she will continue to raise it, and rightly so. I certainly will be keeping it on my list

deal with the underlying problem. We need to address why our energy is so expensive in the first place. Everyone in the House knows what we need to do, that is, rapidly scale up renewable generation. We are miles and miles off target for our offshore wind generation … demand without putting upward pressure on household bills or undermining our climate objectives. We need to get the fundamentals of our energy system right before we can allow for unfettered increases in demand. Data centres need to make their fair contribution toward both supporting households through the present

country moving and functioning. These measures are practical, measurable and immediate in their impact. While they are targeted, they also provide relief right across society as a whole. This is not about choosing between households and businesses. It is about supporting both because both are under pressure … core driver of fuel pressure inflation, that is, global international crude oil markets, which dictate the prices. It is not this House and not this Government. Pretending otherwise might be politically convenient for some but it does not help families who are trying to make ends meet

purpose health service is our priority, the priority of the Minister for Health and the priority of everybody I know across this House. Let us proceed on that basis. Deputy O'Donoghue and other mid-west TDs have been very vocal advocates for the improvement of services … prior to that. It is still too high, but it shows the benefit. If you put in extra beds and put in the right management you can begin to see improvements. Importantly, there are now enabling works under way for a second 96-bed block. A further

have to say, I have my doubts about that. Before we even started to discuss AI in a serious way in this House, I do not know how many times the same organisations who are campaigning for this have asked us to raise - and we have - the extreme … looking to steal en masse all of the artistic and creative output of humanity and to profit from it. The artists rightly are asking what the Government is going to do to prevent them making a bad situation for most artists and performers even worse. As Deputy Paul

been presenting in the audiovisual room at Leinster House as well. This issue has been raised by many people in this House. As I mentioned before, the Government increased the thresholds in the Finance Act 2024. These increases amount to an increase of approximately 19.4% on group … have heard both members of the Opposition and Government raise this matter on a number of occasions. It is about striking the right balance and taking into account how far we can afford to go in any particular year, while acknowledging the perceived inequities that are there currently

difficult situation that can never be resolved. It is a real fact that has to be dealt with at some stage by this House. It is bigger than this Bill. It is five or six times bigger than this Bill in actual numbers. That is one thing that … European Union. It is really important there is some confidence given to people that where we have a law and a reasonable right to return people to the country where they first applied for asylum, that is actually actioned. That is not the case at the moment

come into this sector because it is demanding and you are on the road for 12 hours a day. You leave your house at 7 o'clock in the morning and sometimes it is 9 o'clock at night before you get home, when you have … their career. We need to look at that in the long run. In 2016 the Government made a commitment to introduce a statutory right to home care through a statutory home care support scheme. A decade later, this has still not been implemented. We need to make sure

here in the Gallery and the women who are watching at home. Women who have hopes, dreams and aspiration and have a right to feel safe. There are also women who are subjected to horrific abuse from another person, mainly a man and mainly … just looks at the forms that are sent in and does not see the person behind that. It sees the person is adequately housed on paper, but we know that is not the truth. Women are trapped in these situations. It was between staying in a refuge

this issue? The real waste is the cost of the charging system and the waste of money on domestic water meters for houses instead of neighbourhood meters. This was pointed out on the floor of the Dáil. I remember pointing it out to Phil Hogan at the time … first place was the establishment of Irish Water. We need to keep water services in public ownership and enshrine this and the right to water in the Constitution. Water charges must be ruled out for good. I appeal to the Minister to do that. He still

some of the drafting work relating to the Bill when I was in the Department. I hope that it transits quickly through these Houses. We have to consistently ask ourselves if our child protection laws and practices are effective. We must acknowledge that real progress has been made … brings the Act into proper alignment with the modern view and the foundational basis of our entire suite of child protection legislation. By rights, this probably should have been done after the 2012 referendum. It has taken us too long to get to this point

funding is intended to commence reforms to the civil legal aid means test and the financial eligibility criteria, but FLAC and others have rightly warned it is not sufficient to deliver the broader reforms needed to address staffing shortages, recruitment and retention difficulties, lengthy waiting lists, legal … Victims face serious delays in getting justice and there are increasing numbers of adjournments. I want to put on the record of the House that concerns have been raised about Garda interviews proceeding in circumstances where legal representation may not be available. There are obvious questions arising from

defence, security or foreign policy must be in line with our values, which are consistency with international law and respect for human rights, for the rule of law and for democracy. This country has always been very committed to multilateralism. The parties on this side have always been … declare that one is neutral. That is not sufficient. I would like our people and the members of this House to bear in mind that for six years of war the question as to whether our neutrality would be respected or not depended ultimately upon the will

with Deputy Doherty, on this, and those lines of communication must and will remain open. It is important that every Member of this House, every political party, whether Government or Opposition, and every stakeholder is kept informed on the facts. Then … sometimes portrayed by others, and all of us have a duty to amplify that message in the days ahead. The Deputy is right that we should not catastrophise this - and he is not doing so. We are entering a moment of significant turbulence, significant challenge, in Ireland

behalf of those people who are particularly impacted by this and I congratulate him again on his successful election back to this House, where I have no doubt he will make a significant impact as he has in the past, not least on this issue. Ireland's first … framework that supports sustainable harvesting, ensures that key seaweed species that support multiple vital ecosystems are safeguarded and respects existing formal and informal rights to harvest - I think this last is the nub of where the Deputy is coming from - and support ongoing research to build on available

thank the Deputy for raising this issue and for allowing me to update the House on what has happened. I acknowledge the significance of a very severe fish kill that occurred on the River Glyde and the devastating impact it has had on the local communities, anglers … course, will have a devastating impact on the people who use the river but also on the ecology of the area. The Deputy rightly asked what the next step is. The investigation is ongoing and IFI is putting together the details of what has happened and will prepare

jurisdictions and the recognition of parentage arising from certain past domestic and international surrogacy arrangements. While the 2024 Act was progressing through the Houses of the Oireachtas, issues were identified that required further consideration and consultation with the Office of the Attorney General. Formal drafting … that have underpinned all legislative measures in this sphere. First, the many safeguards and requirements within the legislation are there to protect the rights and welfare of intending parents, surrogate mothers and, most of all, all the children born as a result of assisted human reproduction. Of course

position to do that until the full, comprehensive audit is finalised, presented to the Minister and the Government and obviously shared with this House, as it will be. The Deputy is correct that CHI and Cappagh hospital have issued letters in recent weeks to families who may have … through on actions that would be necessary. There are multidisciplinary teams in place in these hospitals in terms of pre-operative decision-making right across CHI and Cappagh hospital. That process commenced from March onwards. The hospital authorities are obviously taking on board the concerns

infrastructural deficits that already undermine our standard of living, limit opportunities for our young people and threaten our competitiveness in the areas of housing, transport and essential services that we depend on like education, disability and childcare. In Dublin West, we feel the cost of delay every … waiting lists for early years services and thousands families without after-school options in their communities. The programme for Government gets the balance right. Our local childcare services need to be funded fairly in order to be viable while parents need affordable fees. We need to review

glad to hear that the Government will not be opposing the motion. It is good that we can unite in this House on this issue. Indeed, it is a proposition in the motion that we in Labour support. As the oldest political party in the State … communities are protected from the consequences of a hasty campaign, or the vanity project of any one group seeking ideological victory. It is right that we would start that process now. It is fair to critique the Government for doing too little at this stage to build

congratulate each and every one of them for their input into it. It is one of the most important committees in the Houses of Oireachtas because one fifth of us now according to the various censuses have a disability of one type or another. The committee … with me. They are the key points or the key difficult moments in family's lives. It is important that we have the right resources in place there. Over the past week or so, I am pleased that we have secured additional funding, particularly on special schools

source of heat is oil. We ran out two weeks ago, we can't afford the bill and we can't heat our house. Very few people have that kind of money. We have two kids and it's early nights for all of us now. The only … toll it's taking on us is serious. How is it that people with good-paying jobs are still struggling? It's not right, it's not just. I'm heartbroken that our children are missing out so much because we don't have the finances. This government

developing and bringing forward more public transport initiatives and services and making them more affordable. I want to acknowledge this in the House. Coming back to the question on quarter 3, I do not have the exact date but I will meet officials and I will come back … effective, which we can afford and which will be rolled out. With public transport, we have seen a huge increase in numbers right across the different services. It is good news. It is a good story but we need to continue that to incentivise people. My two colleagues

online? They then apologise and say that it was not them and was generated through AI. When people look in at this House, they want to see real people delivering real results that they have researched themselves and that it are not AI-generated. That is my concern … protection their finances from criminality so the sooner we get something put together the better. We also need to get it right. It needs to be researched correctly - not AI research. It needs to be researched properly for the protection of this country

needs to step up to the mark here and needs to ensure that we guarantee workers the right to collective bargaining and the right to union access in the workplace, and that wages are something that workers must have to be able to live and to be able … step up to the mark and pay adequate and proper wages. That has failed to happen. I commend this motion to the House and I hope that Government sits up and listens