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everybody happy? I thank all Deputies for their contributions this evening. I know their hearts are in the right place. I thank the House for facilitating Report and Final Stages today. The important thing is that this Bill is to enhance the safety regime and bring accident investigation

bursting at the seams. Nobody can get a house to rent in Dublin, yet in other parts of the country where there is ample space and opportunity, there is no investment. That is what we need to get balanced right. We need to get proper rail and road … have met the university, it has asked, "Can you please lobby the Government so that we can have the right to borrow money to build the houses so we can have them into the future and we can rent them out to the students?" It would

have also taken a number of other measures, including this week, with more than €800 million through the housing, activation and infrastructure office to help counties right across this country to put in place key enabling pieces of infrastructure that are required to deliver more homes. Housing

five years. We have been clear that, while the State will continue to direct unprecedented levels of public resources at housing, it is also essential that the right environment is created for greater levels of private investment to flow to support the step change in housing supply which

deliver more houses. Deputy Boyd Barrett is seeing housing schemes in his constituency, and saying, “We don’t want that one, that one and the other one.” That is not helpful or constructive. The Deputy is right that homeless figures are too high, of that there … number of actions. The Deputy made a fair point in relation to the infrastructure that is needed to enable housing. I agree with that. I hear, right across the country, "We have zoned land here. If only it was serviced." That is why, this week, we announced

This pejorative language, this attempt to label people, is a problem in the House. The left will condemn the far right and so on but it is not even prepared to allow people to have a discussion in the House on these issues. I think what they

placed to drive forward a European agenda that supports emerging industries, promotes ethical AI development and guarantees that citizens' rights remain at the heart of this digital transformation. Housing remains one of the most urgent challenges facing Ireland, and while our problem is acute, we must also recognise … that right across Europe, families are struggling with the very same pressures. President von der Leyen referenced this in her state of the Union speech, noting that our collective housing crisis was tearing "at Europe's social fabric". As we take on the EU Presidency, we must ensure

stories and they are loved ones. Let us speak plainly in this House. The atrocities committed on 7 October were barbaric. Hamas carried out a brutal assault on innocent civilians and any nation has the right to defend itself from terror, but that right is not unlimited … have a right to dignity, to self-determination and to life. Where does that leave us in this House? If we are to be a republic built on human rights and the principle of neutrality rooted in peace and not passivity, we cannot avert our gaze from alleged

urge for a vote to be called on these motions every single year. People have a right to know where the Members of this House stand on fundamental questions of civil liberties. Do TDs believe that everyone has the right to a fair trial by a jury

acquisition of 112 homes in Hollystown, Dublin 15, by an investment fund rightly caused anger across the State. These houses - the ones the Minister talks about all the time as being essential to help young families to get a family home - were bought up in bulk … funds to drive up house prices and profits further by renting out these houses to the same people they outbid at extortionate rates because they cannot find anywhere to live. The people want the right to buy their own home, which is a right that generations have

mandate local authorities to find suitable sites in areas - towns and villages - to give that choice in terms of public housing to allow people who wish to right-size to do so. I am taking a holistic approach. Local authorities are involved through the CCMA with

Bills Office was under so much pressure and working to incredibly tight timeframes, which is no way to treat the staff of the House, we do not have any opportunity to question the logic as to why amendment No. 1 was ruled out of order … still do not have it right. We do not need the EU asylum and migration pact to get it right. We can introduce legislation in the House without any pact and without any of this rushed legislation or this debacle we have here today, and with proper scrutiny

move: "That the Bill now be read a Second Time" I am delighted to bring the Copyright and Related Rights (Amendment) Bill 2025 before the House. It is vital that we have an effective legal framework in place to support copyright and intellectual property. It is a necessity … health of the creative sector, which is a significant employer in the State. This short Bill introduces amendments to the Copyright and Related Rights (Amendment) Act that are necessary, following a Court of Justice of the European Union, CJEU, ruling, delivered in September 2020. This ruling found that

listened to each other. It would be very helpful if Deputy Rice had listened to what the Taoiseach said in the House yesterday when this issue was raised. It is not helpful to the many parents who engaged with Mr. Farrell's scoping inquiry. He is a very … timeframe. There should be no rigidity around 2019 or anything like that. This is about getting it right. We know, and those of us who have been in the House for quite a period of time know too, that getting the terms of reference right matters and getting

people are not happy with progress in this area. We have a lot more work to do. The Housing Commission has said that, and it is right on that point. Rather than point scoring or throwing rhetoric around the Dáil, we need to continue to work collectively

with six-year tenancies encouraging longer terms in what the law says will be more stable living situations. Is it not now the right time to come forward with additional supports on the energy side, with retrofits for renters? If rent costs are going to be reset … some measure to make the overall cost of renting cheaper while enhancing our building stock and reducing emissions from the housing sector? Deputy Healy's motion rightly focuses on the severe impact on households of grocery inflation, which at the end of last year hit its highest level

investment is on housing and water but we must not forget about public transport. It is so essential for developing integrated cities. I say this not just about my own city but also about the Minister of State's city. We must do this right across the country … there is one thing that is in our control in responding to what is taking place in the world right now, it is investing in infrastructure, housing, water infrastructure and, crucially, public transport to enable people to move around the city and get to work and to reflect

Government. The issue of housing is so important and it is very important we get it right. However, this is not the only legislation relating to housing where a Bill has been published and then almost immediately we have got a raft of ministerial amendments. It is very

last week and the deadline for amendments for Committee Stage was this morning at 11 a.m. We have to get legislation like this right and to do that we need proper parliamentary scrutiny in the establishment of new State bodies and a complex framework of regulation. We need … time to identify key improvements for this Bill. That is extremely difficult to do when legislation is rushed through these Houses in the manner we are seeing right now. Governance and independence of the AI office is something I have commented on a lot. I will continue

press "go" on crucial water and energy projects and provide extra support and funding for the Land Development Agency. The Deputy is right that if we do not do that early on, we will not see the benefit of it for the people of this country later … infrastructure such as water, energy and transport infrastructure because they are obviously enablers of housing. We have to ramp up housing too. We have to get it right. That is why I am encouraged by the work being done by the Minister, Deputy Chambers, with the establishment

acknowledge that the delivery of housing units, particularly at scale, is the number one priority for this Government and rightly so. However, one of the biggest barriers to housing and the building of houses in north Tipperary and north-west Kilkenny is a lack of capacity

When it comes to housing, can the Government get anything right? It has been planning these rental reforms for months and yet it made an absolute hames of them last week. Even the Taoiseach's Cabinet colleagues could not make sense of them. They were quoted

Decent housing is enshrined as a human right in Article 25 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It should also be enshrined in Bunreacht na hÉireann, the Irish Constitution. A referendum to that effect should be called immediately. The policy of successive Governments has been … well over 17,000 families who are now homeless, including well over 5,500 children. Thousands more are living in substandard council houses and flats all over the country. Housing rents, including council rents, have skyrocketed and are being further substantially increased by the new rents regime introduced

Sumud Flotilla is a symbol of justice, peace and humanity but it is also an action. I speak for the House when I say that the rights of all citizens in the flotilla, including Irish citizens, to engage in peaceful international protest must be protected. Those taking part … flotilla, including some of our public representatives, are exercising their right to stand for justice and peace in a non-violent manner. These activists are not a threat to the existence of Israel, as some in the Israeli Government are saying. They are not actors on behalf

directive. There are outdated census figures at a time of a housing shortage. My third point relates to affordable housing, which is a massive issue. The report rightly identifies the squeezed middle on page 146. These are the thousands who do not qualify for social housing and cannot