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there are jobs, but a lot of people are struggling more than ever. There are empty houses on a huge scale but there still are ghost estates, including in Carrignavar and right across the State. There is a site not far from here in Dublin Central that … because they cleaned out NAMA. Deputy Doherty will soon table amendments, which we believe are fair and right, to protect workers. I know people who lost their jobs and houses and whose marriage or relationship ended. They lost everything. I know people who died by suicide

Deputy Gannon did, her absolute commitment, persistence and strong advocacy on this. I thank Deputy Gannon for bringing the Bill before this House for consideration on Second Stage. As someone who has been a Deputy as well as a Minister of State, I acknowledge that incredibly hard work … carry consequences for an individual far beyond the sentence imposed by a court. It can affect, as the Deputy rightly pointed out, everything from employment to housing, education and training. It can limit opportunity. It creates barriers that make reintegration more difficult, and it can increase the risk

cost of living, affordability in people's day-to-day lives and, most importantly, improving housing supply, including by building social infrastructure and homes in communities right across the country. The central issue feeding the sentiment expressed in the survey is the need to address affordable housing

oversee the process. Mental health supports, emergency housing and fair access to insurance and mortgages must be guaranteed. When people buy their first house or new home, the excitement of getting the keys and walking through the doors is second to none. The vision they have for their … their right mind would buy one of these homes? It is not just the blocks. I have a case right now where the structure of the house is completely unstable, not because of the materials, but because of the builder and he is walking away scot-free

working and flexible working, were introduced in 2023, they were novel. Now, in 2026, it is right that we review and strengthen the rights that were given to employees in 2023. That strengthening is particularly important in light of the push-back on remote working we are seeing … facilitated by the State. I hope the Minister and the Minister of State hear that the mood across this House is to strengthen and broaden the rights around remote working, not just to leave the status

triple lock but we should seek to get the legislation right. I am not just talking about hypotheticals, although I accept what I said about Lebanon was hypothetical. On previous occasions in the House, I have mentioned the challenges we have already faced in respect of the veto … work done on this over quite a number of years. There are genuine different views in the House and I respect that, but there is a way of getting legislation right that guards military neutrality while also recognising that we have to be able to deploy peacekeeping troops

familiar with these kinds of cases. He has worked on them too. I imagine many other Members of the House have as well. The Deputy is right that we are legislators. We make the law and it is up to the agencies of the State to enforce that … complaint is appropriate or whether it can accept that complaint. An agency and organisation, operating under the laws we develop in this House and pass as a sovereign Parliament, should be able to interpret those laws and we should give it the latitude it needs to be able

call upon or some other means of giving them a stake in this. The people living in social houses are stakeholders even if they do not have legal ownership rights. In introducing this scheme, the Government is trying to move towards parity between private owners and social housing

Deputy Dolan but I also remember my phone not having the capability that phones have now. More important, when we in this House were growing up, we grew and acquired a phone. Our children today are growing up with phones as if they were part of their body … having on them, unlike the other interactions we see with technologies around them. I honestly believe that while it is right and proper that we in this House take a proactive approach to addressing this, we need to be a champion for it at EU level as well

some cases acting in bad faith can submit objections to critical infrastructure, housing, etc. At the moment it is quite extraordinary that objectors to developments can come from right across this country. For example, if a farmer is applying for a slatted shed in Donegal, it is currently … developments. It protects the rights of people to lodge objections on behalf of residents within an area and it protects businesses whose interests may be affected. It is fair, reasonable, and proportionate and we would urge all Members of the House to support

While modernising police legislation sounds reasonable on paper, this Bill fails to strike the essential balance between public safety and fundamental human rights. It dramatically expands invasive powers such as stop-and-search and seizure of electronic devices without introducing necessary binding legislation with safeguards. Crucially, it lacks … cannot blindly grant sweeping new powers under this Bill while the existing framework for accountability, human rights, data collection and the basic institutional integrity is consistently failing this House and this State and falling short. Before we grant An Garda Síochána greater powers, this Government must first demonstrate

that. The review provided 75 recommendations to be worked through. Most do not require legislative change. It is important that the House receives an update on the steps the Minister is taking to improve services, to ensure access to services through community providers and to ensure hospital-based … leaves the philosophical question of life and the balance of probabilities entirely to clinicians, which is not right and an abdication of our duty in this House. Most problematically, the amendment ignores the intention of a clear and tight definition and the process recommended by the review

have to be watchful of this. The public consultation for the wind farm proposal I mentioned was a leaflet drop to some houses in the area. There was no public meeting. No one ever came to a meeting, so they have shown contempt. At that time, I objected … here to facilitate people in benefiting from putting wind turbines in our areas too close to our houses. I am all for turbines in the right locations. To those who say that we are going to have offshore generation, I heard at my committee meeting that it will

That is what we are doing in the three pieces of legislation that will be passed in this House over these two months. Without the right guardrails in place in this legislation, we are putting ourselves at risk of creating significant fossil fuel lock-in within our energy … creates a continual demand for the LNG gas in the energy system, sending the exact opposite message to what we should be sending right now. We know that long-term use of fossil fuels is incompatible with our 2050 targets, which should take priority. Even if the terminal

Commission. On 9 July, I had the privilege of progressing the Mental Health Bill 2024 through all Stages in this House, a landmark overhaul that embeds rights-based, person-centred care into our mental health legislation. In recent months, we also saw the launch … than visibility. It is the continuous demand for real change, and Ireland has made that demand manifest. From the ballot box to this House and the health services that serve our communities, we will not rest until equality is lived out in every interaction. As a Minister

everything else gone into it. I was shocked the other day to hear the Taoiseach say a house should only take four or five days to turn around. He is right that maybe that is what it should take, in some instances, like the two houses in Kilgarvan

called Walk in Our Shoes, and today a group is walking peacefully from the Four Courts to outside these Houses of the Oireachtas. They are walking right now, as far as I understand. They are doing it because the system is not fit for purpose, whether

appreciate that the Deputy does not have an ideological or principled objection to it. I also appreciate that this House will want to get the detail right and will want to tease through that. I fully accept that we are living through a cost-of-living crisis

listen to what the people are saying. He needs to listen to what we on this side of the House are saying. He needs to do right by the people. The people cannot wait any longer for the Government to decide whether it is going

want to praise Lorcan Staines, the senior counsel, who conducted the scoping exercise. Quite frankly, in my experience in this House and in government, getting that chair right matters a hell of a lot. We appointed the right person and Lorcan Staines has been exemplary

would give greater transparency and oversight to the process, and put more confidence into it. The Oireachtas, Members of this House and the general public have a right to know why these decisions have been made, why certain projects have been prioritised, and why certain projects

Today, a survivor of a mother and home, Rosemary Adaser, along with human rights barrister, Caoilfhionn Gallagher, were in Leinster House meeting TDs, including my Labour Party colleague, Deputy Ahern. They met with the special advocate for survivors, Patricia Carey. They are seeking clarity on Philomena

thank Deputy Nash for his comment on the deemed disposal rule. I agree that there is, rightly, a lot of debate in this House about the rate of it. He made the broader point about the purpose it serves - or does not serve - any more. We need

overview, when it comes to legislation like this, I, as Minister - I presume this is also the case for the House - have to try to balance conflicting rights. When dealing with international protection legislation, on one hand, we have to take into account the interests of the applicant

domiciliary care allowance. We have the largest ever increase in the child support payment. To help working families, which we rightly talk a lot about in this House, we saw a large increase the threshold for the working family payment. We saw large increases in eligibility for fuel