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question. We certainly will provide the necessary funding but, again, we have to get the design and the structures right. In my view, there is funding available within housing in a lot of instances but it cannot be that we just pass it over to the local authority

this because he has the power to change this. Those families were given that word by the previous housing Minister. I believe the Minister, Deputy Browne, can right a wrong here

this today. I cannot remember a precedent for this, given all the crises we have had before. It was right to do it but it shows that this House can act, adapt and be flexible. I have to bring the Tánaiste back to the occupied territories Bill

their schools without years of waiting. Success will be when young people can move into jobs with the right supports in place. Success will be when transport, housing and public spaces are designed so that accessibility is the norm and not an afterthought. Last week, I witnessed

Fianna Fáil, has driven for decades. We see money and profit being put before people. How can that be right? A nursing home owned by the State, Heather House at St. Mary's health campus in Gurranabraher, had a brand new dementia unit built and it has been

side of the working people". It is a load of bull that people see right through. You are the wealthiest party in this House

offered lots of ideas. The Labour Party offered very clear ideas for a State-led intervention to resolve the housing supply crisis. We also offered a renter's rights Bill to ensure renters have better security and protections against rent increases. What we are hearing from the Government

Minister of State is aware, parents slept outside the gates of Leinster House last week demanding the most basic of human rights, that is, a school place for their child. I met them. I do not know whether the Minister of State got the opportunity

Shankill now where people are living in housing of crappy quality because the Government does not believe housing that is secure, affordable and decent is a right. It is a right but the profit-hungry developers which the Government represents make money from it so it does

Gibney for this important and timely question. I have absolutely no doubt that as this issue goes through the Houses and draft legislation gets published there will quite rightly be a lot of debate and scrutiny. There should be time and space to get it right. I hope

affordable homes, are all about ensuring we increase affordability and the supply of social homes right across our country. Our focus over the next number of years is to ramp up housing supply so that we ensure more young people have the ability to buy a home

point the Deputy has made and I believe it is the right one, in that we need to look at the system. I accept that is going to require a more detailed debate in the House. It is clear to me that, if we have a situation where … will likely require legislative change, where I would like to work constructively in this House to see if we can get to a point of consensus on that. It is not about the right to assessment, which I will defend. Rather, the rigidity stemming from the 2022 High

accept violence against gay people. I speak today as a gay man and I am proud of the history and of the rights the gay and lesbian community has won over those years. That violence did not end in 1982. In 2022, Aidan Moffitt and Michael Snee were … identity groups, each waiting for its day, week, month or turn. I remind this House that men and women died for that flag; they died in 1916. They died afterwards fighting for the right to fly that flag for a free Ireland, the flag that draped the coffins

appreciate the past examples. I remember soldiering on some of them together in past iterations of government. We need to get this right, however. My predecessor announced that timeline on budget day. I think we will all agree that we actually do not want to collect much revenue … intend to do it through the Revenue Commissioners because, as the Deputy rightly said, the Revenue Commissioners are good at collecting tax. That is what we intend to do because, in a housing emergency, we cannot tolerate this situation. Currently, the derelict site levy is an annual levy

spoke about how workers in Debenhams were let down by their trade union. I commend her on bringing that up in the House. I see the importance not only of money in the work trade unions do. It is also about the continuous bullying that goes … worker, at the expense of the person on the ground. As has been mentioned in this House, there are many people working day in, day out doing everything right, but living below the bread line. We see every day in our shopping basket how difficult

Ireland to continue to do what it can to support vulnerable people in Ukraine and elsewhere and to support the protection of human rights and international law globally. It is important in this debate, which is framed very much in the context of international law, accountability and compensation … foreign policy that has been prized by all parties and by people from every political perspective in this House, is that the Irish Government calls out breaches of human rights, whether they are by countries we have friendly relationships with or otherwise. That is crucially important. A multilateral

Ireland will transpose this through the International Protection Bill 2025, which, among other changes, will reduce oral hearings at appeal while preserving the rights to be heard and to an effective remedy. The pact comes into effect in 2026, and our job is to be ready … support the Minister’s programme and look forward to working with him and his colleagues across the House to deliver the reforms, capacity and clarity the public rightly expects

private partnership scheme was a farce. Effectively the Government rediscovered the concept of council housing but had to make space in it for its investor friends to wet their beaks. It is right the Minister has pulled the plug on it but the manner in which

believe, as they do. It is building away and profiteering from the housing shortage. I do not know the figure but I know people in my local area who have been - diagnosed is not the right word - assessed as having pyrite level 1. They have not been able … avail of the scheme. Somebody has to fix their houses. It is the fault of the developer and the State for not having the building regulations in place that pertain in most advanced capitalist countries. They are just not in place in Ireland. According to the reply

world he is from, he has been inundated with people who have been dealing with their houses falling down for years. The Minister of State is right that all of this has taken far too long so it is absolutely vital that the work is done over … likes of my constituents in Louth are facilitated, and that people are not looking at cracks that become even bigger cracks and houses that are not in any way safe and secure? In fairness, I was very taken with what Deputy Charles Ward had said about doing something

wish the Minister well in her position. We all get involved in politics because we want to do the right thing. I, too, acknowledge the wonderful staff in the health system, but this is about accountability and responsibility, both of which are lacking within CHI. I sometimes shudder … Minister to work with us. As I said, we are all here to do the right thing. The Minister, I and everybody else in this House know that one of the greatest rewards we can get in our job is when somebody says “Thanks for that

related funding for voluntary organisations. The description was fairly stark. They talked about a systemic failure in the State's provision of housing and care for adults with intellectual disabilities and about overreliance on emergency placements, where parents were living in a perpetual state of near or actual … would be placed in cost-effective, for-profit settings. They argued that their sons and daughters had a right to be heard, to be planned for and to be housed. Centrally, they said this means funded plans for children with intellectual disabilities when their parents pass

decision to extend voting rights to people has been a battle, particularly for women, over the past 100 years. Last year was a bumper year of elections. We had local, European and general elections. I do not need to tell anybody in this House about them … been slipping away. We must ensure the people who vote us into this House see we are using our voice here to represent them, and we must ensure we are doing what is right for everybody in this country. We must also ensure people get out to vote

many students in third level education. The reality is that because of its failure in terms of housing, this Government has displaced so many young people from university campuses right across this country and, in many cases, these young people are now living at home and commuting into

During the election, Independent Ireland said a housing emergency needed to be declared and everyone ran away. Now it seems as though we are rushing through legislation in the Dáil this week in a frantic bid to try to overturn the emergency that is there. There … least they can move this country forward. People are leaving our country. Young people left, right and centre are going out of the country because they cannot buy houses and they cannot see themselves being in homes in the future. That is something we need to overturn