Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 29 Apr 2025

Vol. 1066 No. 2

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions

Deputy Mary Lou McDonald

The outrageous salary the Taoiseach proposes to pay his new housing tsar is €430,000. It is nearly half a million euro - an astonishing amount of taxpayers' money for the salary of just one person. It is more than the Taoiseach's very generous salary. It is even more than the President of the United States is paid. It is equivalent to the starting salary of 11 new nurses, 11 new gardaí or 13 new special needs assistants.

What is to be the role of this new highly paid tsar? From what we have heard, he will focus on removing roadblocks to housing construction, getting houses built more quickly and speeding up housing delivery or, in other words, the main responsibilities of the Minister for housing. That is a very expensive jobshare. It is clear the Government has no confidence in the ability of the Minister, Deputy James Browne, to do his job.

This €430,000 is a slap in the face for working people who are hit with rip-off bill after rip-off bill and who struggle to make it to the end of the week. It is a kick in the teeth for those saving every spare cent as they desperately try to put together the deposit for a house and for every young person who has been forced to leave this country because he or she cannot afford a home.

How does the Taoiseach justify this extravagant, gold-plated salary to those who are forced to fork out €2,000 on rent every months, to families who wait and wait on council waiting lists for a home or to mothers and fathers forced into homelessness, raising their children in hotel rooms or hubs? The appointment of the housing tsar changes nothing for them; that is the truth. This new, cushy job is part and parcel of the same broken Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael policies that landed us in this mess in the first place. As house prices, rents and homelessness all continue to rise, and as the Government parties miss their inadequate housing targets year after year, the Taoiseach's next move and his next big idea is to appoint another bureaucrat on an eye-watering salary. It truly beggars belief.

Deputy Matt Carthy

Hear, hear.

Deputy Mary Lou McDonald

We have had the most expensive bike shed in the world, the €1 million security hut and the €9 million on phone pouches so people already know that the Taoiseach's Government is a serial waster of public money but this one really takes the biscuit. It has actually gone to the trouble of making up a job with a salary of €430,000 simply to give the appearance of Government action when it is doing nothing at all except going around and around in circles. It is the Government's clearest admission that it has no new idea of substance or any real plan to fix housing.

Nuair atá Fianna Fáil agus Fine Gael ag plé sár a earcú chun jab an Aire tithíochta a dhéanamh agus €430,000 a íoc leis, tá siad ag admháil go soiléir go bhfuil plean tithíochta an Rialtais ina phraiseach.

The Taoiseach deliberately misled the electorate in November, he deliberately used false housing delivery figures to take the bad look off himself - he did that brazenly - and now he is at it again. He is spinning, bluffing and taking people for fools. As he spectacularly fails, he dreams up this appointment. Can the Taoiseach confirm the new housing tsar will be paid €430,000? Can he tell us how on earth he stands over this? Can he explain to us why he is recruiting a jobshare for his housing Minister?

Deputies

Hear, hear.

The Taoiseach

I could not disagree more with the Deputy on her critique of Government housing policy. The bottom line is that if we look over the past four years, there has been a very significant step change in the level and scale of housing delivery in this country. On social housing alone, more than 48,000 houses have been to the social housing stock.

Deputy Mark Ward

There are 15,000 homeless.

The Taoiseach

Not since the 1970s have we seen that level and scale of social house building and social house provision. Those are the facts. We need to do far more than that but, without question, the number of social houses built in the past three to four years is without compare and we would have to go back to the 1970s to get similar levels of social house completion.

Deputy Matt Carthy

It is cloud cuckoo land stuff.

The Taoiseach

In the first three years of Housing for All - 2022 to 2024 - overall housing targets were exceeded. It is not all failure and failure as Deputy McDonald dismisses it. Those were the targets set by Housing for All and they were exceeded. More than 130,000 houses were constructed.

Deputy Martin Kenny

How many new houses this year?

The Taoiseach

We need to do much, much more. The ESRI has said that the need, as a result of population growth and so on, is approximately 50,000 per annum. Sinn Féin has failed in any shape or form to provide any substance underpinning housing policy in respect of how it would achieve that target, never mind the 30,000-plus that have been achieved on an annual basis over the past three years.

Deputy Paul Donnelly

There is record homelessness.

The Taoiseach

Its policies were demonstrably anti-first-time buyer and there has been quite a significant drawdown of mortgages. Up to 120,000 first-time buyer mortgages have been drawn down over the past number of years.

Deputy Louise O'Reilly

What happened to house prices?

The Taoiseach

If Sinn Féin had its way, it would have taken away the supports such as the help to buy scheme or indeed the first home scheme from those first-time buyers and it would have destroyed the momentum that has been built up over the past number of years-----

Deputy Matt Carthy

What momentum?

The Taoiseach

-----in respect of first-time buyers. That is the reality. Deputy Mac Lochlainn can smile all he likes but that is the truth. Sinn Féin wanted to get rid of the help to buy scheme. It wanted to get rid of the bridge the gap scheme. Will he please explain to first-time buyers how that would have assisted them? It would not have in any shape or form.

We will maintain the focus on social housing, affordable housing and on our work with the Land Development Agency. Already this year, an additional €800 million has been allocated on top of the €6 billion.

Deputy Seán Crowe

Will the Taoiseach tell us about his new man?

The Taoiseach

That includes €450 million for a further 3,000 affordable and social homes and €325 million in respect of second-hand acquisitions, incorporating the tenant in situ scheme and the provision for that. Since 2023 alone-----

Deputy Seán Crowe

Will the Taoiseach tell us about his new man?

The Taoiseach

-----over 3,300 homes have been acquired through second-hand acquisitions, as they are called, by local authorities across the country. We have published the national planning framework since coming back into office, which will facilitate the zoning of a considerably greater degree of land. I hope Sinn Féin will support that on local authorities across the country and get rid of its serial opposition to social housing that has been demonstrated time and time again.

(Interruptions).

An Ceann Comhairle

Please, Members.

The Taoiseach

The heads of the short-term lets Bill have been brought to Cabinet-----

Deputy Martin Kenny

The Taoiseach is not answering the question.

The Taoiseach

-----and approved by Cabinet.

Deputy Mark Ward

The Taoiseach should answer the question he was asked.

The Taoiseach

The Government decided today to establish the housing activation office. No decision has been taken as to who will head up that office but the person will be seconded from within the public service. That is an intention, which basically means there will be no additional cost in salary or whatever-----

Deputy Louise O'Reilly

The position will not be backfilled with someone who held a previous position then.

The Taoiseach

-----to housing - or to anybody, for that matter - in terms of a secondment-----

Deputy Louise O'Reilly

No backfilling.

The Taoiseach

-----within the public service. That is the objective, but no decision has been made, so I am not in a position to confirm anything to Deputy McDonald today in that respect.

Deputy Seán Crowe

"Not confirming anything" is right.

Deputy Mary Lou McDonald

The Government built fewer houses last year than the year before, and the indications are that it will fail to meet targets again this year and build less. The evidence is there for all to see in growing costs and in the levels of homelessness. All the evidence and data are there. More importantly, the reality is lived every day, so the Taoiseach can stand up and spoof and shout at me and point his finger but he cannot alter the reality of the Government's abject failure, which, astonishingly, he is attempting to dress up as success. If that is his idea of success, God help us should we ever see something he might deem to be a failure or an underperformance.

I asked the Taoiseach three questions. I want him to confirm for us that this tsar will be paid €430,000. I do not care where he or she is seconded from. Is that the salary envisaged? I want the Taoiseach to explain how he stands over that. More importantly, why is he double-jobbing his Minister for housing? He has a full Cabinet Minister for housing.

An Ceann Comhairle

Thank you, Deputy. Your time is up.

Deputy Mary Lou McDonald

Why does the Taoiseach have so little confidence in him?

An Ceann Comhairle

I call on the Taoiseach to respond.

Deputy Mary Lou McDonald

Perhaps, in reality, he agrees with all of us-----

An Ceann Comhairle

Thank you, Deputy McDonald. Your time is up.

Deputy Mary Lou McDonald

-----that neither he nor any Government Member is up to the task.

The Taoiseach

I wish to confirm to the Deputy that the Central Statistics Office on Thursday - and the Deputy is good for giving her side or perspective all the time - indicated that close to 6,000 new homes were completed in the first quarter of 2025, which is the second highest first quarter delivery since the day the series began in 2011 and a 2% increase on the first quarter of 2024. It is a figure that the Deputy did not in any shape or form refer to.

Deputy Mary Lou McDonald

But I did refer to the €430,000.

The Taoiseach

That is not surprising because she did not in any shape or form want to point to any figures that would give some degree of positive reality. We want to build far more and we acknowledge that we have far more to build. The Deputy has a record of opposing well over 1,000 houses in her own constituency.

Deputy Mairéad Farrell

What about the €430,000?

Deputy Mary Lou McDonald

What about the €430,000?

The Taoiseach

She has put her own constituency needs above and beyond the housing-----

(Interruptions).

The Taoiseach

She did. She objected to well over 1,000 houses in her constituency.

Deputy Mairéad Farrell

This is Taoiseach's questions.

The Taoiseach

It is a bit rich of her to come in here on a daily basis ranting about housing when her own record in respect of giving it the ultimate priority that it deserves is fairly poor in terms of her performance.

Deputy Pearse Doherty

Why does the Taoiseach have no confidence in his Minister?

Deputy Conor D. McGuinness

What about confidence in the Minister?

The Taoiseach

The programme for Government-----

An Ceann Comhairle

Thank you, Taoiseach. Your time is up.

The Taoiseach

-----is clear in its decision. The programme ordained that we would set up a housing activation office because we are going to consistently add to the initiatives we have taken in housing-----

An Ceann Comhairle

Thank you, Taoiseach. Your time is up.

Deputy Mary Lou McDonald

Where is the Minister?

Deputy Pearse Doherty

Is he not up to the job?

The Taoiseach

-----and we make no apologies for doing further in terms of-----

An Ceann Comhairle

I call on Deputy Ivana Bacik of the Labour Party.

Deputy Ivana Bacik

As we know, childhood is short, and children being failed by the State today do not have the luxury of time. There are massive negative consequences for any child who receives inappropriate schooling or, worse, no schooling at all, yet across the State we see systemic failures in provision for children with additional needs.

That is why, once again, we in Labour will be using our Private Members' time tomorrow morning to propose a motion on special education. That motion has nine sensible, simple and strategic asks to address the ongoing failure of this State to provide school places for children with special or additional educational needs. We are all aware of this crisis because across the country we have all heard the immense frustration from parents, grandparents, siblings and teachers who are desperately trying to do all they can to ensure the children in their lives are provided with appropriate education. Parents are writing to all of us TDs. They are sleeping out in the streets in protest and some are going to the courts. All this is in an effort to move the Taoiseach's Government to provide for that basic right to an education. I quote the brilliant young activist, Cara Darmody, whom the Taoiseach has met. She has asked how Cabinet Ministers can expect the children of Ireland to grow up to respect the law when they see flagrant law-breaking by their own Government. It is a fair point because the simple fact is the State has a legal obligation to vindicate the right of all children to an education, yet it is being taken to court for failing in that duty all the time. While sometimes the State settles or the issue is resolved, at other times we see the State adopting an approach to litigation like something we would expect from a faceless private corporation. This shows contempt for children and their families, because they want nothing more a diagnosis and to be able to get a suitable school place in their community. It is not a tall order, but those who take the cases feel they have no choice but to do so.

It is not just children and their families who are crying out for help. We are also hearing the frustration from teachers, principals, SNAs and school staff. The Taoiseach is hearing it, as are his colleagues in government. During the Easter recess last week my colleague, our education spokesperson, Deputy Kenny, attended the different teachers’ conferences around the country. He engaged with and heard directly from teachers about their frustration on this issue. A recurrent theme he heard about was desperate experiences. One primary teacher he spoke with had 28 pupils, several of whom had learning difficulties, and just one SNA in the class. There was another teacher who was told that no special class in the school would be sanctioned, despite it having more than ten children on a provisional waiting list. Ours is supposed to be the land of saints and scholars, but how can teachers be expected to teach when they are also expected to carry out the roles of a therapist and an SNA, and our SNAs are so overburdened? The Taoiseach often asks where the solutions are in this House. I have a set of solutions here for him. We have our motion. It is before the House tomorrow. I am asking the Taoiseach to commit to passing our motion and to giving parents and children the certainty and clarity they need.

The Taoiseach

I thank the Deputy for raising this very important issue which is top of the Government's priorities, namely, special needs in general and especially special needs education. I make the point special education now accounts for about 28% of the entire education budget. That is a 48% increase in four years since 2020. Staffing has grown 27%, with 23,400 special needs assistants now in our school system. That is not a story of pulling back, regression, cuts or anything like that, but one of expansion and growth and it will continue to grow. We now have 124 special schools serving 9,112 pupils. There have been 11 new ones opened since 2020, with five more opening in the academic year 2025-2026. The number of children attending special classes in mainstream schools has doubled over the past five years from just over 9,000 in 2019 to almost 19,000 in 2024, with 3,335 special classes now in place to support them. Up to 2,700 new special education placements are planned for 2025-2026. This includes 400 new special classes and 300 special school places. There have been 399 new special classes sanctioned to date and the remainder will follow. An additional 1,200 places are available due to student movement. We will provide up to 3,900 placements this year for about 3,275 seeking them. The aim is to get a place for every child. There have been issues in terms of geography and certain locations and so on, but no stone is being left unturned to get a place for every child this September, because it is a constitutional right of every child to enjoy an education.

It is the Government's obligation to vindicate that right. It is far better that resources are allocated to schools as opposed to the courts. That is always my objective and that of the Minister for Education, Deputy McEntee, and the Minister of State for special education, Deputy Michael Moynihan. We will continue to work on this matter at primary and post-primary levels and make sure we do everything we can. There are still some challenges in the Dublin area in the context of the speed of getting special classes constructed, planning constraints, etc., but we are working flat out. The Minister and Minister of State are doing so on the he special education front.

On assessments of need, we have developed and sanctioned the national in-school therapy programme. That is on the way. The decision has been taken. We will roll out a national system whereby we will have therapists starting in our special schools.

Deputy Ivana Bacik

The Taoiseach gave some figures. Of course there are some good news stories throughout the country. I have visited schools that have superb facilities. I acknowledge that. There are some new builds that are really impressive. As the Taoiseach stated, however, there are still immense challenges. In the Dublin area, there are immense challenges. The Taoiseach referred to growth and expansion. There is not sufficient growth or expansion to meet the growing demand and needs that exist. I will provide some figures. Some 14,221 children are overdue assessments of need. Nearly 13,000 are awaiting first contact with a children's disability network team. Last September, shamefully, 126 children with special educational needs were not given school places. The delay in accessing and securing appropriate places caused immense frustration and distress for those children and their parents, many of whom we have met. We in the Labour Party have put forward a set of nine clear asks in our motion for tomorrow. I ask that they be taken on board. We are calling on the Government to adopt a plan that will provide parents and, crucially, children, with clarity and appropriate school places.

The Taoiseach

As I said, there is a plan. In the past five years, we provided 11 new special schools and five more are set for 2025-26.

On the High Court decision some years ago in respect of preliminary assessments or the then system organised by the HSE, the experts have come back to the Government and stated that it has compounded the delay and backlog relating to assessments of need. The Government is looking at legislative options to create a better screening programme to make sure there is ongoing assessment to deal with that backlog. That work is under way. Yesterday, the Cabinet sub-committee on disability took decisions in that respect. The Minister, Deputy Foley, and the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, in the Department of children made contributions at that meeting. Last year, the previous Government approved the recruitment of 40-odd therapists to work with the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, in an advisory capacity for schools. There has been strong and very successful recruitment process, which is interesting. The next phase will be a national in-school therapy scheme provided by the NCSE on behalf of schools, initially for special schools, under which therapists will be recruited.

Deputy Cian O'Callaghan

I was hoping the Government had learned its lesson when it was caught out deliberately misrepresenting last year's housing delivery numbers. I was wrong. When the figures for affordable housing were finally published last week, something was clearly off with them. Cooking the books was the only way the Minister could pretend the targets had been met. The target was 6,400 new-build affordable homes, but only 2,806 - less than half the target - were actually delivered. No amount of spin or attempts to inflate the figures can hide the Government's failure. Continually trying to mislead the public comes at a cost - your credibility. The reality is that nobody trusts this Government on housing. Nobody believes your plan is working. Even your own TDs are telling journalists your handling of housing is a disaster. At this point, any rational government would admit failure and concede what is needed, namely a new approach and a radical reset.

Instead, the Government's big idea is another gimmick, namely hiring a housing tsar. The head of the National Asset Management Agency, NAMA, which oversaw the fire sale of thousands of homes and billions of euro of development land, is being headhunted for this position.

While the Government focuses on spinning its dismal performance, journalist Barry White described what it is like trying to buy a home. A two-bedroom house in Crumlin with an asking price of €375,000 was the subject of bids of €550,000 in a matter of days. These kind of bidding wars are taking place across the country. This is the reality faced by thousands of people. Is it any wonder that an increasing number of people are giving up on the hope of ever owning their own home?

People who are struggling to buy homes, living in emergency accommodation or paying extortionate rents are tired of broken promises. What they want is a plan that will actually deliver affordable homes. They want something like the Social Democrats proposal produced by my colleague Deputy Rory Hearne to launch a homes for Ireland's savings account. This would leverage some of the €160 billion on deposit to fund the construction of affordable homes. We clearly need alternatives to investment funds if we are going to deliver housing that people can genuinely afford. There are solutions to this housing crisis.

Does the Taoiseach accept that the Government missed its affordable housing targets last year? Will he consider the Social Democrats homes for Ireland plan to fund affordable housing?

The Taoiseach

I appreciate the Deputy raising this issue again. Some 7,100 affordable housing solutions were delivered in 2024, exceeding the delivery target of 6,400. Since we came into office in 2020, nearly 13,000 affordable housing options have been delivered by the various delivery partners. Help to buy has helped young people to afford to buy first time new-build houses. Bridge the gap has also helped first-time buyers in terms of affordability. Those are schemes the Deputy's party opposed, which raises the fundamental question of how it would have assisted people when it comes to affordability in the context of new homes.

The Government will always consider new proposals, but this is about supply. I read the article by Deputy Hearne in respect of the Social Democrats' version of a special savings incentive account, SSIA, scheme to create funding for affordable homes. That does not actually build homes. It can perhaps help to create funding, but it will not lead to homes being built in the short term. The Deputy said it is an alternative to investment funds. We do not have too many investment funds investing in housing in the Irish economy right now, and that is a problem.

We had an SSIA scheme in the past. It was roundly criticised at the time. We have moved into a new era. The Government is open to consideration of a range of issues. The more fundamental point is how we get 50,000 houses built. I have genuinely yet to see anything from the Opposition that answers that question. The Government has built in or around 30,000 units. There has been a step change in the past four years from where we were, but this has taken huge investment on the part of the Government. On its own, that will not suffice.

We accept the argument that additional funding is required. We need private sector funding. The Deputy seems to suggest that a savings and investment type scheme would be an alternative to investment funds. I argue that we need to attract investment into Ireland in order to get more private sector supply and add to the €6 billion plus the Government will put into housing this year. We have added €800 million already, so the figure for 2025 will be more than €7 billion in terms of Government funding for housing. We need alternative sources of funding to add to that.

If the Deputy wants to put forward a detailed proposal in that respect, we will gladly receive it. I read one article on the matter. It is not clear from said article as to how that would cause a significant ramping up of construction of housing. We are open to any proposals on that front that the Deputy's party may have. If the Social Democrats can give us a detailed blueprint of the proposed scheme, we will certainly assess it.

Deputy Cian O'Callaghan

The Taoiseach knows well that increasing the funding sources for housing will increase the construction of housing. In fact, he has often said that the reason the Government relies on investment funds is because of a lack of alteratives.

The situation is that there are now 15,418 people living in emergency homeless accommodation. There are 4,675 children growing up without a home. Rents have never been higher, house prices have never been higher and homelessness is at record levels. This is causing incredible stress, hardship and anxiety for families across Ireland. The answer from the Government to this seems to be to inflate figures around affordable housing delivery and to cook the books. All of a sudden, it is counting vacancy grants as an equivalent of new build affordable homes, and this is fooling no one. I ask the Taoiseach again: will he admit that the Government missed its affordable housing targets last year?

The Taoiseach

The Deputy is very dismissive of the vacancy grants. They are a huge-----

Deputy Cian O'Callaghan

They are not an affordable home.

The Taoiseach

They are a huge addition to making houses affordable for God's sake.

Deputy Cian O'Callaghan

They are not a new build affordable home.

The Taoiseach

If the Deputy talks to anybody who avails of those grants, he see they are incredibly substantial, and so are the grants for dereliction if a person buys a derelict house and refurbishes it.

Deputy Cian O'Callaghan

The Government is painting them as a new build affordable home.

The Taoiseach

That makes it affordable. It made it possible, and it has been a success. I know the Social Democrats opposed it.

Deputy Rory Hearne

Somebody got a grant for €1.5 million home.

The Taoiseach

Some of them went out against that as well-----

Deputy Rory Hearne

How is that affordable?

The Taoiseach

-----because they went against the affordability legislation that passed through the House in the previous Dáil.

The homelessness issue is becoming much more complex in terms of the composition of those who are homeless now-----

Deputy Louise O'Reilly

Here we go.

The Taoiseach

-----and the additional pressures that have come on in terms of emergency housing accommodation. It is not similar to what homelessness was five or six years ago. That needs to be acknowledged and analysed as well. What Government is focusing on is exiting people from homelessness as quickly as possible and preventing people from becoming homeless in the first instance.

Deputy Conor D. McGuinness

How is that going for you?

An Ceann Comhairle

I thank the Taoiseach. We now move to Deputy Connolly.

Deputy Catherine Connolly

Táim ag díriú isteach ar mhuintir na Palaistíne agus an cinedhíothú atá ar siúl inár n-ainm fad is atáimid anseo ag caint agus briathra milse, bhreátha ag na hAirí gan beart ar bith. Inné sa chúirt, dúirt Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh, "Israel has closed all crossings and it has turned Rafah itself, once a refuge for almost 1.5 million displaced Palestinians, into a post-apocalyptic wasteland."

At the weekend alone, 52 people - children, women and men - were slaughtered in addition to the 51,000 Palestinians already killed, 70% of whom are women and children, and more than 120,000 Palestinians reported injured. Israel has systematically destroyed 95% of Gaza's hospitals and maternity clinics. The office for the co-ordination of humanitarian assistance told us that Israel began its blockade and since then not a single truck carrying food, fuel, medicine or any other essentials has been allowed in no matter how critical. Just in case the Taoiseach or we were in any doubt at all, the defence minister in Israel, Israel Katz, told us that Israel's policy is clear that "no humanitarian aid is about to enter Gaza." Preventing humanitarian aid to Gaza is one of the main tools of pressure. No one is going to get any aid. I have said repeatedly that I think the best thing for me to do would be to stand here in silence at what is happening in our name - genocide - while we use sweet words and do little else. We boast that we are better than any other country, and that measuring stick is really very low. Yesterday, again, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs stated that:

We know that people are thirsty ... We know that solid waste is piling up and ... people are trapped under the rubble ... [and living on the rubble]. We know that the land is shrinking with displacement orders ... [We know that] fishers [are being] shot at sea, and that nowhere is safe.

It said all of that. I will go on to what we see. It went on to state that "We have seen the images of children's bodies being thrown from one building to another due to the force of the bombing. We have seen the videos of families being burnt alive." These are the words of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, not mine. It continued, "We have seen the bodies of our colleagues who have been killed. We have seen the total and complete destruction of infrastructure in Gaza all around us. We have seen patients having to be turned away after a hospital has been bombed ... "

I wish I could go on. Will the Taoiseach please tell me what specific action he is going to take, including in respect of the occupied territories Bill, stopping trade with Gaza and inspecting planes at Shannon, at the very least, to make our words mean something?

The Taoiseach

I have been very consistent in this House, as the Government has been, in condemning Israeli attacks on Gaza and the continuing bombardment of Gaza. We have been absolutely consistent, without question. We have taken a whole range of steps since the outbreak of this terrible war and the horrific attack by Hamas on 7 October, which also deserves to be roundly condemned. I have done that, too. The blockade of the past 50 days, when no food, no medicines and no essential supplies have been allowed into Gaza, is a war crime. Of that, in our view, there is no doubt. It contravenes international humanitarian law. It is horrific in its enactment and implementation.

Ireland has strongly supported UNRWA with, I believe, approximately €58 million, which is significantly per capita ahead of others. That is not the point, but we have. We have supported the organisation not only financially but also diplomatically and politically. We made efforts to ensure that when the storm was blowing and efforts were being made to try to undermine UNRWA, Ireland stood up and told the herd that was moving in that direction to stop because we needed to continue to support UNRWA. It is the only organisation that can play any meaningful role in the reconstruction of Gaza and the continuing provision of humanitarian supplies to Gaza. There has to be an immediate opening up of humanitarian access. We have recognised the State of Palestine. There was a lot of pressure in this House for us to do that. We did it with other countries to try to create leverage with the Arab peace plan and get momentum behind that. With Norway, Spain, Slovenia and others, we collectively did that. We have also intervened in the genocide case that South Africa has brought before the ICJ. We have made a thoughtful, strong and comprehensive legal intervention around the issue of the prevention of humanitarian aid in a time of war and invited the court to broaden its definitions in terms of intention as well as the prevention of humanitarian aid to a conflict area, in this case Gaza, so that they are broadly in line with the convention's definition. It was a well-informed submission that took a lot of criticism from different quarters. Nonetheless, it was an intervention that was considered and very well-informed and had greater credibility internationally because of that than would otherwise have been the case. It was not just a political or superficial intervention but a substantive one.

The bottom line is that we must do everything. We can add with others to keep the pressure on through all the international forums of which we are a member, but we are not responsible for the actions of ministers Katz, Smotrich, Ben-Gvir and others, which are not in our name.

Deputy Catherine Connolly

It is our responsibility.

The Taoiseach

It is not-----

Deputy Catherine Connolly

We have an obligation to prevent genocide and not to be complicit in genocide. It is our job to do something. It is particularly our job as a country that was colonised. That is exactly what has happened with Israel's colonisation of Gaza and, more widely, Palestine. As a republic and an independent sovereign state, we have a duty to take action.

Doctors Without Borders has described the area as "a mass grave of Palestinians and those coming to their assistance". I challenge all of us to stand up and stop the genocide that is taking place in our name because we are complicit. We are allowing the use of Shannon. We are doing nothing about planes coming through Shannon before going to punish and murder Palestinians. We are doing nothing to progress the occupied territories Bill. We are increasing our export of dual-use goods and so on. We are trading with Israel as part of the EU bloc. The Taoiseach stands here and takes pride in the fact we have done something. I have praised him in the past for standing up and recognising Palestine but I no longer praise him. Genocide is going on in our name.

The Taoiseach

I never used the word "pride", so do not put words in my mouth, please.

I never used that word, nor did I use the word "boast". Everything within our capacity to have an impact on this situation, we have been doing. We should not overinflate the impact of other measures the Deputy mentioned. There are no planes leaving Shannon for Gaza.

Deputy Catherine Connolly

You do not know because you have not inspected them.

The Taoiseach

You have made an assertion that there are-----

Deputy Catherine Connolly

I have asked you to inspect them.

An Ceann Comhairle

Deputy, allow the response.

The Taoiseach

-----and there are not. I respect the Deputy a lot and I respect her good faith on these issues to a point, but I often get the sense the debate on Palestine in this House and elsewhere is more about trying to create division between the public, the people and the Government of the day.

Deputy Catherine Connolly

That is not true.

The Taoiseach

That is my genuine sense.

(Interruptions).

Deputy Paul Lawless

You promised to enact the occupied territories Bill before the election.

The Taoiseach

I have been through this since the beginning of the war and that is a genuine takeaway I have from some of the protestations and interruptions from certain people on the far left in particular-----

Deputy Catherine Connolly

Is masla é sin do chosmhuintir na tíre.

The Taoiseach

-----who have interrupted various meetings we have had, endeavouring to disrupt.

An Ceann Comhairle

Thank you, Taoiseach.

The Taoiseach

That is fine if people want to do that but it is not advancing, in my view, sensible, logical and rational debate as best we can.

An Ceann Comhairle

Thank you, Taoiseach. Time is up.

The Taoiseach

What is going on is appalling. No one has a monopoly of virtue on the question in this House, nor should one seek to assert it.

An Ceann Comhairle

Before I move to Standing Order 35, I have been asked to welcome the Coolagown group, which is visiting today with Deputy Noel McCarthy. We move to Standing Order 35 and I call on the Chief Whip, Deputy Butler, to move that the arrangements for the week's business be agreed to.