Speeches: 24 March 2026

your government's package of measures to support struggling households which you've described as generous, it's simply not enough. Too little and very late Taoiseach.

The number of houses being delivered with supported housing they need is pathetic.

The failure of the government to condemn, in clear and unequivocal terms, Trump's bloody and illegal war is mirrored in the failure of the government to actually seriously address the economic and financial consequences of their bloody warmongering on ordinary people.

How are ordinary workers supposed to pay for houses at that price?

Have you got consistency in your principles? Will you condemn it and call it out when it's done by the United States and the regime in Israel?

The miserable concessions you've made to address the cost-of-living spikes could be wiped away overnight.

If we invest and resource properly the people who work in this area, support them and the research necessary and the equipment necessary and the capacity and resources, then we can save a lot of lives and I'm certainly a major beneficiary of that.

It is really a disgrace and we, it's about, you know, human dignity and human rights so I ask Minister that we would have as early as possible to fit it into our schedule, to fill out our days.

So there is a need and a rationale for this investment.

In my view that is the government's first port of call to ensure that in a time of crisis when you hit a significant shock in the economy that you first protect the most vulnerable in society.

Today the government is acting to support people in a very real and immediate way.

Ireland has walked blindfolded into an energy crisis.

But Ukrainians in Ireland have told me that they are now forced to travel to either Poland, Spain or Italy at significant financial cost.

The trust must be grounded in transparency, accountability and proper democratic oversight.

What kind of a country are we when your life depends on how much money you have?

When you have a postcode lottery and when it depends on where you live and it depends on the surgery and what access and how quickly you will get that service, I think that's unacceptable and it shows failure.

Two cent per litre. Two cent per litre. That isn't support. That's an insult, an absolute insult.

Everybody, everybody should be getting the care they need, and it shouldn't be based on where they live.

For the agri-contractor sector and for the farmers, it's an insult.

I just said today, this government has no interest in bringing the price of housing down.

A centre of excellence should be the same in Galway as it should be in Dublin, as it should be in Cork, as it should be in all parts of the country if it's a centre of excellence, and we have failed abysmally.

You are not stupid, you are not dumb, you know.

And for some people, treatment delayed, it can be a death sentence.

These are concrete actions to help and support families, working people, businesses with the real and rising cost of fuel and energy.

Three cents is not going to make enough of a difference to give them the confidence to stay going.

I deplore the fact that people that need heaty oil only get a reduction of two cents a litre, which means only 20 euros in a fill of a thousand litre tank.

I think we should, if anything deserves public funding, the boss that's taking patients for treatment should be funded by the state.

For me it is the inequity of the scheme and the unfairness of the scheme on the Irish taxpayer and I will be supporting the motion that Sinn Féin have done this afternoon.

Transparency must be the standard, not the exception.

This behavior is unacceptable, it's opportunistic, it's profiteering, it's gouging on the double.

It is a targeted temporary affordable intervention aimed at protecting living standards and maintaining economic stability and competitiveness.

Violence against women and girls is the shame of our society and we must do everything possible to end it.

You have literally abandoned the 750,000 households that rely on home heating oil.

We need a real plan to start reducing costs of our energy in this country.

And it's important that this story comes out after a couple of years, especially when it comes to the first few years of your career, and that's the end of the Irish as a language, which is a very important language in the world.

It seems to me a tale of three sites that sums up some of the failure by government to address the Gaeltacht Thousand Crisis.

What centuries of colonialism didn't manage to achieve, the state looks very likely within one generation to be able to achieve within 100 years of its existence, and actually if we're really serious about it, within a decade of this growing housing crisis.

It is wrong and it is illegal. So the use of force without UN mandate or authorisation is wrong and it is illegal.

I'm afraid this is not a targeted measure for disabled people, it's a targeted measure for hauliers.

For nearly three decades, successive governments of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Labour and the Greens have failed those families with delay after delay, broken promises and a shocking lack of political urgency.

Your government hasn't even bothered examining this proposal, so you're already in here today announcing half-measures instead of the comprehensive package that should be introduced.

All of us in the house share that goal and are working to ensure the very best outcomes for patients and their families.

He must be so intoxicated by the ministerial leather of the car that he doesn't have to pay for the fuel inside him.

We know that you have dealt with some high level corruption but we'd like you to explain what, in as short a time as you can so I can get some other questions, what you're doing about making it easy for us to get you in there, which is the Irish position.

The reality is that sadly one in two will get cancer in their lifetime in this country, one in three will die from it, and Ireland has the second highest incidence rate of cancer diagnosis in the EU.

We all share an absolute commitment to deliver the best outcomes for patients, and the new national cancer strategy will be a critical step in planning our services for the decade ahead.

So if somebody has, particularly stage 3 or 4 cancer, get them a bloody medical card.

We need to clearly oppose this crazy war. It's absolutely crazy. It's an imperial war, it's a Nile war, and as a small neutral country we need to stand up and say, stop the madness.

At the heart of this particular crisis is government taxes and no other political party is calling this out.

The ERS provides a targeted level of support to operators who keep this country running on a daily basis.

Where you live shouldn't determine how you get your treatment and the people of Donegal deserve the same health care outcomes as everybody else.