Speeches: 16 July 2026

Will you set out principles that will guide decisions to ensure that work continues to pay and that middle-income families receive meaningful support?

What we have done is try to put an architecture around that that protects us to the greatest degree possible by putting in a regulator, by putting in proper protocols around funding, and by managing and mitigating risk appropriately.

And for me, the vision has to be, and for young people on both sides of the border, it has to be one about investing in education research, about continuing to be a pro-trade island, because this is essential for this island, and being at the centre of the European Union.

We urgently need firm guarantees that workers' rights will be protected.

But leaving all politics aside, the economic benefits of reunification present unprecedented opportunities for sustainable growth, and as we prepare for constitutional future of this Ireland, one of the key priorities must be creating an all-Ireland competitive and conducive environment for foreign direct investment and indigenous businesses.

But it really feels like they gamed the contract.

It is engagement required at the highest level to try and resolve this issue in the public interest, and in the taxpayers' interest.

I would ask you, would somebody please get on to those civil servants that's in, well it's the Department of Education but it's the bus airdrome section, because the same thing reoccurs every year.

Cost should never be put in front of Irish unity.

The question is not simply what a united Ireland would cost, but what a united Ireland could create.

The number one reason children end up in ICU in Ireland is because of e-scooter accidents.

I am begging you, Tánaiste, I am begging you to intervene and to do it now, not to stall, not to delay, because these young people and others and their families are now relying on you, Simon Harris, to do the right thing.

So it's high time, Tánaiste, that the government did the right thing as asked for by Cara and in fact she might take the opportunity to meet with her before she leaves Dublin.

One of the issues that occurs to me ... it can be quite difficult for some traditional harvesters to prove their claim.

One of the things that struck me was the diagram of a very long saga which has resulted in about €50 million of public money being effectively flushed down the drain and still us not being very far in terms of what we clearly desperately need in terms of a new traffic management system.

That's not independent, getting the NTA to do it is not independent and it isn't a feasibility study.

All the triple lock does is ensure that we only can send troops in line with international law.

So I look forward to seeing you all in September, revitalised and ready for the autumn term.

A spell in jail does not justice make and a light must be shone into the environment that allowed a prolific paedophile to operate within our public health service with impunity unchallenged for over 30 years.

The department remains committed to constructive engagement with FORSA and remains available to engage in relation to these matters.

It is a form of cruelty beyond all description to force families to endure circumstances such as these.

Will the Tánaiste also agree with me however that no aspect or provision of the International Protection Act should ever inadvertently give cover to, hamper, An Garda Síochána in the effective discharge of their duties in terms of releasing information on those suspected of such crimes?

Tánaiste, you do not need a report to figure out that alumina from Aughinish Alumina is ending up in Russian weapons.

Ryan O'Meara asks parliamentary questions on how the Government intends to deliver its Programme for Government commitment to reduce the primary pupil-teacher ratio to 19:1, as well as on Budget 2026 education spending and priorities. In response, the Minister for Education outlines recent progress on staffing and class sizes, while highlighting budgetary constraints and the role of school planning and the National Development Plan (NDP).

I think the system is so broken for every traveller that specific groups within that... I think the key is fix it for everybody.

The government proposes to get rid of the Triple Lock.

As a left Republican I would put the case that we cannot afford not to have the national reunification.

Domestic sexual gender-based violence is an epidemic in Irish society.

And where a service fails registration after 45 days, a child is removed after 45 days if that centre hasn't achieved registration.