Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

A good polemicist and a great propagandist can often conflate issues and spin them to his heart's content, which is what Deputy Boyd Barrett has done. However, he has done it in a very disingenuous and, dare I say, dishonest way in his presentation and his attempt to conflate the two matters. Suffice it to say that I have repeatedly stated in this House that housing is the greatest social issue facing this country and the Government's number one priority is to deal with it. The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage has brought in a raft of not just legislation but also schemes to deal with the housing issue. We need to build houses more rapidly to help younger generations get access to houses they can afford and that they can rent at affordable levels. That might be affordable housing, social housing, cost rental, the refurbishment of existing houses or any other initiatives we can take.

The Supreme Court ruled in respect of CETA, and I welcome the clarification in its judgment. The court did not rule on the principle of free trade but rather on a point of law, which can be remedied. The decision of the court was six to one in favour of the view that an amendment to the Arbitration Act can deal with the issue and that, consequential on such an amendment, CETA can be ratified

. What is this great danger the Deputy wants alarm bells to go off all over the place about? He never says it or references it. He talks about multinationals, developers and vulture funds. He does not talk about the 400 companies that employ many people in this country. These are Enterprise Ireland client companies, many of them startups and many of them small operations, that trade with Canada.

This agreement is operational since 2017. The only real impact of this agreement is a 30% increase in trade between Ireland and Canada to the benefit of our companies and to protect jobs. What does Deputy Boyd Barrett want? Does he want every trade deal the European Commission does with a country like Singapore or Japan to go through a referendum?

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