Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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The cost of living continues to bite hard on working people. Ordinary households are finding it very difficult to keep up with the never-ending barrage of rip-off bills, yet the Government seems oblivious to the pressure people are under. It seems content to sit on its hands and do nothing while workers and families barely get by. On the watch of this Government, households are hit by soaring costs across the board. The price of the weekly shop is through the roof. In the past year, the price of a pound of butter has increased by €1, the price of two litres of milk is up by 27 cent, the price of cheddar cheese is up by 79 cent and since 2022, the price of a bag of potatoes has doubled. The price of toothpaste and other basic toiletries is sky-high. Rent goes up and up. In the past year, rents went up by at least €100 per month. On average, people fork out €2,000 per month. That is the nightmare the Government has created for renters. Motor insurance has gone up by a whopping 9% in just 12 months. That is more than double the EU average. We have the highest electricity prices anywhere in Europe - €350 per year dearer than other countries.

People are working very hard. They are working all hours to make a better life for themselves and their families but they are being hit from all sides. They are contacting us at their wits' end. Here are some of the things they have told us. Amy said that the price gouging is unreal. She told us that the weekly shop for her family of five - two adults and three children - is now €260 and their most recent electricity bill was €460. David told us that his car insurance just shot up by €200. He said there was no crash, no claim and no change and that it was just a random slap in the face because the company felt like it. Fiona said "nine bloody euro for a bottle of shampoo that used to cost €4.50. These price hikes are an absolute joke". Susan said "it's getting impossible to keep the head above water. Everything except our income is going up and up and it's killing us". This is just a snapshot of the rip-off people are experiencing day in and day out.

By contrast, here is what the Taoiseach had to say in Brussels on Thursday. He said that he, the Tánaiste, the Minister for Finance, the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform had all ruled out a specific cost-of-living package in advance of the budget. This position was repeated by one of his Fianna Fáil colleagues on the radio yesterday. Hardworking people are being fleeced left, right and centre. Many have very little left at the end of the week, are forced to decide which bill to pay and which one to leave and are forced to cut back on the basics and the Government proclaims that it will not act and will not help. It is not lost on anyone that at the same time the Taoiseach rules out help for ordinary people, he had no problem delivering big pay hikes for his raft of junior and super junior Ministers.

Tá lucht oibre na tíre lomtha ag praghsanna atá ag dul in airde agus billí atá ag imeacht as smacht. Níl sé sásúil go bhfuil an Rialtas ag suí siar ag déanamh faic. The Taoiseach cannot leave working people and families high and dry. He must act. He should bring forward cost-of-living supports to ease this enormous pressure on households.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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Ní aontaím leis an Teachta in aon chor. Níl an ceart aici. Tá níos mó déanta ag an Rialtas seo i dtaobh costas maireachtála agus an brú a ísliú agus a laghdú do chosmhuintir na hÉireann ná aon rialtas eile ar fud na hEorpa. Tá sé sin soiléir ón méid tacaíochta a thugamar sa cháinaisnéis a bhí againn an Deireadh Fómhair seo caite. Is léir sin. I disagree fundamentally with the Deputy's presentation. No Government across the 27 member states of the EU has provided as much as this Government and the previous one did in terms of cost-of-living supports. Quite exceptional once-off contributions were made, quite apart from the other significant provision we made within the mainstream elements of the budget. Over €7.3 billion was made available in temporary expenditure and €9.9 billion was made available in recurring expenditure in supporting household incomes.

We have been very conscious of the fact that at its peak, inflation reached a multi-decade high of close to 10% in Ireland. That was the position. This inflationary shock did have a significant impact on households, people and SMEs, so significant fiscal support was provided by the Government in specific cost-of-living measures that were temporary but also in taxation reductions in the past budget that will take effect this year, as well as other measures like the free school books scheme, public transport supports and hot school meals, all of which have been of significant assistance.

Budget 2025 provided for a further €2.2 billion cost-of-living package and included an increased payment in respect of the rent tax credit for 2024 from €1,000 to €2,000, the extension of the 9% reduced VAT rate for gas and electricity, the extension of mortgage interest relief until the end of 2025, a double month child benefit payment, two €125 electricity credits for households, two double week payments for all long-term social welfare recipients and €167 million for the increased cost of business schemes. The taxation measures in the budget will reduce income tax paid and the universal social charge.

Consumer price inflation has eased significantly from where it was over the past two years. Annual average inflation of 1.3% was recorded in 2024. This compares with 5.2% in 2023 and 8.1% in 2022. The latest data shows inflation was 2% in April. This the target rate of inflation used by the European Central Bank.

Notwithstanding the easing of the rate of inflation, the price level remains elevated and we are very conscious of that. Our agenda and objective in the budget when it comes in the autumn will be to provide within the social protection payment programme and do what we can on taxation to alleviate the pressures on people. We had an exceptional period in 2022 and 2023 and during Covid. The response has been exceptional by any yardstick. Sustainability matters in terms of public finances but it also matters in terms of longer term sustainable programmes in social protection, the tax code and the provision of public expenditure.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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Tá sé soiléir go bhfuil daoine agus teaghlaigh faoi bhrú. Is í sin an fhírinne. Sustainability matters for families. Notwithstanding everything the Taoiseach lauded in his self-congratulatory soliloquy, Amy's groceries still cost €260 per week, her electricity bill was €460 and a bottle of shampoo that used to cost €4.50 is now €9. Yes, inflation has tamed but the cost-of-living crisis has not gone away. For the life of me, I cannot understand why the Taoiseach cannot accept people's experiences as bona fide. They include renters, people struggling to pay mortgages and childcare costs and people struggling to put bread on the table, pay the electricity bill and keep the show on the road. There is ample evidence that this experience is widespread. It is not simply those on social welfare payments. These are working families who are struggling and yet the Taoiseach is telling them "No". They cannot wait until October. We need cost-of-living supports and we need them with urgency.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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I know the Deputy dismisses people on social welfare. She has just done so.

Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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No, she has not.

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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It is not just about them. It is about working families. The Taoiseach is an intelligent man.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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To be fair to her party, it moves along the spectrum from time to time in terms of the political narrative. The point, of course, is that what I did say was that provision has been made across the board in terms of taxation measures, the social protection code-----

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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What the Taoiseach said is that he is doing nothing.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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-----and milestone and significant breakthrough initiatives. Every child going to school in this country now has free books.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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The Government cut the per capita rate of the scheme.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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If the Deputy had said that to me three or four years ago, she would not have believed we would do it but we did. We have also significantly expanded the hot school meal programme. These are universal, long-lasting programmes that are now embedded in the public expenditure programme. I recall the Deputy in high dudgeon when we were doing the cost-of-living packages, saying they were once-off measures, were not good enough, etc. On the public expenditure side of the next budget, we will do everything we can to ensure we can reduce pressures on families and, in particular, children.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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On 4 March, the Taoiseach told me, rather tetchily, "There is no resiling or rowing back from our commitment to addressing the issue of climate change". All I had done that day was to raise concerns that the new Government was not serious about climate action. That view was grounded in my reading of the programme for Government and the Taoiseach's ministerial appointments. He was quick to tell me then how wrong I was but I will give him an example of why I was right. On energy infrastructure, it is clear that the Government is making all the wrong choices. Crucially, it is making the wrong choice between clean renewables and polluting fossil fuels.

On Monday, Friends of the Irish Environment was granted leave for judicial review proceedings in respect of the Shannon liquefied natural gas, LNG, development. I am mindful not to comment on matters that are live before the courts, but Government policies on LNG are something about which the Taoiseach and I have spoken often. Our climate spokesperson, my Labour Party colleague Deputy Ciarán Ahern - whom we congratulate and welcome back from paternity leave this week - has taken up the matter with the new climate Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien. We might recall that when in the Department of housing, the Minister opened the door to commercial LNG with his massive planning Act. At the time, he and the then environment Minister downplayed the impact of that change in policy. Now in the climate Department, the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, is implementing policies that clearly favour filthy fuels over clean energy infrastructure. When asked about it, Fianna Fáil talks up the energy security element but where is the wisdom or security in only now starting to build a gas terminal that does not fit with our emissions targets and will not even be ready until after the Government is supposed to have finished the transition to renewable energy? Meanwhile, sea levels and household energy bills are rising as the cost-of-living crisis deepens, and the profits of big energy companies are also rising. We are watching the impacts of climate change in the world around us and the Government is not doing enough to address it.

In April, we learned that 30 wind turbines off the coast of Galway will not be built. Those turbines could have powered 350,000 homes each year and avoided 550,000 tonnes of emissions each year. They could have created a raft of new green jobs outside Dublin. The developer cited challenging market conditions in the offshore wind sector as a reason not to proceed. Who is to say that other projects such as this will not collapse? What is the Government doing about it?

LNG is not a cost-effective energy source, apart from the environmental damage involved. More than 61% of LNG projects are cancelled or abandoned. Providers are paid to stay on stand-by, waiting for the day we need them to help out with supply. The proposal before the courts is a ten-year capacity contract worth €494 million. Those costs are likely to be passed onto ordinary households through the capacity payments tariff when Ireland is already one of the most expensive countries in the EU for electricity. Hard-pressed households will be footing the bill again. What is the Government going to do about this? Will it invest in renewables instead of fossil fuels?

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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Just because the Deputy says something does not mean it is true. What I said to her on the most recent occasion she raised this issue, when she said she had read the programme for Government, was that the whole agenda was to create a narrative and presentation that this new Government, which is just a few months old, is somehow-----

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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Just answer the question.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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Will the Deputy allow me to answer the question without the heckling and interrupting?

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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Please do. I was urging the Taoiseach to do so.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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I know Sinn Féin's bona fides in climate change is exemplary.

The presentation of the narrative by Deputy Bacik is to characterise the Government as being somehow not in favour of measures to address climate change. Nothing could be further from the truth. The bottom line in terms of the climate action plan and the agenda ahead of us is that we are fundamentally committed to renewables and investment in them.

The Deputy mentioned a private application and litigation relating to it. That is not a Government initiative but a private sector initiative. People are entitled to take initiatives. The Government has announced an initiative on energy security. I say respectfully that it would be irresponsible of the Government not to act on the advice we have received in respect of the energy vulnerability of the country. We need sufficiency in renewables and the capacity to withstand any interruptions to our energy supply. This is a serious issue. I would not play it down or understate the energy security dimension to the decision taken by the Minister and the advice he received in respect of it. On another day, if things went wrong, there would be loud choruses in this House asking why decisions on energy security were not taken.

On renewables, everything we can do to accelerate offshore wind energy will be done. Previous Governments involving Fianna Fáil and other parties led the revolution on onshore wind in this country. We have a good record in respect of onshore wind and the integration of renewables with the electricity grid. It is a good story for Ireland at European level and elsewhere. The challenge now is to do it for offshore wind. We will do everything we can to accelerate renewables and endeavour to get offshore wind farms built as quickly as possible. The Government has already had a series of meetings about substantial investment in the electricity grid, which will be required. It will be of a significantly higher scale than what we invested over the previous five years under price review 5. Price review 6 will come close to doubling what was spent on the grid in the past five years.

On biodiversity, we have radically transformed the situation for the National Parks and Wildlife Service. Its budget has been doubled over the past four years. There has been a substantial increase in the numbers of staff. The Government is going to continue with that agenda.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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I stand by my remarks. Actions speak louder than words. For all the Taoiseach's protestations, we are not seeing actions from this Government that indicate a seriousness about tackling climate change. This is not just a matter of presentation. The Taoiseach said it is irresponsible to oppose LNG. He again raised the issue of energy security but a commercial LNG plant is not about guaranteeing energy security. What would be ways of guaranteeing energy security would be investing in renewables, ensuring that we have decent infrastructure and using State investment in battery storage infrastructure. We are seeing reports from Gas Networks Ireland and EirGrid stating that the existing infrastructure is already capable of meeting future demand, even in the event of extreme supply disruption. Why do we need this commercial facility? Locking us into new fossil fuel infrastructure when our emissions are still so high will have a further effect. It will see Ireland further overshoot its climate targets so that families and households will foot the bill for the eye-watering fines associated with missing targets. That will be an issue for households in a cost-of-living crisis and there is no guarantee of energy security.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy knows that the emissions inventory report of the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, from July 2024 shows a decrease of 6.8% in Ireland's greenhouse gas in 2023 compared with 2022, which itself saw a 1.9% reduction on the previous year. This is the lowest that our greenhouse gas emissions have been in three decades below the 1990 baseline. That is significant given that in that period, we have had a population increase of 1.5 million, over 1 million new homes and more than 1 million extra vehicles on our roads. The performance by Ireland in respect of this issue has been quite strong. The last Government made significant investments and decisions that are already bearing fruit and will continue to do so into the future. The energy security initiative will apply to State-led energy. The Deputy knows that. She is, I think deliberately, conflating that with a private sector initiative. I invite the Deputy to talk to the officials in the climate Department in respect of energy security.

We can arrange that briefing for the Deputy.

Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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It is more than two months since my colleague Pádraig Rice first asked the Taoiseach about disturbing reports of an audit of hip surgeries on children at three separate hospitals. Back then, the Taoiseach said the audit process was in its final stages. That was ten weeks ago. The parents of the children involved have received no further information since. They have been told the audit is in its final stages for months. The Taoiseach repeated that same mantra yesterday and refused to provide any timeline for the publication of this report. In fact, he bristled at the notion that he would even be asked the question.

Let us be very clear: the audit is independent, but that does not mean the Government should be totally in the dark about when parents will finally get some answers. If it is, this raises further questions about the Government's competence and control of this scandal. We had the ridiculous situation yesterday where neither the Taoiseach nor the Minister for Health were able to tell us how many letters had been sent to families by Children's Health Ireland. These letters are not connected to the audit, we are told, and have been sent to families whose children were operated on over the past 15 years. The Government is entirely ignorant about how many families may even be involved. That is really staggering. Has anyone in the Cabinet thought of picking up the phone and asking Children's Health Ireland and Cappagh hospital how many letters have been sent or is the Government too busy trying to maintain plausible deniability about the crisis to ask these basic questions.

The Taoiseach has accused Opposition TDs of trying to politicise this issue. Would he accuse parents who are desperate for information of the same thing? We are trying our best to get information for them. I have been contacted by parents whose children may be impacted by this and who are deeply distressed. They watched their children suffer terribly through serious surgery and now they wonder whether the surgery was necessary at all. Did their children go through all that pain and trauma for nothing? The least they deserve is a date for when these questions will be answered. The notion that no one can provide an indicative date is not just implausible; it is insulting.

The Taoiseach hinted yesterday that he knows more than he is willing to say publicly. He said the audit may be published sooner than we think. Will he stop with the evasion and level with us? When will the families involved have the answers they need? When will the audit be published? When the Taoiseach was asked yesterday how many letters had been sent to parents, he did not know the answer. Getting an answer on this should be straightforward. It is simply not credible that no one would have this basic information. The Taoiseach has had the past 24 hours to find out. Can he now tell us how many letters were sent out to parents whose children had operations over the past 15 years?

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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Children's Health Ireland, CHI, commissioned the audit. This is a very serious issue. It is of very serious concern to both the parents of children and to children who might now be teenagers. The audit is in respect of the period 2021 to 2023 and relates to developmental dysplasia. The decision by CHI to commission an audit was made in order to have an independent look at it and make sure that if there was untoward behaviour or something wrong happened, it would be highlighted and the facts found. It is a mission to find the facts. Government has no objective in hiding anything.

The Deputy uses language which, I understand, from an Opposition perspective, he may want to use. I refer to words such as "insulting" and "staggering". No one is insulting anybody. There is no desire on my behalf or that of anyone in government to insult anybody. It is too serious for that. We are talking about children who have had operations. The least we owe to the parents and families involved is the facts. We need to be independent in how we procure those facts.

I have obviously not seen the final audit or anything but a draft report, apparently, was published. CHI felt parents whose kids had this operation in the past might be concerned, so it wrote a general letter to people going back over a long period. It did that with a view to trying to help to allay anxiety. Now, it is as if the number of those letters is the key answer to something. It is not, actually. The letter is quite general, from what I have seen.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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That is not actually true. That is untrue.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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Deputy, it is not your question.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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Sorry, it is not your moment.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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It is not true.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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Please, Deputy.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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The generic letter I have seen essentially states that it relates to a follow-up to surgery at Children's Health Ireland to correct developmental dysplasia and that an audit is under way. It also states, in terms of skeletal maturity-----

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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The Taoiseach is misleading the Dáil.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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Please, now. This is not about politics, Deputy.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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But you are misleading the Dáil.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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I am not, now.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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You are misleading the Dáil.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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This is outrageous behaviour by you, now.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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Deputies, please, it is not your question.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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That is fine, sorry.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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Deputy O'Callaghan is entitled to an answer. It is not the Sinn Féin Deputies' question.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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And the Deputies will have time to come back.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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You have been doing this since this Dáil began, and I ask you to stop because it is too serious. I have no interest in hiding anything - none.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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I have the letters here.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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Why would I? For God's sake, reflect on what you are trying to assert. I am as serious about it as anybody is. It is horrendous if anything wrong was done but we need to find out the full facts. That is what we want to do in terms of the parents and children involved. That is it.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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Thank you, Taoiseach. You can come back in. Deputy O'Callaghan to respond.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister asked CHI to please tell her how many letters are out there, but the context of the letters is as important as the number. The final point I would make is my understanding is that the audit will be ready - fairly imminently, I hope. I do not govern that.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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Taoiseach, you are over time. I call Deputy O'Callaghan.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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I cannot force the pace in respect of that.

Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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Thanks, Taoiseach. The parents who have been in contact with me are deeply worried about the situation. They do not know who to turn to for information and are finding that very frustrating. They want a timeline on this. They also want to know how many letters have been sent out. The Taoiseach does not have that information at present. Is that the situation? He is not able to tell us. When will he be able to tell us how many letters have been issued? How, as Taoiseach of the country, does it take him this long to establish something basic as how many letters have been issued? Surely that figure is known by Children's Health Ireland. Why is it not able to give the Taoiseach that kind of basic information straight out?

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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We need to tease that out. What are we saying about the letters that have been sent out? Yesterday a word was used, namely "recall". Once a number is announced, people will draw all sorts of conclusions from that number. My understanding is the letter has gone out to children who have been operated on, potentially as far back as 2010, or to parents in respect of a child. The important point is to get the audit published. CHI has been asked today by the Minister to publish the number in any event, as has Cappagh. This is because CHI and Cappagh are involved here. The core issue is the audit, not the number of letters sent out to a cohort of people going back over a number of years. The letter I have read is generic. Others may have got different letters. I do not know about that and would not have access to that. The bottom line is that I would hope we will have the audit before the end of next week.

Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Independent)
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One million Irish people, the Taoiseach's ancestors and mine, starved to death during the Great Famine in the 1840 and 1850s. Two million of us were driven to cross the Atlantic in coffin ships in search of mere survival. Thousands of us died on those ships. At home, our people died in cabins, in ditches, on the roads and in workhouses. There is hardly a parish in the country that has not a famine graveyard. To this day, the awful devastation of the Famine is imprinted in our minds, our hearts and our very souls. While the failure of the potato crop was the initial cause, the appalling vista is that the Famine could have been avoided but for the deliberate actions and inaction of a foreign imperial Government. The continued export of shipload after shipload of food from Ireland while we starved was thoroughly disgraceful and inhuman.

Today, 2.3 million Palestinians are facing starvation.

All reputable international organisations say that 500,000 Palestinians are facing catastrophic levels of hunger while another 1 million are facing emergency levels of hunger.

The State of Israel and its defence forces are deliberately starving the Palestinian people. They have blocked all food aid to Gaza since 2 March and, in the words of the Israeli defence minister, no humanitarian aid will enter Gaza. The shiploads of food exported from Ireland during the Famine can be compared to the 3,000 truckloads of food being blocked by the Israel Defense Forces on the borders of Gaza.

I acknowledge and appreciate the Taoiseach's description of this as a war crime and I acknowledge and appreciate the involvement of the State with South Africa in the international courts, but we must do more. This State and the Taoiseach, because of our famine history and our neutrality, have a unique moral authority and obligation to do everything in our power to stop the genocidal starvation of 2.3 million human beings in Gaza.

The Israeli state must face consequences. The Taoiseach has himself described it as a war crime.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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I thank the Deputy. He should conclude.

Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Independent)
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I believe this country must take action that is within our control, like stopping the Central Bank from facilitating the sale of Israeli state bonds, stopping all military flights through Shannon, even if that is a temporary measure-----

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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Thank you, Deputy. I call the Taoiseach to respond.

Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Independent)
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-----prosecuting airlines that are bringing armaments through our airspace and immediately reintroducing the occupied territories Bill in this House.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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First of all, I thank the Deputy, and I do not say it patronisingly, for very eloquently presenting the case and the comparison with our own national trauma during the 19th century in terms of the Great Famine and a deliberate policy now being perpetrated by the Israeli Government in respect of denying the basic necessities of life to the people of Gaza. It is quite shocking that Israel would, in a very deliberative way, conduct and prosecute a policy of this kind against an entire population. As I said previously in the Dáil, it is wrong in principle and in law to inflict hunger and suffering on a civilian population, whatever the circumstances, and this behaviour clearly constitutes a war crime.

In that context, we are working with other like-minded member states in the European Union - I have raised this with the President of the Commission - and, indeed, wherever we can to bring about international pressure on Israel to allow the basic necessities of life and unhindered aid into Gaza. The level of malnutrition among children is absolutely shocking and appalling. The trauma that has been visited upon the children of Gaza is lifelong. Many have been orphaned and many have lost siblings, parents and uncles and, of course, entire families have been wiped out by the shocking bombing of a very urban and densely populated environment.

In terms of the issues the Deputy has raised, we will continue to work with Spain, Slovenia, Norway, Iceland and other countries where we would have similar views in respect of this, and to try to get a stronger position from the entire membership of the European Union, at a minimum, in respect of the humanitarian situation and to get Gaza opened to aid.

The people in Gaza are trapped in Gaza. The Deputy mentioned in terms of famine that people can escape but people are trapped in Gaza due to the military activity and the bombing, but also the starvation and not having access to outside assistance or outside support. There is no shortage of humanitarian aid outside of Gaza at Rafah and other locations. There is no shortage of neighbouring Arab states that want to supply aid and support. The issue is getting it in there in the first instance. Now, the latest manifestation of Israeli policy, in endeavouring to control the entirety of the aid programme, is also reprehensible and unacceptable. We will continue to do what we can to get Gaza open for humanitarian aid and assistance.

Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Independent)
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I am sorry but that is not good enough. We have to do more. Gaza is absolutely shocking. We have genocide and war crimes every hour of every day. The Palestinian people are being starved and bombed every hour of every day. Time is not on their side. Half a million are in a catastrophic state of hunger and starvation. Surely some country, or some leader, must stand up and take dramatic action to stop this. The Taoiseach has already said that this is a war crime. We went through something similar ourselves in the 1840s and 1850s. We have, and the Taoiseach has, the authority - the international authority - to do something practical and dramatic to stop what is happening. These people are being starved to death. The Taoiseach has the opportunity to lead the international opposition to this. For God’s sake, please do so.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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I take the Deputy’s point, although I do believe we need key powers to intervene. We need key powers, such as the US and major European Union-----

Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Independent)
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We can do things without them.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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Hear me out, please. Major European Union countries-----

Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Independent)
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We can do things ourselves.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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We have done it. Ireland on its own is not going to shift the dial on this.

Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Independent)
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I acknowledge what you have done but there are things you can do, and there are things this country can do, and they can do it now.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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Deputy, please allow the response.

Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Independent)
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Something dramatic needs to be done to stop this situation.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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Deputy Healy, you have had your time. You must allow the Taoiseach to respond.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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I just want to make the point. I have noticed a shift in European opinion on this. The bigger powers, quite frankly, have to intervene here because of what is happening morally, and we will, too, but-----

Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity)
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We cannot wait.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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-----the realpolitik of this is very clear to me. The big powers-----

Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Independent)
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Big things start small.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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I appreciate we are all-----

Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Independent)
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It is a desperate situation.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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I am just stating the facts. It is very clear to me that the major powers have to intervene to get Israel to change course and stop doing what it is doing.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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Before I move to the other Members, I welcome, on behalf of Deputy Keira Keogh, the students from Coláiste Pobail Acla in County Mayo, and their teachers, Mr. Jason Ó Mongáin and Ms Mairead O’Reilly; and also Councillor Eddie Ryan and his wife, Nora, and friends from Galbally in County Limerick, who are with Deputy Richard O'Donoghue.