Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise two issues. The first is the necessity to have a debate here with the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Charles Flanagan. This time last week we on this side of the House were accused of all sorts of things relating to the former Minister, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald. We were accused of skullduggery and there were all sorts of pantomime moves when we asked for accountability. In fairness to the Minister, she came into the House and we had a debate. We are respectfully asking for a debate with the Minister, Deputy Flanagan, on the actions he has taken as Minister and on Garda overtime. In Dublin city, where I live, we had a very successful Garda operation recently when gardaí intercepted what appears to have been a shooting about to take place and they seized some firearms. The second most senior garda in the city is suggesting that the reopening of Stepaside Garda station is well down his list of priorities and now we hear that Garda overtime has been cancelled for the foreseeable future, which means the situation as regards law and order and policing is quite stark, so a debate with the Minister is warranted.

I also want to raise the issue of homelessness, though I know it has been raised before. In recent days, many people watching the political goings-on would not have been too impressed by how the Oireachtas was brought to the edge of disaster, with a Christmas election threatened. Two homeless people have died in Dublin in the past week and I believe the total is seven over the past 12 weeks. The people would want their politicians to engage on this issue with the same level of seriousness as we engaged in the issue relating to the former Minister and Tánaiste, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald, and the emails in the Department of Justice. People are literally dying on our streets and I respectfully ask that we come together to have a discussion with the Minister for Housing on the issue of homelessness. We would not need to be party-political on the issue but we need to treat it with the seriousness it deserves. The people of Ireland would expect all Members of the Oireachtas to take it as seriously as, if not more seriously than, the issue which convulsed the Houses in recent days.