7. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Taoiseach for an update on the establishment of a Cabinet committee on water quality. [6086/25]
Sentiment score: 0.00
Due to the Victorian decrepit water infrastructure in much of my area - this is probably true of much of the city, but it is certainly true of Dún Laoghaire - when it rains, the run-off water mixes with foul water and the foul water all goes into the pumping station in Dún Laoghaire, which cannot cope and therefore foul water goes into the sea, destroying water quality and making the sea in Dublin bay unsafe for swimming. This happens all the time when it rains too heavily because of the failure of successive Governments to put the necessary investment into rehabilitating the decrepit Victorian water infrastructure. Such is the overwhelming effect of rain on the pumping station off the west pier in Dún Laoghaire, it is unable to pump the foul water up to the treatment plant in Ringsend and, therefore, people cannot swim because foul water is all over Dublin Bay. This happens at short notice. This needs to be addressed. It has been flagged. There is no testing of the water outside the swimming season from May to September even though people swim in the winter months. It needs to be urgently addressed to have this decrepit water infrastructure rehabilitated so we do not have Dublin Bay full of foul water.
Sentiment score: -0.02
14. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on health will next meet. [6087/25]
Sentiment score: 0.00
A lot of Members are not here so we could double up on the questions.
Sentiment score: 0.00
The Taoiseach was caught out misleading the public, to put it kindly, on the housing completion numbers to try to win an election. Will he now admit that the crisis in our health service is also another area where he has been misleading the public about what is actually going on with regard to the lack of staffing across the health services? This has prompted all of the health workers unions to ballot overwhelmingly for industrial action. This includes nurses, midwives, porters and other grades, together with medical scientists and laboratory assistants, who are all balloting for industrial action over the pay and numbers strategy, which is a backdoor embargo on recruitment in vital areas of the health service. That is the real explanation for why we cannot address the trolley crisis, why there are waiting lists of nearly 1 million people for treatment, and why, for example, we do not have enough public health nurses now to do important developmental checks on young infants. This is all because the Government is preventing health areas and hospitals from being able to recruit the staff they need to actually meet patient need. Will the Taoiseach scrap the pay and numbers strategy so that we do not end up with strikes in this country by health workers being used to break through this embargo?
Sentiment score: -0.15
Why do we have a staffing crisis then?
Sentiment score: -0.62
There is no staff.
Sentiment score: -0.30
There is on staff.
Sentiment score: 0.00
32. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on EU and international affairs will next meet. [6428/25]
Sentiment score: 0.00
It seems to me that there is a crisis in terms of the EU's commitment to even its own human rights legislation and to international law. The newly elected Chancellor of Germany has invited Benjamin Netanyahu to Germany. This is somebody who has an arrest warrant out for him by the ICC for genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and the new German Chancellor is inviting him to Germany. Now, that is very serious because Germany is one of the most important countries in the EU and basically what it is saying is that it does not give a damn about international law, about human rights or the crimes for which the ICC has indicted Benjamin Netanyahu. It is giving two fingers to international law. That poses a pretty serious problem for the EU. There is also the fact that an Irish MEP and other MEPs on an EU delegation on a pre-organised visit by representatives of the EU to Israel have been deported. Israel is given favoured trade status by the EU and then an EU delegation goes to Israel, they are not allowed in and are deported because they criticised the Israeli Government for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Does the Taoiseach agree this is a pretty serious crisis in terms of the foreign policy, the ethical stand, the commitment to human rights and international law facing the European Union? Has he any comments?
Sentiment score: -0.00
I do not. I talk about one state and a land for all.
Sentiment score: 0.00
That is the ICC gone.
Sentiment score: 0.00
I understand the context.
Sentiment score: 0.00