Is í seo an chéad uair dom labhairt sa Dáil seo. Mar sin, gabhaim buíochas leis na vótálaithe i gCill Dara Thuaidh a vótáil ar son Shinn Féin. Unfortunately, I stand here frustrated with the same issues I raised when I was first elected in 2020. The programme for Government is not serious about addressing the urgent issues of housing, childcare and public transport, among a long list of other matters, and things have only got worse over the last five years. The number of homeless persons has risen. Shamefully, the number of homeless children has also risen. What is more, not only did the Government fail to reach its housing target again this year, but it deliberately misled the electorate on housing completions just prior to the election. Over the weekend, Deputies may have heard of the waiting lists for a block of new builds in Leixlip in my constituency of Kildare North. People were sleeping overnight in their cars. More than a 100 people were sleeping out by 8 a.m., with only 25 houses available. The prices for those houses ranged from €460,000 to €535,000. Those exorbitant prices are a damning indictment of the Government's failed housing policy. Not shamed enough with homeless people sleeping in their cars, we now have people queueing to buy a home sleeping in their cars too. Families lucky enough have a home in north Kildare find that they are unable to access childcare. During the week, I spoke to people in Little Toppers, a crèche in Straffan, which currently has a waiting list in excess of 100 children, some since 2023. In that same village of Straffan, constituents have contacted me about a crèche building lying empty in a new estate while parents are crying out for a place for their child. This is so frustrating, particularly for women because they are invariably the ones expected to leave their jobs to care for their child in the absence of crèche places. On the issue of public transport, I hear daily from constituents. The fair fares issue, which was brought up by my Kildare South colleague, Deputy Ní Raghallaigh, badly impacts Naas and Sallins as well. Buses on the W6 route serving Maynooth, Celbridge and Hazelhatch are not showing up. I am getting emails on this every day. The Government must urgently address the shambolic service delivered by private bus operator, Go Ahead. It should lose its contract, and do not get me started on the 115 bus route that allegedly serves Kilcock. We need Dublin Bus back in Kilcock. The DART+ West project must be a huge priority for this Government. We must identify a suitable site in Kilcock so work can start on this vital infrastructure and it must be completed on time and on budget. The purchase of Castletown House lands in Celbridge by the State and the OPW must also be completed and the estate reunited within the lifetime of this Government. The programme for Government states it will acquire key national heritage assets, prioritising State acquisition at both national and local level. This must be applied to Castletown House in Celbridge, which is close to the constituency of the Minister, if the OPW wants to redeem itself in the eyes of the people of north Kildare. On defence, anyone who watched "Upfront with Katie Hannon" last night was reminded how successive Governments have treated members of our Defence Forces. Over the last few weeks, we have seen Micheál Martin strutting around Europe, rubbing elbows with NATO members and softening us up to play fast and loose with the triple lock and our neutrality. I remind the Government that our neutrality is above politics. The Irish people will not cede it for a political pat on the head. Despite the pressure from swathes of media and academia, our neutrality is something the Irish people are proud of. We are proud of our stance on being peacemakers not assistant warmakers. Tá súil agam, mar sin, go mbeidh an Rialtas dáiríre faoi na ceisteanna móra atá os ár gcomhair. Beart de réir briathair atá ag teastáil uainn, agus ní geallúintí bréaga.

Sentiment score: -0.04