I would like to say fáilte to the British ambassador agus roimh na daltaí freisin. I want to begin by wishing the Tánaiste, his family, all Deputies, people watching at home and all the staff in the Oireachtas, who do very important work, a very happy and peaceful Christmas. I also want to take this opportunity to highlight the plight of Oireachtas broadcast workers who will now be laid off for the Christmas period without pay. This is completely unacceptable treatment of a group of workers who carry out a vital role in our democracy. The broadcast workers should be employed directly by the Oireachtas for performing a key role in our public service. The end of the year is a good time to take stock, celebrate achievements and identify areas for improvement. Regrettably, for this Government, successes are thin on the ground. Its report card looks especially bleak. This Government is awash with cash and addicted to wasting it. Despite budget surpluses, it still managed to make nearly everyone worse off. The ESRI published a new report which confirms what people can already feel in their pockets - they are paying more for everything with less take-home pay. Disposable incomes of most workers will fall because of this Government's budgetary measures. Please do not tell us the budget helped those who needed it most. That simply is not true. The poorest 10% of workers have seen the biggest decrease in their incomes. The poverty rate among older people has soared to almost 20%. You have made choices to hit people hardest who do not have a single cent to spare. This is a Government that thinks nothing of breaking its promises like its pre-election pledge that 40,000 homes would be delivered last year, which evaporated into thin air as soon as the polling stations closed. Today's ESRI report lays bare your continued abject failure on housing. Just 35,000 homes have been delivered this year and 36,000 next year. This is far short of the 50,000 to 60,000 new homes needed each year. This Government's handling of the housing crisis has been an unmitigated disaster. This failure means that the dreams of home ownership of tens of thousands of people have been crushed. It has resulted in thousands more families and children becoming homeless. This has a devastating impact on children. It means toddlers in cramped hotel rooms are delayed in being able to learn how to crawl. It limits the lives and ambitions of countless people all over the country who feel trapped, anxious and hopeless. That is your record on housing. The Government's list of broken promises does not end there. You promised to deliver a roadmap to reduce childcare fees to €200 a month in your first 100 days of office. Nearly a year in, we got a half-baked plan from the Minister yesterday that gives no indication about when fees will come down to €200 - another broken promise. Despite promises to prioritise disability, you deliberately made disabled people poorer and slashed their incomes by up to €1,400 - yet another broken promise. Do you regret making all of these promises to the public and breaking them?
Sentiment score: -0.10
What do you say to the record number of children and their families who will spend Christmas in emergency homeless accommodation?
Sentiment score: -0.32
There will be more children spending Christmas in homeless emergency accommodation this year than ever before in the history of the State. When Fine Gael entered office, there were 641 children in homeless emergency accommodation. That was too high. There are now 5,247 children who will spend this Christmas without a home. This has a detrimental impact on each and every child involved. It can often mean missing key developmental milestones. Yet, the Tánaiste did not even acknowledge the damage homelessness does to children. I ask him to acknowledge the damage being done by his Government to children in homelessness. Does he not see that damage? Next year, will the number of children in homeless emergency accommodation grow even further, to record levels again, or will the Government reverse the trend? Can the Tánaiste tell us that the Government is going to reverse this?
Sentiment score: -0.16
Child homelessness has increased tenfold since Fine Gael entered government.
Sentiment score: 0.44