Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy Leader for outlining the business of the House. I wish to raise the issue of insurance, the Government's inaction on it and any proposals it might have to ensure people are paying the correct amount for insurance and that insurance companies are not price gouging and price fixing, which is a concern we all share given the stark increase in the cost of insurance over the past decade.

At this time of the year, homelessness is all the more prevalent for people who do not have a home in which to celebrate Christmas and who have no likelihood of getting one. This bizarre reality has happened under a Government that at one time was the largest property owner in the country. It sold thousands of homes to vulture funds and on behalf of banks when its own citizens needed them. Could the Deputy Leader explain why that was the case?

This month is the 99th anniversary of the partition of Ireland receiving royal assent. Does the Deputy Leader agree that we should have a debate about that issue in the new year given that the election results in Scotland and the debate that is happening there will have an impact on Norther Ireland and in light of the election results in Northern Ireland where, for the first time ever, unionist MPs were returned as a minority from Northern Ireland to Westminster?

The other issue, which was on the Order Paper for some time, is that the report compiled by the all-party Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement entitled, Brexit and the Future of Ireland: Uniting Ireland & Its People in Peace & Prosperity, which is the first report commissioned by this House and in which I was involved as rapporteur, has not been debated by this House. The 17 recommendations have not been implemented by the Government, which has said quite clearly that it is not making any preparations to try to achieve the main aim of the State. Brexit has transformed the landscape in Northern Ireland and the debate has moved on. The place where the debate is not happening is inside this House. It is not happening in the Dáil. The Taoiseach has said that a border poll is not a risk but is too important and sensitive to be dealt with in the national risk assessment. What is the Government's policy on trying to achieve the main aim of the State? At the McGill Summer School, the Taoiseach spoke about how Brexit has transformed views among some people across the community divide regarding the constitutional issue. Two Attorneys General have said that the achievement of a unified Ireland is a constitutional imperative. There is an obligation on the State and all agents, including Members and the other House, to strive to achieve it. They cannot choose not to achieve it yet this Government is choosing to do exactly that, which is a breach of its constitutional obligation. I ask the Deputy Leader that if nothing else, we be allowed to debate the issue.