I draw Members' attention to the second paragraph from a letter sent by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Heydon, to Waterford City and County Council. It states:

The Department strongly condemns the mistreatment of any animal and takes the matter of animal welfare most seriously. Neglect of or causing unnecessary suffering to animals is not acceptable in our society.

Bearing that in mind, despite the ongoing conflict in the region, large volumes of Irish cattle are still being exported to Israel both directly from Ireland and from other member states of the EU. Since October 2023 almost 9,000 young bulls or weanlings have been shipped directly to Haifa from Greenore. In addition, an unknown number have been seen arriving there just recently in shipments from Croatia, Slovenia and EU states. Irish cattle can easily, of course, be identified by their ear tags. Not only do these animals have to contend with a long sea journey where they suffer from respiratory illness, ringworm, corneal ulcers, leg injuries, diarrhoea and varying degrees of heat stress but also they are arriving in the middle of a war zone. Sources at Haifa Port have informed us that every day barrages of rockets fall onto the port and surrounding areas where the quarantine centres and fattening farms are. It is beyond belief that any competent authority is still authorising shipments of this nature in the knowledge the animals are being put at considerable risk. Furthermore, the workers at the port fear for their lives and want to complete the unloading quickly. It is said the pressure is causing them to be more impatient than usual with the animals and electric prods are being widely used to get the cattle off the ships as quickly as possible. It is clear that sending animals to Israel at the moment is sending them into extreme danger. Nowhere is safe. Much the same is happening in Lebanon.

We really need a comprehensive debate in this House on animal welfare to include the export of live animals, the conditions on puppy farms, the use of sulkies on the roads and a whole panoply of issues we need to address. A good debate in the House would clear the air and maybe underscore some of the nastier things that are happening because all of them need to be highlighted.

I concur with Senator Conway. It is objectionable that we are sending live cattle to Israel. We should not be trading with Israel in addition to the animal welfare issues.

I raise the matter of the Irish Glass Bottle site. There was a commitment to put 350 new public homes on that site. There are 550 affordable ones. The Irish Glass Bottle Housing Action Group has been fighting with the State for the last nine years. It has gone through four Ministers for housing. Deputy Browne is the current Minister and the group representatives have been looking to meet him but he has refused to date. I find it amazing the new Government housing policy is entitled Delivering Homes, Building Communities. The policy is not delivering homes for families living in the communities of Ringsend, Pearse Street and Kevin Street. Government is not building communities but dividing them. Due to the cost of new homes being built on the Irish Glass Bottle site and around the city families cannot live there so communities are being split up and people are having to move further afield. I ask that the Minister meet the Irish Glass Bottle Housing Action Group. Like I said, the group has been through four Ministers for housing in its time.

The Government talks about building communities but the Minister for housing, Deputy Browne, has also refused to meet the residents in Pearse House, even though he pulled a regeneration plan which is desperately needed. He has put in a new deep retrofitting plan, which is effectively a lick of paint and some maintenance work, which is of course welcome, but it is not what the residents in Pearse House desperately need. I ask that the Minister meet with Pearse House residents and the Irish Glass Bottle Housing Action Group to ensure their voices are heard too. Residents in Ringsend and Pearse Street have been let down by the State for long enough and the least the Minister could do is show respect to the residents in Pearse House and the inner-city communities in Ringsend by meeting with them and ensure their issues are highlighted and worked through. The homes in Ringsend are not going to be affordable purchase, they will be affordable rental. The cost of that rental is going to be exorbitant and the local community will not be able to afford to live there. The communities will then be divided and people will have to move out, and that is very unfair and disrespectful to any community.