We will provide an alternative funding mechanism. I do not expect that it will be a continuation of the current licensing system. The exact details will have to be agreed with Government before I can give the Deputy a final answer on that. Can the Deputy give similar clarity? She is paying her licence. Would she encourage Sinn Féin supporters to also pay their licences?

Well, I think it is important because we do have a role in public life in standing up for raising taxation to pay for the services we need in this interim period. Deputy McDonald is correct in saying that when the initial report of the Future of Media Commission came out, there was concern in government among party leaders about a potential switch to just Exchequer-based funding. The main reason for that concern was fear that under a future government, there could be political interference that would fundamentally …

Well, there have been historic cases. If you look at the history of RTÉ and others, you can see that there were cases of improper and undue political interference. It is not rocket science to say that. I believe we can overcome that by putting in place secure mechanisms so that such political interference would not be successful but that is complicated and there are various other options. We will make that, but as a Government we stand up for an independent media that gives strength to our democracy, which RTÉ and …

It is a real concern for roughly half the population that will see an increase in their premiums depending on their provider. If the VHI increase of 7% is mirrored by others, it will be of real significance for those families. We must be careful to make sure we protect everyone's living and health as we manage that. My understanding is that the main reason for this is a huge increase in demand, similar to many other areas in the healthcare system. One statistic jumped out at me. Attendance at emergency care by thos…

The spending has gone up under this Government. It is incredible. We are up to €22.8 billion this year.

There is a €1.15 billion increase in current expenditure.

Trust me, every Department, including the Departments of equality and children and heritage, is looking for such funding. It is a demonstrable fact that the Department of Health has received a huge increase compared with other Departments. We have to spend on so many things. The Deputy can go down to specific examples such as the broadening of applications for the free medical card, the introduction of free IVF, the reduction of inpatient charges for people in public hospitals, free contraception and the reduction …

I could keep going on.

Yes, there is a recruitment ban because last November the numbers employed had exceeded what had been expected, and we had to pause to say, "Hold on a sec", as we had gone beyond-----

-----what was already an ambitious expansionary programme. The Deputies should look at the figures across the board we set out. The only story that can be told is massive expansion in spending, but what we are starting to see now-----

-----is a commensurate reduction in waiting times and improvements in health outcomes.

That is why I come back to that point. People have the confidence that when we spend the money, we get a return.

We absolutely have to resolve that problem. The health of our people comes first and the first base load of that is having a healthy environment, clean water and all the other services we need. My understanding is that an EPA investigation file was opened in December 2023 and that has to be resolved. We have that independent assessment so that it is not left to Irish Water to assess what is appropriate or what will be done. We have regulatory systems to make sure we have a clean environment. I will make a couple of…

I absolutely answer the questions, "Yes", on both counts. Irish Water has to resolve this issue and be fully transparent about what has happened in this instance. It has to resolve it and be open, honest and upfront with the people of Cork as to why they are seeing discoloured water coming out of their taps. There is no difference between us on that. I agree 100%. All the regulatory authorities have to make sure that is done in a proper, legal and swift manner. The Government commits to supporting that process. I d…

It is funded by the State.

It is totally unacceptable if cloudy water is coming through someone's tap. We have to deliver to the highest standards particularly water so that people have confidence in the basic services. People should never have to buy bottled water in any part of the country. That requires an investment of €1.5 billion from the taxpayer, the same taxpayer who has to fund housing and the health service and the same taxpayer who may have to fund our broadcasting system. It is a real challenge to meet all these different needs …

I did not quite hear the Deputy's third question properly.

Our energy prices are high in the European context but not the highest. There are two main reasons for that. One, particularly in recent years, has been our reliance on imported fossil fuel gas. That has been the main reason for us having very high prices compared with other countries.

We are switching away from that. We are switching to renewables which will give us a stable, reliable lower cost option keeping money in the country rather than going to Russia, Iran or other countries where we import the gas from at the moment. The second main reason it is expensive is that we have a very distributed housing system and we have to get a power line to every single home. I did not hear Mark Foley at the Oireachtas committee, but I will go back and listen to him. Getting new power plants has been a di…

I believe it will. We can see what happened last year. We have two interconnectors at the moment, one in north Dublin, which comes ashore at Rush and goes across to Wales, and the other in the North, which crosses over to Scotland. We are building a new one from Wales coming into Wexford at Great Island. We are also building one from Brest in Brittany in France, which will come in near Carrigtohill and into the Cork network. They are transformative. First, they are transformative in reducing emissions. We do not ha…