I ask the Minister to elaborate on what his intentions are for the introduction of an infrastructure Act and what that will involve.

I would like a chance to respond but it seems we have run out of time. I did not even expect to get to this particular question, given the time allocated this morning. I wish to make the point, now that there are more Members present, that the reason we got to that question is because many Government TDs are not here to take their own questions. That is quite extraordinary considering much of the political debate in this Chamber in recent weeks has been taken up by Government representatives saying they will not ha…

It is inflationary.

Hear, hear.

We hear high-profile murmurings this week of new tax incentives for developers, leading me to the conclusion that this Government does not mind a bit of socialism as long as the welfare payments are paid to wealthy developers and to the benefit of corporate landlords. The Government’s message to those who are looking to put a roof over their heads is that it is going to take some of their taxes to give to private developers to encourage them to get their fingers out and finally build the homes we need. This is appa…

That this is the first Bill the Government has sought to pass in the new Dáil is instructive. To say that this Administration has got off to an appalling start is an understatement. The Bill will create an unprecedented 23 Minister of State posts at a cost that makes some State agency building projects of recent times look prudent. It is a jobs-for-the-boys Bill. I use the word "boys" deliberately because these new posts are being handed almost entirely to men.

The birthing of so many baby Ministers would make boom-time Bertie blush. Figures compiled by the Labour Party suggest that each of these new posts will cost the State upwards of €500,000 annually. The starting cost to the public of this stroke Government will be over €1.5 million per year when we add in the new overnight allowance for Ministers of State along with the creation of further super junior positions. That amounts to €7.5 million over the prospective five-year term of the Government. When I spoke during …

That amendment was not accepted, however. We can interrogate that matter further later on. There is a strong argument for doing away with that allowance in its entirety. There is no requirement, rationale or justification for it. Ministers of State have private secretaries, which they are entitled to. That has traditionally been the case and should be the case. However, they also have special advisers and up to four additional civil servants appointed to their teams in their Departments to assist with the admittedl…

I thank the Ceann Comhairle very much. Tax breaks for developers were announced this week. We will also be dealing this week with the addition of three new Ministers of State to the bloated ranks of baby Ministers. I was expecting to see Bertie Ahern in the chair there today. It is a case of back to the future, with tax breaks for developers and a boom in baby Ministers and Ministers of State. We had 15 Ministers of State in 2016. We had 20 in the last Government. There are 23 planned for this Government. The Minis…

By the time the Government is finished, we will have 50 TDs from the Government ranks being chairs of committees, Cabinet Ministers or Ministers of State. That is more than half of the entire makeup of the Government who are dependent on the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste for their political careers over the next few years. I will ask the Minister this question. How do we know this is a stroke? It is because only half an hour has been allowed to debate a range of amendments from the Opposition-----

-----to interrogate and debate this very important issue. We need more time to debate this important matter.

We have 30 minutes for amendments on Committee and Remaining Stages.

That is okay then.

Hear, hear.

Ignoramus. Absolute ignoramus.

Ignoramus. I hope that is unparliamentary language.

It is a free pass Deputy Danny Healy-Rae gets all the time.

It was a lorry.

There was probably no planning permission for it.

There are serious amendments to debate.