You have not been. You have just walked back in.

You have just walked back.

You have not been here all the time. Would you stop?

Okay, if we are let get back to it. Meanwhile imports produced with lower environmental safeguards effectively undercut these efforts. That is not fair competition; that is regulatory hypocrisy. Embedding references to the Paris Agreement into the text might provide political signalling but without binding enforceable environmental conditionality, it will not close the gap. If we are serious about protecting farmers, defending environmental standards and asserting food sovereignty, we must insist on treaty language…

That is not what people want to see. That is not who they want to see representing them in the manner they are being represented.

They want the Government to stand with them and to oppose this deal. They will not forgive the Government if it does not do that. They will never forgive it if its lets them down at this stage.

I am pleased that the young people in the Gallery today got to see the Minister of State's passion when he was talking at the end of his speech. It is clear that it is so important to who he is and who he has become to have that participation in democracy and to be involved. What we want is to bring that passion forward a little bit more so that it is not a tokenistic involvement in democracy, and that 16- and 17-year-olds are being given the vote so that what they believe and what they want to see happen is matter…

The derogation has been in place for 20 years.

Deputy Cummins will not be contributing, so Deputy Hearne and I will share the time. I will take eight or nine minutes and Deputy Hearne will take the remainder. I welcome the opportunity to discuss this issue. There are many very valuable points made by Sinn Féin in its motion. There is no doubt the cost of motoring is a real pressure for households. Rural households are hit particularly hard by this cost. Where public transport options are limited or where they are not keeping pace developments in society, is als…

Will the Minister report on the outcome of his recent meetings with the largest energy companies in September and make a statement on the matter?

We are all aware that electricity prices are crushing many families across the country at the moment. They are so high. We have among the highest electricity prices in Europe. Recently we were told by the International Energy Agency that our retail prices are three times higher than our wholesale prices. The savings the energy companies are making on wholesale energy are not being passed through to customers. We are seeing continual rises from the companies of between €120 to €220 on average bills, and that is desp…

In 2020, the average electricity bill was €976. It is currently €1,877. There is no way that is justifiable, even considering the special circumstances that Ireland faces and considering what happened in Ukraine. People are paying twice what they were paying five years ago and, as I said, the price that the companies are paying for wholesale energy is going down. It is now 75% lower than in 2022. Those savings should be passed on to customers and those companies are not doing it. It has been recommended by the Gove…

I am asking this question on behalf of Deputy Liam Quaide. Has the Minister of State's attention has been drawn to the large-scale fish kill mortalities that occurred on the River Blackwater in County Cork in August 2025; the actions he will take to prevent similar future occurrences; and if he will make a statement on the matter?

I thank the Minister of State very much. I visited the site with Deputy Quaide and spoke to many of the anglers there. It was a devastating fish kill. It was probably way more than 40,000 fish, such as trout, that were killed. The problem is that once those fish are gone, they are gone. Their reproduction capacity is gone. It will take more than ten years to get the river back to a standard and that will not naturally happen either. There has to be serious management and monitoring of the river because there are in…

What also became apparent during those discussions following that fish kill is that there are major gaps in the EPA enforcement programme. The agency has a national priority sites register, which has the poorest performing sites on it. For example, it monitors 900 sites and four are currently on that list, so they really are the poorest performing sites and North Cork Creameries is one of them. North Cork Creameries received its licence in 2019. It has been on the national priority list for the EPA in quarter 3 in …

These are all facts. They are on the register.

They have already been on the climate committee-----

This is not the strategic, public-led, public owned infrastructure; this is the commercial one.

As the Minister will be aware, An Coimisiún Pleanála asked for guidance specifically on commercial LNG facilities and storage from him. His response to that letter and that request for guidance did not mention commercial at all. He did not actually provide a clear answer to the board, and he essentially gave the same response as he has just given to me, but that is not the same as giving a clear policy direction. The previous Government gave a clear policy direction on fracked gas. That is no longer in place. What …

I understand the Minister cannot reach into specific planning applications, but what he can do, and the Government has a responsibility to do, is provide clear policy positions on energy growth, development and security in this country. The Minister has already done it in relation to publicly owned LNG. I am asking - and this would be in line with the climate Act - that the Minister puts forward a clear policy position to say the only LNG facility the Government will consider appropriate is a publicly owned one and…