That is something that must be done.

It is very easy to lump all these different cases and issues together and say they are all the same. They are not. They are quite different. For example, when it comes to the nursing home charges issue, the legal advice from the Attorney General is very different from his legal advice on the DPMA.

I do not think it is right to-----

-----put them all together.

I am coming to that. I have been a member of three governments now, including a Government involving the Labour Party. We have put a huge amount of time, care and resources into putting right some of the wrongs of the past, even where there is no legal liability on the State. We have put in place a compensation scheme, for example, for symphysiotomy. In that case, the survivors went to court and they lost their case. Even though they lost their case in court, the Government decided anyway to set up a compensation s…

I acknowledge that it is the role of the Government to act in the common good. We may disagree on what the common good is from time to time. I accept it is the responsibility of the Government to act within the common good, which is why I do not accept this charge that has been made, namely, that the Government only does the right thing when it is dragged to court or loses a court case.

I have given the Deputy several examples of cases where the Government put a redress scheme in place, even though the case was lost in court. Symphysiotomy is one example of that. The Government also decided to put in place compensation schemes in respect of mother and baby institutions, Magdalen laundries, mica, pyrite and apartment block defects, despite the fact that there was never a finding against the State with regard to those matters. What is the common good? The common good has to take into account what is…

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. The Government recognises the need to ensure that there are accessible transport options and appropriate mobility supports for people with disabilities. The disabled drivers and disabled passengers scheme provides relief for vehicle registration tax and VAT on an adapted car, as well as an exemption from motor tax and an annual fuel grant. The scheme is open to severely and permanently disabled persons as a driver or passenger and to certain charitable organisati…

I am afraid I do not have answers to all the Deputy's questions but I will let the Minister for Finance know that the matter was brought up today. We will see if we can come back to him with some more details. It has taken longer than anticipated to recruit the new board. We hope the board can make inroads into the backlog over the next couple of months. As the Deputy said, there are three different schemes. The disabled drivers scheme has been reviewed, and we are waiting for the publication of the national disabi…

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue of the EU nature restoration law. We support the European Green Deal and support in principle the proposed EU regulation on the nature restoration law. It was published by the Commission in June 2022 and aims to restore nature and biodiversity. The proposed regulation in its current form, however, is very ambitious and goes too far, and we have real concerns about the real challenges that would be posed by its impacts, timing, equity considerations and deliverability. Each r…

-----and it is not possible for me to comment on them.

As I said, we support the European Green Deal and, in principle, the EU nature restoration law. I think all of us want to see nature restored, an end to biodiversity loss and the restoration of biodiversity across our country. There are, however, aspects of this that are very ambitious and go too far, in my view. We are carrying out a national impact assessment so we are developing a position on the EU nature restoration law. It is being led by the National Parks and Wildlife Service but is cross-government. An int…

There really is no allegation the Deputy would not just throw out there. There are members of the Opposition who at least have some sense of truth. There is nothing the Deputy would not throw out there. That memo was not a Cabinet memo. I am sure Deputy McDonald has read it at this stage. It does not say "Cabinet memo" on it.

It is a memo for advice and was sent to four Cabinet members at the time.

Yet Deputy McDonald just throws out there the statement that everyone-----

-----in the Cabinet saw this memo, which was not even a Cabinet memo. There is absolutely nothing-----

-----the Deputy would not say, whether it is true or not - and there she goes again. The issue I was briefed on was the nursing homes issue. The Deputy is trying to conflate that with a different issue.

It is impossible to answer questions from somebody who just does not care-----

-----what is vaguely related to the truth.

Picking up on something the Deputy said earlier, the Government is putting in place a scheme to compensate people who were residents of mother and baby homes, despite the fact that nobody has found any legal liability attached to the State in that regard. There was no question of court cases, legal strategies or any of those things. The Government decided it was the right thing to do to have a compensation scheme in this, regardless of any points of law. A commission of investigation was established and it recommen…