That is where the money goes. It is open to the Government to take a bigger dividend if it sees the ESB is making windfall or excessive profits and give it back to people, be it in the form of the fuel allowance or further reductions to bills.

Fundamentally, what drives the price of electricity in Ireland is the price of gas internationally. We make most of our electricity from gas and that is what determines the price point. The wholesale price of gas, which used to be 60p per therm, is now nearly £3 per therm. Therefore, we have seen an almost-fivefold increase in the cost of gas in international markets. Thankfully, we are not seeing a fivefold increase in electricity prices.

We would be having a very different conversation if we were in that position today. What we see-----

-----across Europe, including in Northern Ireland and Britain, are price increases in the region of 30% to 40%. Unfortunately, Ireland is no different. We are not immune from the dramatic rise in the price of gas that is happening internationally. We totally acknowledge the impact it is having on household budgets and the cost of doing business, and that is why we are trying to act. People will see the €200 coming off their bill-----

We have reduced excise. It is in addition to VAT. It €200 when the VAT is included, to be exact. Of course, we are examining other measures and things that we might do to help in the future.

At the outset, I want to join with the Ceann Comhairle in offering my thanks and congratulations to Teresa Doolan. I worked with her in the Department of the Taoiseach, over here in the Oireachtas. She now moves across St. Stephen's Green to the Department of Justice. I wish her and the new officers taking up their roles the best. If I may, I would like to take this opportunity to, on behalf of the Government, express our condolences to the friends and family of Oleksandr Zavhorodniy, a 45-year-old Ukrainian man wh…

I thank the Deputy. The budget happens in October every year, and will happen in October this year. The demand for a mini or emergency budget has to me elements of sloganeering. Taking action does not require us to have a budget. People will know that during the pandemic we introduced the pandemic unemployment payment, which cost €9 billion. We did not have a mini-budget for that. We implemented the employment wage subsidy scheme to save jobs. We did not have a mini-budget for that. We have already taken €200 off p…

I thank the Deputy. I am not sure I would characterise the three options presented in the same way as she did. I would have to read the Sláintecare report again to remind myself exactly how prescriptive the report was in terms of how the regional health areas should be structured. I heard the Deputy say on the radio that she did not think they should be a recreation of health boards, an option that would involve boards, CEOs and all of the rest.

We have not gone for that. Rather, we have gone for something in between, which is establishing regional health areas within the HSE on an administrative basis with the intention of devolving power and budget to them. That is the plan.

I thank the Deputy. The plan is to have a hassle-free home energy upgrade scheme. One-stop shops are being established to take the stress and hassle out of the process so that people can get this work done quickly. At the moment, there are two one-stop shops registered but there are another two that will be approved shortly, bringing us to four. There are a further 15 companies in the middle of the application process. We anticipate in the relatively near future having approximately 19 one-stop shops around the cou…

I thank the Deputy. This is a significant issue coming through my constituency office as well as his. I presume all Deputies have the same experience. The situation with renewals is actually now pretty good. Renewals are happening quite fast. There are significant delays, however, with new passports and passports for children, particularly foreign-born children. Some of that is down to the work that has to be done before the passport can be approved. What has happened in simple terms is there has been a huge surge …

The new role of the Chief Medical Officer is an open-ended secondment funded by the Department of Health. Dr. Holohan is being seconded to Trinity College Dublin under the same terms and conditions as his existing contract. Secondments between organisations are a regular and common feature across the civil and public service to encourage interdepartmental and inter-agency co-operation and the sharing of knowledge and skills across the public service.

I think all present will acknowledge that it would have been far preferable if the full details around the secondment had been put in the public domain at the outset. That should have been done. I know the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Michael McGrath, is not satisfied with how this has been done and he is engaging with the Department of Health on it at the moment. That is not in any way casting aspersions on Dr. Holohan - I know the Deputy did not do so either - who is an excellent public serv…

I am sorry to hear of the experiences that the Deputy's constituents are having in St. Luke's General Hospital, Kilkenny. It is a very good hospital most of the time but has suffered from increased overcrowding in recent years. The best thing I can do is to inform the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, that the matter was raised in the House today and ask him to speak to the Deputy directly.

We are examining some of those options at the moment, both in terms of putting people on preferential tariffs, doing what the Deputy suggested in respect of switching, and the move to time-of-day pricing. The truth is energy prices will go up and down in the course of the coming couple of years. The thing that can be most helpful to people are the kind of sustainable solutions he mentioned - making sure people get proper notice of increases, making sure they know how to switch and making it easy to do so. Many peop…

I am afraid I am not up to date with the detailed plans for the site but I will ask the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, to revert to the Deputy on it.

I echo the Deputy's remarks in respect of Ukraine and our need to support the Ukrainian people in their battle against Russian aggression. One of the main things we are doing is putting together a deeper and tighter set of sanctions to be imposed on Russia. That is the fifth package of sanctions and it is currently under development. The Minister, Deputy Coveney, is very involved in that. We are also going to provide increased humanitarian and financial aid to Ukraine and, through the European Union, are providing …

I thank the Deputy for his question. It is important that we should improve our performance when it comes to licensing and reimbursing new medicines. We have fallen behind many of peer countries in that regard. It is not right or fair that patients in Ireland cannot get a medicine that they would be able to get via the NHS in Britain or in similar health services elsewhere. We need to up our game in that regard. Many of these medicines were invented and are being produced in Ireland. It is, therefore, a bit strange…

I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter. This is a matter for Munster Rugby and the IRFU, as the national governing body, but I would ask them both to reflect on the decision they have made in respect of this matter and to review it. Neither the Government nor the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media have any role in this. It is important that we respect the autonomy of national governing bodies to run their sports. However, equality in sport is Government policy. Ministers w…

There has been no Government decision on this per se . Talks were convened under an independent chair. They went on for some time. That independent chair has now been appointed to the courts. Unfortunately, those talks were not successful. It is now intended, therefore, that the Government will re-engage in the coming weeks with the Irish Medical Organisation and the Irish Hospital Consultants Association with the revised offer. I hope they will accept it. I think most Members of the House would agree that €252,000…