I thank the Ceann Comhairle. Deputies Clarke, Dillon and Ó Murchú raised the issue of the date for the leaving certificate examination results. I do not as yet have a date. We all want it to be in August. Young people in sixth year want to know what course they will be doing next year. Many have to find accommodation, which is difficult, and the more time they have the better their chances. Of course, there are people who are applying for courses abroad and people from Northern Ireland who are applying for courses …

I propose to take Questions Nos. 15 to 26, inclusive, together. The economic policy unit is part of the economic division of the Department. The unit assists me, as Taoiseach, in delivering sustainable and balanced economic growth and advancing the Government’s economic priorities. The unit also advises me on a broad range of economic policy areas and issues and provides me with briefing and speech material on economic and related policy issues. It assists the delivery of the Government’s economic commitments as ou…

I thank the Deputies for their questions. Deputy Dillon's was the first question, and it related to balanced regional development. I really want to echo his words in that regard. It is a Government objective to make sure we have job opportunities in all parts of the country. We are making some real progress in that regard. More than half of all of the investments by IDA Ireland companies last year were outside Dublin. Some two thirds of Enterprise Ireland-supported jobs, which are Irish companies exporting, were ou…

I do not see how the State could do anything other than reaffirm the fact there was no special arrangement with Apple and that the allegations made by the Commission are untrue in that regard. Even if the case goes against us and we find ourselves in the possession of €13 billion, it will not be ours to spend. Other countries will want their share of it too.

I have seven more questions that I do not have time to reply to.

If the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach wants to take time off the next round of questions I do not mind but it is up to Members.

I will be as brief as I can. We plan to enact the duty of care legislation this year. We want to rebalance it or at least say to people that there are inherent risks taken in engaging in certain activities. We hope this will help to bring down the cost of insurance. Deputy Gannon raised the issue of a municipal market. He is spot on in raising that issue. It is something that is really missing from the city of Dublin. If you go to Madrid or Barcelona, you will see some really beautiful markets. They are good for bu…

We will. We strengthened its powers and increased its resources only last year, but we will.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 27 to 36, inclusive, together. The Cabinet committee on the humanitarian response to Ukraine and migration last met on Thursday, 4 May. The next meeting will take place shortly. This committee, which I chair, works to ensure a co-ordinated approach to the State’s humanitarian response for people arriving from Ukraine who have sought temporary protection here. The Government’s co-ordinated response to the humanitarian crisis is extensive. Ireland has never seen so many people arrive …

I again thank Deputies for their questions. On the issue of communications, information and engaging with communities, I reassure the House that work is ongoing across Government to intensify and improve communications and community engagement. We should not forget that 84,000 people have been provided with State accommodation in the past year in more than 100 different centres throughout the country. Most of the time, that has worked well. There has been information, communications and broad acceptance by local co…

They are under consideration, but that is all.

I beg your indulgence, a Cheann Comhairle, while I welcome the students from Coláiste Muire and St. Flannan's College in Ennis, who are here in Leinster House today. They are going to do a presentation later on sustainable communities. They are accompanied by Councillor Mary Howard. Deputies Cathal Crowe and Carey also wish to welcome them. They are all very welcome to the Chamber. As I said yesterday, the Government here is under no illusions. We acknowledge that we are experiencing a period of high inflation. Peo…

I am happy to do so. As I acknowledged earlier, we are experiencing food inflation. We now expect to see prices moderate or come down in the coming weeks and months, as they have in respect of petrol and diesel. We are doing three things. The Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, is meeting representatives of the Retail Forum today and will say to the retailers very clearly that if their input costs are coming down, we expect them to pass that on to consumers. We are engaging with the Competition and Consumer Protect…

As I acknowledged in my reply to Deputy McDonald – I want to acknowledge it again – the Government understands and knows the price of energy has gone up a lot in the past year, as has the price of groceries. We appreciate that many individuals, families and households are struggling to make ends meet, and that is why we have taken action to increase people's pay, reduce the tax they have to pay and ensure the money they have after tax goes further, including through reducing the costs of childcare, public transport…

Many of the measures I mentioned are not one-off measures. The reduction in the price of childcare is a permanent measure and we anticipate doing more in the forthcoming budget. The same applies to the reduction in the cost of public transport. I could go on. We have taken 20 or 30 measures and many of them are permanent rather than one-off. It is a tired narrative to say we are not taking action. Take what we have done on energy. We have imposed a special dividend on the ESB that we can now use to help homes and b…

When the Deputy misquotes and misrepresents somebody and puts words into their mouth, it just demonstrates the weakness of his argument. That is all it does. I will come back to that in a moment. Everyone accepts that inflation is a reality and that many people and families are struggling to make ends meet as a result of it. There are many factors behind the international inflation and cost-of-living crisis. There is the war in Europe. Of course that has been part of the cause of this. The increase in interest rate…

It depends on the good or service. What can the Government do about it? First, we tax profits. I have nothing against companies making profits but they should not be making margins that are out of line with those in other jurisdictions. I have said that previously. We tax the profits of companies and will continue to do so. We have a powerful competition and consumer protection regulator whose powers were beefed up last year and additional resources provided. That body has the authority to examine prices and carry …

We will only take an action like that if we are confident and convinced that it actually will benefit consumers. We have to bear in mind that there is ideology and there is reality. From an ideological point of view, and I appreciate that the Deputy comes from a radical socialist left-wing ideology-----

-----price controls are always a good thing. We know from real experience that price controls can have negative consequences as well. This is most evident in socialist, state-run, planned economies like the Soviet Union and eastern Europe where they led to shortages, scarcity, rationing and, ultimately, a black market. We have to bear in mind experience from other jurisdictions and also potential unintended consequences. As I said, we tax the profits of these companies.

We have powers under the CCPC to carry out investigations into price fixing, price signalling and cartel-like behaviour. If anyone has evidence of that, I encourage them to come forward with it.