I am worried that in his absence, he may have forgotten some of the geography of Ireland, so I am glad he has had a good reminder of every town and village in this debate.

I fully intend to bring the Ceann Comhairle on a tour of Waterford shortly, but I will begin with an obtuse metaphor because I know he also enjoys them. When thinking of water infrastructure, I strangely think about the difference between losing one's front teeth and dealing with one's blood pressure. If you lose one of your front teeth, you will attend the dentist the next day to get it fixed. However, if you are like the average Irish male and find out you have high blood pressure, you will probably wait for abou…

We move now to the Regional Group. There are four Deputies sharing time, starting with Deputy Canney.

This question arises from one of the recommendations outlined in the report of the Commission on Taxation and Welfare, which is an excellent report. I would recommend all Members of the House read and give careful consideration to it. Recommendation 12.2 reads: The Commission recommends that working-age payments should be reformed to move towards an income related working-age assistance payment available to all households. The payment should be designed so as to avoid subsidising low-paid employment. This chimed wi…

May we have the Taoiseach without interruption?

Deputy Murphy is aware of the long-standing tradition of not using such language.

The Taoiseach, please, without interruption.

We are way over time, Taoiseach.

Go raibh maith agat, Taoiseach.

We might draw breath ourselves.

The Deputy is over time at this stage.

With 200 pages to cover in two minutes, I do not think the Minister can expect an in-depth analysis of the budget from me, unfortunately. It is very much a cost-of-living budget and this Bill underpins that. It was a response to an unprecedented level of crisis. Despite what Deputies across the House have asserted, I will reassert that this is progressive. It is the third such budget passed by this Government. The impact of the three budgets considered together is also progressive. I will quickly acknowledge the ch…

I would say that 500 m is a fair size of a hedge to be removing. There must be bigger fields in County Donegal than I previously thought. The removal of hedgerows is an issue, but management is also an issue. We all know the value that hedgerows have and we talk about the potential for carbon sequestration and for promoting biodiversity, but are we seeking to promote the management of our hedgerows, and not just their removal? There are some fantastic traditional techniques that help rejuvenate hedges and make them…

This question simply asks when the prohibition on fur farming will commence. Will the Minister make a statement on the matter?

This is something we are anxious to see done. It is a programme for Government commitment that I want delivered. There are clearly animal welfare issues involved. Even if they are well kept, we know what end is in store for these animals. There is also an escape issue and mink, for example, are a non-native animal that wreak havoc among our native wildlife if they escape from farms. I acknowledge there is a just transition issue around structuring the exit of people who are currently fur farming from the industry. …

In 2016, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 2016 to 2025 the United Nations decade of action on nutrition. It set out a concrete timeline for the implementation of commitments to meet a set of global nutrition targets by 2025 and identified what it called an unprecedented opportunity for addressing all forms of malnutrition. I do not know how I can make that commitment sit alongside what I heard on "Morning Ireland" today. Paul Healy, Trócaire's country director for Somalia, spoke to the programme from …

If the House and the Minister of State agree, I propose to take the Rural Independent Group slot now.

I remind the Deputy that it is not the practice to make individuals identifiable.

We are getting to a point where he is going into specific details.

I am asking the Deputy to take care.