Will the Minister explain precisely what human rights provisions are taken into account? To my knowledge, no such export licence has ever been denied.

I am told there is a quote in respect of a number of licences and the fact that they have grown that they raise a higher or potentially more serious risk of misuse because they are going to state agencies or linked companies. That is in respect of dual-use items exported to Israel. To be clear, when a state, whether it be Russia, Israel or any other oppressive state, is currently engaged in a hostile military action leading to the deaths of civilians, we should not send them any materials with a potential military …

Does the Tánaiste agree that this process needs to be reviewed?

They are not items that need a dual-use licence, in fairness.

I commend Deputy Connolly on submitting this question. The fact the occupied territories Bill has not been implemented is a ruse, as far as I am concerned. The Government has been hiding behind the Attorney General's advice, considering that Fine Gael opposed this. We are told that a Fine Gael Minister told an Israeli counterpart that it would not happen. People can dispute whether that conversation took place, but we know that what the Fine Gael Minister is purported to have committed to is exactly what happened. …

That has been acknowledged.

Why do you keep looking for acknowledgement for things? We are looking for action.

Implement it here first.

Implement it here first is the ask. That is a genuine ask.

As the clock struck midnight this Government increased the cost of fuel once again. This Government has been responsible for an increase of €12 on a tank of fuel since it took office. Ireland is now the most expensive place in the EU to buy diesel and one of the most expensive to buy petrol. Does the Minister recognise fuel hikes penalise workers and families, especially in constituencies like the one she and I share where people have no choice but to use their cars? Does she accept fuel hikes are putting enormous …

Not true.

There is no public transport.

An increase of €12 on the cost of a tank of fuel.

People are using their cars. They have no choice in the matter.

The Minister of State may be aware that in Cavan and Monaghan ETB and in the other ETB areas, virtually at the last moment, a number of tutors of adult education courses were told those courses had been suspended. Students of some of those courses attended only to find out they had been cancelled. What are the Minister of State and the Government doing to resolve this situation?

I have to say, that was the most non-answer answer I have ever heard in this Chamber. It is not good enough. To suggest the ETBs are fiefdoms making decisions independent of the Government is simply ludicrous. It is the Government that sets policy and allocates budgets, so for the Minister of State to say he is aware of funding constraints within the ETB and further education sector, without acknowledging that the Government has a hand in that, is disingenuous in the extreme. The problem is that there is a human co…

The Minister of State is now blaming the members of the board of the ETB, who, I can tell him, were not aware of this decision until after it had been made at an executive level. It was made at an executive level because there is clearly a funding gap, and we know about the funding gap because tutors and students were initially told their courses would be delayed. They were later told they had been indefinitely postponed. That sounds very much like an ETB scrambling to secure funding. The Minister of State should c…

The Taoiseach made promises to this family.

I know I am known for my brevity but-----

I will try not to. I want to speak to Financial Resolution No. 1 on the increase in the price of cigarettes and tobacco products. This is not a popular thing to say but I am completely opposed to such a hike in the cost of cigarettes. I believe it is vindictive. It will not deliver the stated ambition of the Government. Yes, rates of smoking dropped from 27% in 2004 to 17% in 2019. This was due to the smoking ban, increased costs and other societal factors. Between 2019 and 2024 the rate increased by 1% despite the…