Hear, hear.

As the Minister is the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, I have to ask him if he is aware of the misuse of public transport funding that is discriminating against regions in this country? The N2 road alongside the A5 has been considered in several Government documents and plans to be a crucial artery and economic driver for both the central, Border and the north-western regions of the country. However, unilaterally, the funding for the next phase of the Clontibret to the Border section of that scheme was …

There is no public transport in the region I am talking about.

I am sharing time with Deputy Martin Kenny. I presume he is on his way. I am pleased to participate in this debate because there has been quite an amount of discussion about the cost of living, doing business and operating voluntary community services in recent weeks and months, and rightly so. The pressures in this State are so great on many workers, families, small businesses, etc., because the most recent increases, especially in respect of fuel and energy, are the latest in a long list of areas in which the Iri…

It needs to be said that the people of Meath are 100% correct to fight for their hospital services and their elected representatives are absolutely correct to bring this matter to the floor of the Dáil. I commend Deputies Guirke and O'Rourke on doing so. I encourage the people of Meath and their representatives to keep fighting and to be extremely wary of promises of better services to come at some point in the future because, as someone from County Monaghan, I have to say we have heard all this before. We know wha…

I apologise for missing the start of the question. The specific question to the Minister of State is on soaring fuel prices and the impact they are having on workers and families. The Government introduced minimal reductions in excise measures in March and it has done nothing since in respect of the huge cost and burden of fuel prices on workers and families. We are four weeks away from recess and if the Government does not introduce a measure within those four weeks, we will be looking at the end of September or O…

Let us be clear that Sinn Féin has put forward a package of measures that are required to ease the burden of the cost-of-living crisis that so many are facing, including specific directed measures that would ensure social welfare recipients and people on lower incomes receive targeted supports. We also need to recognise the lived realities of hundreds of thousands of families. I will never forget the telephone conversation I had with a person who told me that on their way home from work they have to hold their brea…

Hear, hear.

Deflection, deflection and more deflection.

It is no surprise that the publication of the annual transition report comes 18 months after the statutory deadline before which the Minister, Deputy Ryan, was due to deliver it. It is no surprise because the three Government parties, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party, have met none of the climate targets they set. Unfortunately, the Government is following a familiar trajectory. To give some examples, the 2020 report that we are debating today refers to an afforestation target of 8,000 ha every year until…

If I welcome anything from Deputy McAuliffe, it is his acknowledgement that everything Sinn Féin does related to fundraising is within the law and is done legally.

We do it because it is legal. That is what Deputy McAuliffe is so antagonised about. Fianna Fáil was exposed as breaking the law in the fundraising activities it engaged in last year. Of course it is legitimate for political parties to raise money through legal means and of course it is legitimate for people to support a political party they share the views and beliefs of. All of that is entirely legitimate. The difficulties in Irish politics and the fundamental problems that we face to this day with how our housin…

I hope the Minister of State will prove that my view of him is wrong. I have no doubt, on a personal level, that he is a lovely man but lately he has been used time and time again to read prepared statements on behalf of others. This is a serious issue. The Minister of State has been asked, instructed or whatever by the Minister to come to this House and move an amendment with no purpose but to be of financial benefit of that Minister's party.

I am not talking to Deputy McAuliffe at all. I am raising very serious questions whereby if they were related to other parties, including my own, we would have a chorus of people putting those questions to us, and quite rightly. The questions have been put to the Minister of State. I sincerely hope he is willing to provide answers or that he has the decency, political courage and cop-on to announce that he is withdrawing that amendment.

It has been established that the Minister of State is here as the representative of the Government this evening, because he has not disputed it. The charge was put that this amendment was being brought forward in order to facilitate Fianna Fáil to hold a draw which the party could not do in the autumn of last year. He did not dispute that and did not suggest there was another reason for bringing forward that amendment. I take it the agreed position of this House is that this amendment has been brought forward at th…

No comment? Is the Minister of State serious?

Will the Minister of State not answer any of the questions that were put?

That is scandalous.

The Minister of State is here to represent the Government. Several questions were put and the Minister of State will not answer them.

We have talked about what is quite simply a Fianna Fáil stroke by the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to table a last-minute amendment that will allow political parties to raise money through a lottery licence. Of course, the reason he is doing that is because that practice is currently illegal. Back in the 1980s, the Taoiseach will remember that Fianna Fáil was brought all the way to the Supreme Court by An Garda Síochána to prove it was neither a charity nor a philanthropic body. Recognising t…