What does the Minister plan to do to strengthen the application of the partnership principle with regard to the next CAP? Further to the correspondence he received from the European Commission does he intend to re-engage with stakeholders? Will he ensure we have a collaborative approach to Ireland's implementation of the next Common Agricultural Policy?

The consultation process on the CAP strategic plan was disappointing. Essentially stakeholders were invited to make submissions and that was it. Online public meetings were organised in a very unsatisfactory manner, with no ability for people to engage directly. While the mart meetings the Minister mentioned were still continuing, the strategic plans had all but been drafted. We need to be honest about that. Am I correct that the Minister said that he plans to respond to the European Commission essentially making t…

The Minister is at it again. He is playing games and trying to twist and spin things. It is beneath his office, I must say. The Minister has a very important job of work, that is, to ensure we have a Common Agricultural Policy that actually protects Irish agriculture for generations to come at a time when the industry is facing many challenges. The place of Oireachtas Members is not at marts and taking up speaking time that was made available to farmers in what was a limited consultation process. The place for Oire…

We did so and the Minister should put that on the record.

The European Commission saw the plans before the elected Members of this House. That is a scandal.

At this stage, we are running out of words to describe the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on ordinary workers and families. Households simply cannot keep up. They are struggling to make it to the end of the week. Their hard-earned money is going out faster than it came in. While people watch every cent they spend and do everything they can to provide for their children, they also hear that the wealth of Ireland's nine billionaires rose by €16 billion since the start of the pandemic. This cost-of-living crisis …

On the back of a piece of paper, I can think of rents, mortgage interest costs, childcare costs, insurance premiums and healthcare access. These are all areas where Irish workers and families were already paying among the highest rates in the world under the Tánaiste's Government, and all of that has been added to by the soaring cost of electricity and fuel prices that are quite simply out of control, and now we know grocery prices are also going to soar even further. I asked the Tánaiste what the Government is pla…

Returning to the issue of special education, the language is not the problem. The problem is the policy and the scandalous fact that in late May there are 80 children in Dublin and many more across the State who do not yet have special classes assigned to them for next September. The problem is that the Government has not planned for and put in place the measures that would fulfil the parents' wishes that these children with disabilities will be part of the school community rather than some anonymous special educat…

I would like to use this opportunity to remember Maria McShane, who passed away last month. Last year I had the honour of meeting Maria in her home in County Armagh. Although she was in her sick bed at the time, she was in good spirits and it was easy to see why Maria had earned the love of all those who knew her. The best way to describe Maria McShane is that she was a typical rural Irish mammy. She was witty, endearing and committed to her family. Hers was not to be life of a typical Irish mammy, however, because…

I want to use this opportunity to express my condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of Pierre Zakrzewski on his awful killing in Ukraine. I want to reference the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh in Palestine. The murder of Shireen makes me fearful. Whatever Israel gets away with, it always goes further. The Minister referred to the recent attempt by a European Parliament delegation to enter Israel and Palestine. In 2014, following the most recent bombardment of the Gaza Strip at that time, I was part of a Eu…

I thank the Acting Chairman for allowing me in, although I would have preferred if my question, which is almost identical to that of Deputy Bríd Smith, was grouped with it, as that would have allowed for more interaction. The Minister said her Department is not opposed to a public inquiry or other types of inquiries. I do not buy that. The reason there has been a scoping exercise is that the Department and the Minister at the time, rather than adhering to the wishes of both Houses of the Oireachtas and establishing…

I add my voice to the calls of Deputy Paul Murphy and others for a full review of what could only be described as the very dodgy dealings at Askeaton, County Limerick. I am new to this case and have been reading up on it only over recent days, and it is clear the public interest has not been served by the investigations into the missing samples, the freedom of information documentation that confirms those samples had been tested, and the question as to who, what, when and why those samples and the subsequent result…

From what the Minister of State said, it is clear that the phrase "just transition" has virtually no meaning under this Government. There is nothing just about the course it is pursuing, nor is there much evidence that Government policies are leading to a transition at the pace required. In the area I follow closest, agriculture, Government policy has been exposed as a fallacy. While always quick and eager to impose penalties and additional charges on family farmers in rural communities, these are never matched wit…

We are leasing it.

The Taoiseach is not answering.

I am sharing time with Deputy Mac Lochlainn. I will take eight and a half minutes. I thank the Minister for his opening statement and for being here alongside the Minister of State. I welcome the fact that we are having this debate. To give credit where it is due, I commend Deputy Mattie McGrath for persistently calling for this debate, which is very timely. I apologise that I will have to leave before the debate is over. The Minister has a tough job at a very difficult time in Irish agriculture. In fairness, he ge…

The Taoiseach was the Minister for Health.

The Government is well fit to undermine itself.

Perhaps the Taoiseach will answer the question.

That is because Fianna Fáil was the Opposition then.