Yes, we know, and you are going to increase it next week.

And it is going up next week.

No, you have not.

That is not what the Taoiseach was asked.

He was not asked that.

That is the Fianna Fáil position. It is good to know.

The Taoiseach should tell his party Deputies who are running around the rural communities saying something else.

There are two sides to every argument.

The Deputies are getting very frustrated over there.

The committee should not have to hunt down public representatives.

For the purposes of clarification, let me be clear that Sinn Féin supports measures that protect public health. We support measures that protect our environment and deliver climate action. Where we differ from the Government is that we insist that such measures are fair, workable and credible, concepts that are alien to this coalition. In fact, at the heart of this Government's approach is an inherent unfairness. We now have an all too predictable cycle. Someone in the Government, usually the Minister, Deputy Eamon…

I will have to revise a number of my remarks because I had very much hoped I would be having a discussion with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine this evening. Of course, that is no disrespect to the Minister of State. One of the fundamental problems I had with the Minister's approach to the Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, strategic plan is that he refused even to indulge us with a debate prior to submitting the plan. He refused to bring it before the House for approval and refused to bring it befor…

I thank the Minister of State for that, but I could have sent the Minister an email with the questions. I would have thought that the purpose of Topical Issue debates is that we could have a debate on a matter such as this. If the Minister is unavoidably absent, then we accept that. In fairness to the Minister, he is one of the better Cabinet Ministers at attending for Topical Issue debates. I want to put on the record that this whole process needs to be reviewed. I do not believe it is fair on the Minister of Stat…

My question relates to the review into the north-south interconnector. When will the review be completed and when will the report be provided and published? That is not to say that I have any confidence that the review is going to deliver the type of assessment that is required, because the terms of reference have been so narrow. However, I would like an update from the Minister in respect of the interconnector project more broadly.

For the avoidance of any doubt, I want to see the development of the North-South interconnector but I want it to happen in a way that has public acceptance. Here is the irony of the situation: had the Minister listened to the communities and to the expert advice the last time he was in government, I believe the North-South interconnector would be completed by now. Instead, we have had a decade of wasted opportunity because that principle of public acceptance that is so crucial was not heeded. In Belgium, for exampl…

I would suggest, in the first instance, that the Minister does not have the audacity to talk about economic development in the Border region considering his actions in regard to the N2 in an area where we have no public transport. This is not just about what Sinn Féin says. The independent review that the Minister has cited described undergrounding the North-South interconnector as a credible option. It made other determinations on other evaluations as to whether or not the process should be put overhead or undergr…

Because of the Minister's actions.

It has been held up for 20 years.

The Minister will not engage.

Stop introducing-----