His European masters.

Ever before the war there was a spiral in prices. Everyone knows that.

Two weeks ago, HIQA published an assessment of Tusla's foster care services in Cork which, as the Taoiseach well knows, has a quarter of the country's children. Tusla was compliant in only two of the 12 standards assessed. One example is that some children with complex needs taken into State care by Tusla in Cork were housed in hotels. The report is the latest among scores of reports that finds Tusla is not compliant with national standards for foster care in all of its 17 service areas. HIQA has the power to monit…

It is bad enough that they are being taken into care but to be neglected in care in this way is shocking.

On behalf of the Rural Independent Group, I too am pleased to be able to say a few words and to welcome Austin Currie's wife, Annita, his children, Estelle, Caitríona, Dualta, Austin and Emer, and the former Taoiseach, Enda Kenny. Austin Currie was one of the leading figures in the civil rights movement in Northern Ireland and, as we know, co-founded the SDLP. He became a poster boy for the Northern Ireland civil rights movement in June 1968 when he bravely squatted in a house in Caledon in his home county of Tyron…

I too have questions about the Taoiseach's nine-page speech, in which he did not say much about his cheerleading last week for the European Council to agree to turn off all the Russian gas. Will our Government protect the hard-won freedoms and sovereignty of our people and our foreparents? Will it continue to hand away our freedoms to the EU and international globalists, namely, the World Economic Forum and the WHO? That is the question I have for the Taoiseach, who would not even stay in the Chamber for the debate…

Where will that get us? We are supposed to be a sovereign country. We cannot ride two horses so we should ride one properly.

We cannot ride two horses-----

I believe I have the floor. We have limited time and Deputy Richmond will not take it up. Will the Leas-Cheann Comhairle allow us the time?

I will. I just said it is time we came in.

I understand. Táim beagnach críochnaithe agus beidh beirt Teachta eile ann. These are my feelings about what is going on. It is a total sell-out and clean-out similar to when we were supposed to be bailed out by the European banks. We were cleaned out and robbed and we are now handing over the keys. The Taoiseach is proud to do that. He wants a big job in Europe. The sooner he goes there the better.

I compliment the Deputies who proposed this motion. We have seen what happened in Monaghan, Ennis and Nenagh. Ministers act as if they are bystanders at a wake. All they are missing is the snuff. They might make the caointe cáin. The Minister of State, Deputy Butler, allowed a wonderful hospital in Carrick-on-Suir to be closed in the middle of Covid - it was used for Covid - and denied the people of her own area, but she will have to deal with them at the ballot box. I do not know what to say to the Minister. I alw…

Taxation.

The Tánaiste is completely out of touch with reality regarding the hardship people are facing. The ESRI report published today is shocking and finds that people could be paying more than €2,000 extra. What about the squeezed middle, particularly those with mortgages to pay, given the predicted increases in interest rates? The average mortgage interest rate in the eurozone is 1.46% while in Ireland it is 3.64%. What is wrong here? That rate is going to increase. The banks are exiting even though we bailed them out. …

I did not need it. I am saying that the Tánaiste might read it.

He should give it to his friends and his party, so they might read it.

The Government should take note of it.

What about the vulture funds?

The Tánaiste is really out of touch.

On a point of order, there is no freedom of speech here anymore. Can we not table a motion that we decide and word our own motion without taking lectures like this?