I thank the Minister. Please, without interruption. Manners are in poor supply tonight. I call Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh.

Sorry, that is okay. The Deputy is right.

We could stay here all night and all day talking about building houses. It saddens me. I have said this many times. I spent five years on the joint committee with responsibility for housing and we have lost our way. The Government makes announcements. Let us take the announcement on the fees, which I welcome very much. I refer to waiving the fees for Irish Water and the planning development fees on houses. I was delighted this happened. There is a deadline and people are caught in it. Sneakily, and I raised this is…

On behalf of the Rural Independent Group I would like to express our sympathies to the family of the late Brendan Daly, iar-Aire, iar-Aire Stáit agus iar-Theachta Dála. I had many an interaction with him. He was a jolly man and a hardworking and diligent public representative always. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis. Last week the Federation of Early Childhood Providers launched a document outlining the challenges facing the sector. Over 200 of them came and protested outside the front gate of Leinster House. The …

What hope does that give us?

This is serious. A total of 7%, or one in every 14, of early learning and care providers for school-aged children will not reopen in September. This is a startling figure. The Government has failed to address the concerns of early childhood care providers regarding low pay and core funding. The failure not only impacts on providers but also on families who desperately need these places for them to survive and stay in the workplace. This is resulting in 68%, almost 70%, of childcare providers being unsure out their …

With all that is going on in RTÉ at the moment, when will there be an investigation into the conduct of the National Asset Management Agency, NAMA? I have been contacted by Mr. John Fraher, a hard-working businessman in Clonmel who has been working since he was 13 years of age. He is alleging that his tax number was fraudulently used by officials from NAMA and then attempts were made to cover it up over the Clonmel Park Hotel. It is a nice hotel and development that was this man's brainchild. He worked hard at it. …

I am being as careful as I can.

I am not. Parts of land that were traditionally owned by South Tipperary County Council have now been acquired by this company. This all sounds very murky. We had Project Eagle. Is this going to be project Cluain Meala? It is a lovely name, meaning the vale of honey. There are serious questions to be answered here about persons who were on the board of NAMA and interfered with Revenue and everything else. I want this investigated at the highest level. We saw how former Deputy Mick Wallace had to continually raise t…

I have.

That is his own business. I have encouraged-----

I have been passing on-----

I have to concur with every sentiment and syllable Deputy Healy-Rae said. I am tired and weary of listening to Deputies in this House from the left, like Deputy Bríd Smith and Deputy Cairns, talking as if we were Neanderthals or backward people. We understand the land. We know about land. We do not bring in lurchers when we talk about greyhounds and we do not do stupid things like that. We know what we are talking about, thankfully. We do not profess to know everything about everything but we know about this. It is…

The Vee Valley Day Care Centre in Clogheen, County Tipperary, is facing a funding crisis with community employment, CE, staff finishing and its inability to hire staff from the HSE funding. The centre, which is run by Michelle Sweeney and a voluntary board with PJ English as chairman, has sought additional section 39 funding, which was refused. When I put a question to the Minister on this, the reply came back that the committee should look for voluntary contributions from the clients and for donations and fundrais…

Yes.

Not agreed. Vótáil.

If they can get a doctor.

I know the Taoiseach is going to launch his summer economic statement this evening. I hope it will not be raining. There are huge concerns about a levy the Government introduced in budget 2023. I refer to the 5% levy on all ready-mixed concrete and concrete blocks. KPMG did a study on this which said it would increase the cost of building a three-bed semi-detached house by €1,300, it would add an extra €300 million to the construction costs and it would add to already spiralling inflation in the construction sector…

On a point of order, is the Taoiseach not concerned about building and the cost of concrete? I know he has never stood on a building site, but surely he will answer my question.

I am sure he will answer my question.