The Cathaoirleach Gníomhach said five minutes each.

I thank the Deputy. The conclusions of the European Council meeting in my view highlight the fact that the European Union seems to be going very badly wrong. We might look at the communiqué and conclusions with regard to Ukraine, highlighting Russian aggression. The amount of damage the European Union has inflicted upon itself to punish Russia, or to seek to punish Russia, has been enormous, not just in Ireland but elsewhere across the European Union. It may well be that that is all worthwhile, and the position of …

Are we going to have a country without agreed borders join the EU and have this country guarantee those borders with our soldiers and their lives? That is farcical. The EU is becoming completely devoid of any connection with reality or with what it claims to espouse-----

That will become unsustainable very quickly.

I wonder if the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach would indulge me. At the outset, the Minister paid tribute to Mr. Paul Dillon, who is retiring after a long career. Mr. Dillon taught me a very valuable lesson. Up to that point, I had believed legislation was made by these Houses, but I learnt in the course of the passage of the Forestry Act 2014 that it is, in fact, made in Departments and rubber-stamped by this House. He was very much the driving force behind the Forestry Act 2014, which was revolutionary legislation. It i…

On the same issue, there has been a lot of emphasis this year on the requirement of agriculture to improve its impact on our water quality. I agree that agriculture has a role to play and needs to improve the impact it is having. I fear that after the derogation has ended, we will come back in five years and water quality in Ireland will not have improved enough unless the other actors also improve their game. I have spoken to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine about forestry with the usual impact I …

The report never mentioned unsewered areas, such as Spanish Point and Miltown Malbay-----

-----which is the area where Uisce Éireann pleaded guilty to five of 21 charges. The EPA only mentions the worst cases. It does not mention the other cases.

What is the Government going to do? It talks about its environmental credentials.

Yes, a Cheann Comhairle.

I know, a Cheann Comhairle. The Ceann Comhairle would also acknowledge that cycle lanes make for better photo opportunities than sewage treatment plants. What is the Government going to do about this?

It does not mention unsewered communities at all.

It does not mention them at all.

The Tánaiste is trying to avoid answering it. I am sorry. Let us hear what the Tánaiste has to say.

There was no mention of unsewered settlements.

I wish to speak on behalf of the motion and against the Government's amendment. I listened very carefully to what the Tánaiste had to say before he quickly departed the Chamber. It seems to me that he has offered no reason whatsoever as to why the Government is not prepared to even accept Ireland's traditional position of neutrality and encapsulate that in the countermotion, as Deputy Connolly pointed out. It is almost as if we are embarrassed by Ireland's history of neutrality. There is a war in Ukraine. I call it…

I want to raise again the mess that is University Hospital Limerick. This morning, day surgeries were cancelled in Ennis because no patients arrived. It appears that nobody told the surgical team though. The urology surgical team, anaesthetists and nurses were all waiting for patients but none arrived. It seems to be an incredibly bad use of scarce resources. It is not unique, unfortunately. During the Covid pandemic the hospital at Ennis had many more cancellations of services than happened at Nenagh, St. John's o…

I would like to ask the two Government representatives if either of them heard Marie McMahon from the mid-west hospital action group on "Morning Ireland" saying that people were afraid to go to hospital. I do not know whether that is news to them, but it is not news to me because it is something I, my family, neighbours and friends have lived for quite some time. A very close elderly relative of mine who is in a nursing home had a fall and an ambulance was called to bring her to Limerick. I stopped it and was told …

I am very happy to share with my colleague or any number of colleagues who wish to have time because I simply have not formulated my thoughts on this. It seems quite clear to me that there has been an increase in excess mortality rates but I have no idea why. Various reasons are posited, some conspiratorial and others not. Deputy Paul Murphy might not wish me to join him in anything but I join him in saying I have an open mind about the matter. We do need to find out what is behind the excess deaths. I have just a …

Last week and during the weekend, there was a lot of talk about a certain Minister being thrown under a bus. I think that is misconceived. Ministers do not go near buses. They are driven around. People get thrown under buses, in particular the people of the mid-west. One in five of the people on trolleys across the country are in the mid-west. There are 104 today. The Taoiseach visited the mid-west and the hospital in Dooradoyle after becoming Taoiseach and I commended him on that. This House passed a motion callin…