The budget announced today - I suppose it was not really announced today but announced in press briefings for the past fortnight - does, in fairness, have much to commend it but it is also disappointing in certain ways. As Independents we speak independently. It is not with regard to the balance between spending and saving and not spending all the money we have right now and all of that but with regard to how some of the money is spent. Some very small measures that could have been taken that might make lives a lot…

I welcome the Minister's welcome of questions because I have a couple in that regard. While I do not have a problem with the State's policy of taxing tobacco products and trying to discourage people from smoking, I would question at what point it becomes counterproductive, in that taxing cigarettes just means people are going to smoke imported cigarettes or that there is a far greater incentive to illegally import cigarettes. I have a friend and any time I go abroad he asks me to bring him back 200 cigarettes. I am…

At best, those are estimates. At what point does it become counterproductive? Maybe the 75 cent is merely due to inflation, given how rampant inflation has been. We say that taxation is working and is stopping people from smoking but how do we know it is the taxation that is stopping people from smoking rather than the Government health warnings? Even unhealthy people like me are conscious of the dangers of smoking now. Knowing what is unhealthy does not necessarily stop me pursuing unhealthy pursuits but at least …

There is a lot of discussion of dysfunction in the housing system. There is also a certain dysfunction in the rental sector. I do not agree with an eviction ban. Obviously people should be helped, but if somebody is refusing to pay their rent or gaming the system a landlord should be able to remove them. There is a huge problem in people intentionally gaming the system. They go to the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB. There is a big delay in that. They appeal that to the board and then wait for court enforcement. I…

The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine is beside the Tánaiste so one or other might be able to answer my question. The Office of the Agri Food Regulator was established this year. At the time, I said the legislation was inadequate to provide the answers needed. Very clearly we need answers to explain the differential in the price of beef in the Republic of Ireland and in the United Kingdom. We export 70% of our beef and 50% of the beef we produce goes to Great Britain. There is a transport cost, obviousl…

Have they been asked for one? When will we find out how one explains this differential which looks anti-competitive to me.

Can I get an answer?

So no answers.

It seems to be news to the Minister-----

I want answers on the floor of the Dáil, unlike the Minister.

Well I hope they succeed in getting answers because I am not getting any.

This is a charade. Questions imply answers.

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the opportunity to speak on the Bill. I suppose the Ireland Canada Business Association will be presented with a view of Ireland which sounds remarkably less corrupt than the view portrayed by Deputy Ring. Listening to him, while one might question why there has been such little change in recent years, it is hard to disagree with him. I do not mean corruption as regards people taking money that they are not entitled to but corruption in the use of power, in particular, in stymying th…

I think I understand the orders and can give the floor to the Minister. I am happy to cede some of my time to him.

I am sorry; I thought he wanted to address me now. There are very few powers in that regard. Other than housing, what are the other big issues of the day? They are health and policing. The mayor has no powers with regard to health. Any local authority input in health has been removed. There is now a realisation that the removal of the health boards may have been a bad idea and it is going back towards some kind of regional boards. How that will work and, most importantly, who they will be accountable to has yet to …

Funding for those national heroes is key to their future. Could the Minister tell me if the current legal requirement to have a television licence, the revenue from which goes to RTÉ to carry out its public service broadcasting commitments, will be reviewed and if the consideration of providing revenue to local radio stations in respect of news and current affairs output will form part of any review?

The Sound and Vision scheme sounds great but we both know, and it is important to outline to the House, that in reality it provides funding for documentaries and one-off measures on local radio stations rather than their day-to-day news and current affairs output, which is of a very high quality, whereas RTÉ's news and current affairs output is funded continuously or was up to now through the licence fee. The reason I support the licence fee is that prosecutions are taken and it is an offence not to have a licence.…

Public service broadcasting is indeed important but the question is how to define it. Public service broadcasting is not about telling people what to think. Sometimes one might look at the output of our national broadcaster and see a deliberate attempt to tell people how to think on major matters as opposed to reporting what happens. A lot of media - not just broadcast media - has moved into the realm of telling people what is the most appropriate way to think. As the Covid pandemic took hold in Ireland, I recall t…

I wish to revert to the issue of overcrowding in hospitals across the country, in particular, the hospital closest to me, which is University Hospital Limerick, UHL, in Limerick. I wish to put it in context as well because, on 14 January 2014, then Deputy Micheál Martin raised the spectre of overcrowding in hospitals. He stated that the Minister had neglected it as a priority in government and that is why there were record numbers last week, and the Minister tried to get away with it but got caught. The then Minist…

I welcome the emphasis on primary care. There is a great new primary care centre in Ennis. The Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, opened it. I welcome that, but there is a shortage of GPs right across Clare and right across the country. It is increasingly difficult, as I highlighted to the Taoiseach, to get an appointment to see a GP in Scarriff. That will be exacerbated by the new arrivals of persons seeking international protection and persons with temporary protection because no additional resources a…