When the Treaty was signed it was-----

The Deputy is finished with me.

In the west of Ireland, especially in my own county of Mayo, we are very pleased to have many multinational companies. Allergan, Botox, Baxter and Coca-Cola are all creating very valuable jobs for the community of County Mayo and for Ireland. What worries me is many of these companies would not have invested in rural Ireland if not for the 12.5% corporation tax rate. I hope these companies will not be affected in any way. I know many people who have been working with these companies for over 30 years. They are well…

I agree with the Minister. Every country in the world wants to get multinational companies in. Let Deputy Doherty not cod himself. Let him not think there are not countries out there with sweetheart deals we do not even know about. Companies come in here getting paid and trying to get some of these multinational companies out of Ireland and into other countries. We have the jobs. I do not know why the Deputy is talking down the companies that are here, instead of thanking them for coming and creating employment. Le…

I do not need any lectures from the Deputy. I did not interrupt him.

I have had enough lectures from Sinn Féin. All they are good for is lecturing and promising. By God, when the time comes I hope they will be able to deliver. They will not be able to because there will be no one in the country. They will have run out of the country if Sinn Féin gets into government.

Thank you.

I thank the Minister for her attendance. I apologise that I have to raise this issue but I am disappointed with what is going on at the Department. I will outline the history of the school in question, about which the Minister and I had a Zoom meeting a few months ago. It is Holy Trinity school which has been there for 230 years. It is under the patronage of the Church of Ireland and if it was anything but a Church of Ireland school, this would not be going on. The site in Altamount Street, Westport, was formerly o…

I thank the Minister for her reply. I will not get into a row with her today but natural justice should apply here. This school was involved first. I know a previous Minister - not the current Minister - had more interest in co-education schools than the other schools. We have great schools in Westport and the only school that needs to be relocated is Holy Trinity National School. The co-education group has come in since and it seems to be getting priority now. The Holy Trinity school has lobbied and raised funding…

I thank Deputy Canney and the Minister for their kind words. I take this opportunity to compliment the Minister for the great job she is doing in not in one or two Ministries, but in three. She is almost a third of the Government. It is fantastic to see the job she has done in the three Ministries. I have a very simple question for her. The Leas-Cheann Comhairle will understand it. Very simply, we have a number of playgrounds around the country that were a godsend to people, families and children when the pandemic …

I thank the Minister for her reply. A number of playgrounds around the country have been damaged by people who have no respect for public property. The schemes that are there are great schemes. I am sure the Minister will look at having a specific scheme especially for upgrades and for putting security cameras into some of these playgrounds. Security cameras are vital now because, as I have said, there are people out there who just want to destroy public property. I do not know what is wrong with them. When the pan…

I am glad that the Minister also has responsibility for the Department of Justice because the previous security camera scheme that was in place did not work. There was too much red tape involved and I am glad the scheme is being reviewed. It needs to be simplified because while funding was made available, it was not drawn down. In my experience, when funding is not drawn down it is because the scheme is too difficult. To be fair, most of those involved in community groups are volunteers and they do not have the exp…

I have Question No. 11 on the Question Paper.

It is on the Question Paper.

I am not going to have a row with you. That is the Question Paper. If it is on the Question Paper, I thought it would be called in order. I came in to speak about the Passport Office and I would like to have that opportunity.

I am not going to let it go and I will speak to you when this is over, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle. There is no point putting questions down if I am not going to be called. Thank you.

With regard to the Passport Office, I agree with all the previous speakers. Who made the decision at the beginning of the pandemic that this was not an essential service? Was it a Secretary General who the Minister has now made an ambassador and who got rewarded for making a mess of the Passport Office? What really annoys me about government is this. We look at the front page of the Irish Independent today and we see Revenue threatening people to pay their property tax, yet we cannot get a driving licence, we canno…

It is €115 for the appointment and €95 for the password afterwards. I will give one example, just one example, and I will stop then.

Thank you. You might let me back in again.

I always co-operate. It is you who did not co-operate with me this morning on the Question Paper.