Because of war.

That quotation was from nearly a decade ago. The Deputy did not address anything I put to him.

Three years ago we had a state like Russia upend the multilateral order, upend the UN Charter and invade a peaceful country like Ukraine. I was the Minister for Defence for two years before becoming Taoiseach and saw at first hand how the existing legislation restricts our capacity to participate in overseas events. Even the number of 12, for example, is ridiculously low and is hampering our efforts to get in to help civilians in very difficult situations, be it in Sudan or elsewhere, and to extricate them from tro…

Defective concrete blocks is a complex issue. This Government has been engaging with homeowners and various organisations from the very beginning. I met with some in my previous time as Taoiseach. The 2025 funding for this initiative has increased by over 50% from €45 million to €70 million. That means something is going on. There is activity, without question. The overall scheme is expected to cost €2.2 billion. The Government is committed to that and did commit to that. I am informed that, currently, there are mo…

I am not in a position to give the Deputy dates or timelines today. There is work to be done on the legislation. Suffice to say that a comprehensive commitment has been given here by the last Government and followed through by this Government. The NSAI is currently examining the situation in terms of the most up-to-date scientific advice in respect of all of this. We will continue to work with stakeholders and representative groups in pursuing this and in getting this scheme going, or rather not getting it going bu…

Deputy Doherty is not interested in a resolution. In a strange way, he is enjoying this and will keep it going for as long as he possibly can. I have got many letters from the leaders of the Opposition parties. I recall the night I was meant to be elected Taoiseach. We saw what happened then. I remember ringing Deputy Bacik, who had written a letter and told RTÉ, Virgin Media and everybody else that she was desperately seeking a meeting with the leaders of the Government parties. It transpired that Deputy Bacik was…

Meanwhile, the Tánaiste and I were waiting above in the Sycamore room. Where were the leaders of the Opposition parties?

They were nowhere to be seen. They dispatched a letter, told the media they had done so and then went off doing what they were going to do anyway.

This has happened on more than one occasion. The last time I got a phone call from Deputy Bacik, I was at a meeting in Brussels.

She asked whether we could meet. A half an hour later, on the 9 o'clock news, I heard that Deputy Bacik had written to the Taoiseach seeking an urgent meeting.

This kind of play-acting keeps going on.

To be fair, Deputy Gannon said we are in uncharted waters and we are. We are in uncharted waters across the world, where the most profound and grave challenges are facing people. There are terrible wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.

There is a terrible war in Sudan and there are very significant economic headwinds coming. Let us be frank; the situation is very serious.

It is very uncertain and very uncharted. With respect to the Chair, eight minutes on a Wednesday-----

-----in addition to what was already there and eight minutes on a Thursday, pales into insignificance-----

-----with what we are facing collectively as a country.

It is time to cop on here, and have a bit of common sense and proportionality.

The presentation from the Opposition is very disproportionate.

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. The Little Angels School is a multidenominational school catering to pupils with moderate, severe and profound learning disabilities aged up to 18 years. It is my understanding a new state-of-the-art school building is nearing completion and is due to open in the coming weeks. The new building will offer a range of specialist accommodation including designated classrooms, therapy rooms, quiet rooms, a nurse's room and soft rooms. Concerns have been raised regarding the capa…

The Department of Education is engaging with the school on this reconfiguration. The Minister of State has asked the Department officials whether another request from the school to continue to use its former building, which is owned by the HSE, can be considered and is awaiting an urgent update.