Come on. The Government is reducing tax for workers. We are reducing income tax for workers and we reduced the universal social charge last year. The focus has been on reducing income tax to give people more disposable income and enable them to spend at their discretion. That has been the focus of the Government over the last four years. We have also reduced the cost of services in terms of transport and education, and the free books scheme has been a tremendous help to parents with regard to school expenditure. We…

The Deputy seems to want us not to reduce the tax for workers but, rather, reduce it elsewhere. I do not know whether he believes we should have a €2 billion tax package or a €2.5 billion tax package. He needs to specify what his priorities are.

Our priority is to reduce taxes for workers to enable workers to have more disposable income to spend on services at their discretion and on what their families want to prioritise.

In its alternative budget, Sinn Féin proposed that the excise reduction that happened should be restored in one go on 1 April of this year, unlike the Government’s step-by-step restoration. Under its plan, motorists would have seen a full 8% increase for petrol and a 6% increase for diesel on 1 April last. Once again, Sinn Féin proposes one thing in its budget proposals and then walks back from it a month later. There is no consistency in its approach.

That is what you said in your budget. You would have done it all at once, back in April, with an 8% increase on petrol and a 6% increase on diesel. The Government took a different view. We wanted to try to reduce the pressures on the public, unlike the Sinn Féin proposal, and we will keep it under review.

The Deputy is correct that Beaumont is one of the older national hospitals, and I think Cork University Hospital was a replication of it. I think the then Minister, Charles Haughey, decided he did not want any more new designers and he said they should just bring the plan from Beaumont to Cork, and we got a hospital much faster. They are old hospitals and they have been subject to a lot of investment since. Under the Minister’s first tranche of expanded acute bed proposals, I would have thought there might be oppor…

We are not sitting on the report. Everybody in the House should analyse the report, including the Social Democrats.

No, in terms of the rental market. I am not sure that what it recommends would fit with the policy platform of the Deputy's party in terms of the rental market. We need to examine it and the Department is examining it. It is a substantial and comprehensive document which merits detailed examination. Some issues are being progressed but it merits detailed examination, as opposed to soundbites and a general 1.5-page press release. It needs far more detailed assessment than that, particularly around the rental market.…

They should be able to use the playgrounds.

I will follow that up. As the Deputy said, the housing policy is that it be available to all.

There should not be social segregation. It is abhorrent to our way of thinking and values as a society. There cannot be that segregation. I will talk to the Minister on enforcement of the policy.

I thank the Deputy for his generosity of spirit in texting me on Sunday congratulating the Cork hurling team on its success.

Waterford hospital is one of the best-performing hospitals in the country. I pay tribute to all the staff who work there. We are committed to increasing investment in the hospital. In 2019, it had a budget of €201 million; in 2024, the budget is more than €290 million. That has grown by €89 million, which is a substantial investment.

Staffing in the hospital has grown by 841, or 44%, since the end of December 2019, from 1,949 to 2,805.

There are 47 more consultants, 100 additional non-consultant hospital doctors and 370 more nurses and midwives, as well as 123 additional health and social care professionals. It has dramatically increased.

The people decided in the referendum and-----

The people decided in the referendum and governments and political parties of all persuasions must uphold the decision of the people in terms of legislating for what was decided in a constitutional referendum. That said, a range of measures have been provided for and funded. Free contraception up to the age of 35 is a significant measure and an enhancement of what went before. There have been many interventions in education and so forth in dealing with this issue. There has been a substantial reduction in teen preg…

The answer is it has not been about reducing cost because the older scheme in 2019 was far inferior and costs have gone up dramatically. As I said earlier, the provision for the costs is about €2.3 billion. I do not understand how anyone could say that amounts to reducing costs. We have increased the maximum grant available to €420,000. On top of that, recipients get the SEAI grant for including retrofit measures as the house is being repaired, refurbished or built anew. The applications are coming in. We need to a…

And also in terms of rental and so on like that.

You settled for less.