First, the Deputy’s analysis is wrong, actually. We need a multidimensional approach to healthcare. The Deputy is falling into the old trap. It is about tertiary hospital capacity for him but actually it is not. That is an important part of it but it is about building up community care and primary care. I attended Ballincollig primary care centre two weeks ago. It is a fantastic multidisciplinary facility. It deals with eye diagnostics and treatments, mental health treatment, chronic illness and a whole range of di…

Ah, keep quiet, Deputy Gould.

It is a well-worn tactic to interrupt me every time I respond. There was very significant investment in Gurranabraher in primary care and enhanced community care. We have to be very careful that we do not lose out on the huge momentum that is being built up in terms of community and enhanced care and primary care because that ultimately helps to keep patients out of emergency departments. Many patients can be treated through these services in a much more effective way, working in an integrated way with the hospital…

We are not. We have increased the number of beds by over 1,000. CUH, two or three years ago, was a bit slow in making submissions on the capital projects. There is new governance there now. The projects have come in. The Deputy does not have to lecture me about Cork or investment at Cork hospitals. I was the Minister for Health. It is the only hospital that has a maternity hospital on site with a tertiary hospital because the investment I made over 20 years ago along with a lot more as well.

You do not.

First, we did not decide last night not to join the South African case. That is misinformation and it is disingenuous. That spin is wrong.

We have been very consistent in calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. We were one of the first European Union countries to come out and call, and rightly, for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and for unimpeded aid to go into Gaza, which are the two most urgent things that have to happen. Third is the release of all hostages that are being held by Hamas and then to get into a political peace track. The Deputy asked a question and then tried to tell me how to answer it. I do not propose to go down that …

This idea that we have not joined is wrong. It is false presentation. It is creating a false-----

Through the Chair -----

It is creating false perceptions. Outside, people looking in at Ireland say that Ireland is pro-Palestinian and pro a Palestinian state. That is what people see about Ireland. We are having an internal debate here. Certain parties seem to be trying to say that they are more virtuous than the parties over here in terms of how much they care about the cause of Palestine.

It is very cynical. It seems to be more about leveraging electoral and political advantage for themselves than about an objective and rational assessment of how we proceed. In terms of intervention, the point is that we cannot intervene until we know the basis of the case. Our approach to this is exactly the same as our approach to Ukraine. Ukraine was refuting Russian allegations, which were the basis for its invasion, that it had committed genocide in the Donetsk and other regions. Ukraine refuted that. Ireland j…

Going back to the court case, states that consider they have a legal basis for intervention in the ICJ must seek the court's permission to intervene. This is typically done in all cases. Nothing new is happening here. It is typically done after the court has made any provisional measures orders. The court is now saying it will deliver that tomorrow. What are the provisional measures South Africa has sought? It has sought an immediate ceasefire and unimpeded humanitarian access, both of which we agree with. We agree…

I just answered it.

If the Deputy is suggesting that somebody is doing this, maybe she should call it out, if there is validity to it. More generally, public representatives should be upfront and transparent in their communications. In my view, no public representative or political party should be creating a bot machine, or a whole series of approaches that facilitate trending and the creation of false news or misinformation. In whatever legislation emerges, there will have to be a balance between the right to free speech, the right t…

I am representing the Government this afternoon in respect of Government policy, by the way, not just the Fianna Fáil Party. Fianna Fáil has an ethical framework governing social media policy. If the Deputy had bothered to ask me as leader of the party, I would have provided-----

-----her with that. We have a disciplinary process as well if anyone violates that policy or undermines people in an untoward and unacceptable way. I hope all parties have.

It is an evolving situation. Does the Deputy have a specific example? She has laced her contribution with innuendo, which is difficult to reply to. I do not know the specifics of what she is talking about.

I have no idea about what she is alleging and who she is alleging it against.

The Deputy has just thrown something out there into the ether, which is not a very honest way of doing things. If she has a problem with a particular person, say it to me. Say it to the Fianna Fáil Party. We have commented on other tweets about situations that we found unacceptable. That happens across all parties and individuals. There is a policy and a disciplinary process to deal with it.

I thank the Deputy for acknowledging that there has been an increase in house completions. The Central Statistics Office indicated today that 32,695 houses were completed in 2023. That is a 10% increase on 2022, which saw a 45% increase on 2021. The momentum on house building is in the right direction. Without question, Covid held us back. Over 100,000 houses will have been built since this Government came to office and we are making significant progress, but we need to do more. What was significant in the CSO’s fi…