First, I wish the Deputy well. This may or may not be the last occasion on which we have an opportunity for questions on a Thursday morning, but I thank her for her courtesy and respect in her capacity as leader. I thank her and her colleague, Deputy Shortall, for their commitment to the public good and public interest as leaders of their party. Through very challenging times during Covid-19 and so on, they put the nation first ahead of their party. I will always appreciate that. The public health interest in parti…

A key consideration has to be the likely impact of any extension on supply. Recent data show that around 21,000 home sales last year involved landlords selling their properties while just 7,500 homes were bought by landlords. That means a net loss of 13,500 homes to the rental stock. We have to ask the question why the smaller landlords are leaving the market in droves. We have a whole range of rent protection zones. They came in I think in 2016 initially-----

-----and were then extended in 2019 and 2020. The issue of trust is vital so we must be very clear in terms of what we are doing in this decision and I am sharing these issues with the Oireachtas now because it has to go beyond the catch cry of "you are the uncaring Government that wants to do x, y and z and we are the people who are for apple pie" etc. There is a real issue here. We could make things much worse is the point I am trying to make. We want to build up supply and we are doing it. We are up to 30,000 be…

I find Deputy Boyd Barrett's remarks deeply disturbing and unfair. Inevitably in every contribution he makes on the war in Ukraine he brings it around to the NATO issue, and it is NATO's fault ultimately in his mind. It is a disgraceful and distorted assessment of his that he has just articulated now, that somehow NATO wants to escalate this.

I did not interrupt Deputy Boyd Barrett. He should have the decency to allow me to make a reply. The Deputy has just asserted in a distorted manner the idea that NATO wants to escalate the war on Ukraine to a nuclear status. That is a disgraceful and wrong thing to say. Germany is in NATO. France is in NATO. They did everything they could to persuade Putin not to launch that war. They were lampooned by some for endeavouring to persuade Putin not to launch that war. Why does the Deputy not accept that reality? I hav…

-----because they pick up something that does not look like a bomb but is a bomb. Deputy Boyd Barrett is saying we should not help to train people to prevent that terrible impact on civilians.

I am the leader of the Fianna Fáil Party, of which Frank Aiken was a member. He was the first Minister for Foreign Affairs to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. My party and colleagues in the Government in this House have a very proud record on the international stage with respect to nuclear disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation.

This country has a strong record in that regard, even in its most recent iteration on the Security Council of the United Nations for the past two years. We do not have any blind spot about nuclear weaponry. We have been consistent. More than a decade ago, we were the leaders, with Norway, the Vatican and others, in having the international convention banning the use of cluster munitions. Ireland is well respected for its role and well respected in regard to defending Palestinians and providing support to try to dev…

We have been very strong in terms of holding accountability in respect of Israeli attacks and atrocities. We condemned what happened last evening. It was wrong. We are very concerned about the trends in regard to that issue. The fundamental point is this. We stand by the international rules-based order, the United Nations Charter.

Putin has breached it in an appalling manner. All we are saying is we will help to train some Ukrainians in respect of their capability in medical combat, in bomb disposal and in other areas of that kind. It is not too great an ask for this country to make and it does not threaten in any shape or form our neutrality, which is defined by non-military alignment. We are not members of NATO. We have no intentions or immediate plans whatsoever to join NATO.

I thank the Deputy. In the context of his recent announcement, I wish him the very best, although he very quickly said to me in the corridor that it would not spare him from harassing me, politically speaking, for the next while. He will be as robust as ever. I acknowledge the Deputy's long-standing and consistent support of the long Covid issue. Very few Deputies have put as much work as he has into endeavouring to understand the prevalence of long Covid across the population and the consequences for individuals a…

As I said, the national service is being rolled out with about €6.6 million allocated for 2023. That will provide post-acute and long Covid clinics. The long Covid clinics currently operational under the new model of care include St. Vincent's University Hospital, Beaumont Hospital and University Hospital Galway. The post-acute Covid clinics operational under the new model of care include University Hospital Galway, the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital and Connolly Hospital Blanchardstown. In addition, Talla…

Sinn Féin is very adept at using language like "targeted", "interim" and so on. When mortgage interest relief was last in operation in 2008, it cost about €700 million. Research showed that the top two deciles of income benefited the most. The broader cost-of-living measures we have introduced in the past 15 months, from January 2022 onwards, will help those who are coming under pressure with increased mortgage repayments. However, we still have the third lowest rates in Europe, at 2.69%. In December, it was reveal…

I dealt with this issue last week. It is a very fair question. Discussions are currently under way in respect of the issue, which essentially involves pay and conditions. The Departments of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, and Education are working on addressing the situation pertaining to adult tutors. Improvements have been made in recent years, but there is no doubt that we need to resolve this matter once and for a…

The Government has acted, particularly for prepaid users. People should not be cut off.

If Deputy O'Callaghan can give me the specifics of the particular location where that happened, I would appreciate it. The package we have provided over the last 12 months amounts to approximately 3.5% of GNI and includes well over €1 billion in supports to households. There is a specific issue around district heating, which the Deputy has identified. Regarding the prepaid situation, we also brought in measures to try to deal with that and provide protection and supports.

It is my understanding that the Government appointees will be announced imminently or in the next while. It will be within the week.

I did stand up.

Can I just clarify? I do not want the charge that it was disrespectful to stay on the record.

The Deputy asked me about the Government nominees and I said they would be made imminently, which means the committee will be able to meet. That is the point the Deputy was raising with me.