With regard to Deputy Smith's question, the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science is examining the situation of repeat students. This is a cost-of-living measure. We are examining that and will come back to the House in respect of it.

Yes, that is what I am saying. I will talk to the Minister about it again. He raised it over a week ago. The community car scheme is a very commendable scheme. Many community schemes are doing great work like that. There is a variety of localised funding from the Department of Rural and Community Development that people could tap into. We will follow up with both Ministers to see what can be done. The danger is that once you start formalising grants and so on there is all sorts of bureaucracy and stuff. Whatever ca…

You should not be burning at all in the yard any more.

It is bad for you.

I am not; I am serious about this.

I will talk to the Minister in respect of the issue the Deputy has raised. I just want to get clarity as to what-----

Some fine day the Deputy will stand up and raise biodiversity and the need to restore it with me. I await that day.

We will come back to Deputy Costello on the energy charter treaty.

We are putting more money into rural Ireland than ever. The Deputy knows that-----

-----and he welcomed it as well.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 7, inclusive, together. I had a short courtesy meeting with European Commission Executive Vice-President for a Europe fit for the digital age and competition, Margrethe Vestager, on 30 September. This year marks 50 years since the Irish people voted to join what is now the European Union, and Ireland and Denmark became members on the same day, 1 January 1973. Executive Vice-President Vestager and I reflected on the impact of European Union membership in our respective countries…

On the reference to Ukraine by Deputy Bacik, that would be more immediate than the Magnitsky legislation. I discussed the matter with the Minister for Justice. The view was that the Bill, as tabled, would have no real effect. The Prime Minister of Estonia first mooted the idea of confiscating Russian foreign reserves in respect of rebuilding Ukraine. There is a lot of merit in that proposal, and we support such a measure because the damage done to Ukraine by Russia is enormous in terms of economics and the destruct…

Someone asked me to confirm whether I was lobbied.

To the best of my knowledge, I was not lobbied in respect of the tax. I do not know whether an email was sent. I was not lobbied in any way. I met the company some months ago regarding its plans for the field in terms of carbon storage and a renewable future post extraction, something that is currently under way. That is the position on that. Deputy Boyd Barrett referenced the Fine Gael Ard-Fheis and the proposal from the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Simon Coveney. The Government has no intention of changin…

The Minister referenced the triple lock more in the context of the need for reform of the United Nations, in particular the veto Russia has at the Security Council. Let us be straight about it. The outrageous attack on Ukraine is, by any objective yardstick, an appalling, inhuman and immoral attack on the people of Ukraine, yet the country that is doing that is on the Security Council.

I do not actually equate the US with Russia.

There they go again. The "whataboutery" is a constant. The Deputies are against it pro forma but then they attack America. The bottom line is they attack America far more than they do Russia.

My point is, without interruption, it is not tenable that this situation continues. There has to be reform of the UN and the Security Council. When we were on the Security Council, Ireland put forward a good proposal linking climate change with security. India and China were sceptical at the beginning. Both of those countries abstained. One country stopped what the overwhelming majority of the UN wanted, which was to link climate with security that Ireland was championing. All the small island states of the Pacific…

The question is in the context of my meeting with Vice-President Šefčovič. It is important to put on the record that we did not discuss the Apple case. The updates are there to be had in terms of the proceedings of the court and the court's timetable. I can get the update for the Deputy and communicate that to him. Deputy Conway-Walsh raised a separate issue on the motor insurance industry more generally. The cost of motor insurance has come down and the Government has implemented the vast majority of the recommend…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 8 to 14, inclusive, together. The climate action unit is part of the economic division of my Department. The unit was established in 2019 and it supports me and the Government in dealing with the challenges of climate change and driving the necessary transition to a climate-neutral economy. The unit assists in co-ordinating a whole-of-government response to the climate crisis, including supporting the delivery of the Government's climate commitments as outlined in the programme for …