First of all, I agree with the Deputy in her analysis. It is going to be a difficult winter, but it is our responsibility to do everything we possibly can to reduce the pressures on households in respect of energy costs, and also to protect jobs in society. I appreciate the fact that the Deputy is clear about the need to work through the European framework in terms of carbon tax or a mechanism to take the windfall gains made by energy companies, and particularly non-gas generation, which is getting a revenue that i…

We do not envisage or advocate the nationalisation of the Corrib gas field. The European Union measure deals with the Corrib gas field and other gas fields in terms of fossil fuel extraction or production. Before any domestic measures are taken, it makes sense for us to have clarity and a decision from the European Union on the operation of the gas market and the mechanisms it would deploy. That is also important for fossil fuel extraction. We are focusing as much as we can on the immediate, including this year, th…

I will make two points to the Deputy. He said the problem has got much worse, which I outlined earlier. It was striking that he did not elaborate on why it has got much worse. It is because of Putin's war on Ukraine. The Deputy seems incapable of articulating that in the context of this energy crisis, as do many on the left, for some strange reason. The bottom line is that Putin's war in Ukraine and his weaponisation of energy constitute a major factor in the extraordinary price hikes we are witnessing. That said, …

We also increased the fuel allowance by 55%. That was a massive increase last year. Measures taken related to school transport fees, the school meals programme being extended and the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance. The student maintenance grant payments went up by €200 per year. There was the holiday earnings disregard and so on for students. We did a range of measures. We cut public transport fare by 20% with an additional 50% cut in fares for young people, reduced VAT from 13.5% to 9% on gas and e…

Prior to that, during Covid, we took extraordinary measures to protect workers and the economy, which resulted in the fastest economic growth of any European member state since Covid. That gives us the resources to enable us to intervene again in a significant way on Tuesday two weeks with the budget and the cost-of-living package we will announce. If we had taken Deputy Boyd Barrett's measure and spent billions nationalising energy we would have very little left to allocate to anything right now. We have a signifi…

We acted comprehensively to help people over the last 12 months and we will continue to do so. We will intervene again to take people through this winter period. We have to help people right through to the end of March. We also have to protect jobs, just as we did during the Covid pandemic. Whatever the Deputy’s views, and although he will never accept this, we took the economy through the pandemic and we protected jobs during that time. An unprecedented recession occurred in the first year of the Covid pandemic an…

Are you telling the truth on Navan?

I am answering the Deputy rhetorically. Is he telling the truth? I have been through this over 30 years.

I will say this much: we need balance. This debate the Deputy is having now has been waged across many locations in this country over the last 30 years.

The Deputy can go through them all.

Hospital action committees-----

It was not.

No, it was not.

There was one gynaecologist, if the Deputy is talking about the maternity unit.

I am talking about the Deputy's party's first stance, which elected its first Deputy.

Its modus operandi has been to exploit a crisis, get the marches going, get it simplified-----

It gets the issue to be "they are for it, we are agin it, and we will get elected". That is what is happening. It happened for a long time in health-----

-----until we got sense as a country. The Minister has intervened. There is a review under way in respect of Navan involving James Connolly and Our Lady of Lourdes hospitals and the clinicians, in order to get an informed view.

Let us not undermine the motivations of other people who have different views, such as medics in Meath. There are different views between the medics in Meath. Some are genuinely concerned about safety issues, which have to be dealt with. I sometimes worry about the manner in which Deputies reduce things to just the electoral and political issue. That is why I have to say this. I have said this already on the record of the House. There are legitimate concerns with moving ahead in the absence of any proper provisions…

It was taken in 2013. I have been here since 2013. At this stage it is manifesting itself. Equally, I would say we need a more balanced approach in terms of health. Yes, there are huge challenges. Covid-19 has had a huge impact on our hospitals, negatively. There is no question about that with regard to waiting times. We have to focus very strongly on getting waiting times down because Covid negatively impacted them. There are other parts of health as well. I was at the support centre for stroke in Cork last Saturd…