-----and we need a comprehensive set of measures to help people get through that because we understand fully. It is not good enough for the Deputy to say people on this side of the House are being dismissive. We are not. We share as much of the pain and concern people out there have and we are as concerned about people out there as Sinn Féin or anybody else is.

As I have said, the Government has responded. There seems to be a complete brushing aside of the fact that €2.5 billion has been allocated to cost-of-living measures. We are going to do more but we will do it in a comprehensive way, embracing pay. In the private sector, the latest Central Statistics Office, CSO, data on wages are showing that the average weekly earnings in the first quarter of 2022 were up 10% from the same period two years ago, the first quarter of 2020. The public service pay talks have adjourned…

I appreciate the offer of constructive engagement with the Government in terms of coming forward with ideas or viewpoints to tackle this issue. It is something the Government would welcome and it would respond to any constructive ideas brought forward on this issue. I come back to the fundamental point that we cannot chase inflation from month to month. The political will is there. The political will, as the Deputy correctly pointed out, was there during Covid-19 when up to €48 billion overall was spent to underpin…

I thank the Deputy for raising this very important issue. It is fair to say that the decision on Roe v . Wade was quite shocking in many respects but fundamentally because it overturns 50 years of jurisprudence. In other words, what was judicial precedent over a 50-year period was overturned. However, we are different here in this society and our constitutional framework is different. The fundamental difference is twofold. First, we have the referendum mechanism that has been built into our Constitution since 1937.…

Again, I would not be as dismissive as the Deputy on what I said about our referendum, our Constitution and the separation of powers. It goes to the very heart of what happened in the United States. Above everything else, we should avoid the politicisation of the Judiciary; that is the basic point I make because that is what led to the decision on Roe v . Wade. Likewise, on the protection of women's rights in this country, I do not see that weakening; in fact I see it strengthening. The review is about the operatio…

I thank the Deputy for raising this important and very serious issue. As he says, the HSE commissioned the National Independent Review Panel, NIRP, to carry out a review into very serious incidents of concern which took place between 2003 and 2016. That resulted in the publication in December of the National Independent Review Panel - Brandon Report for Publication. Prior to the NIRP commission, a look-back review into these incidents had been conducted by an external expert. To ensure completeness, HSE community h…

What may have happened ten years ago may not inform what could happen today in terms of the rigour of a Garda investigation. We have been told it would be about six weeks. Given all that has happened, we are prepared, obviously, to give the Garda that six weeks. However, I am not dismissing, ultimately, what the Deputy is suggesting and will give that very careful consideration in terms of how we take this forward to give clarity and answers to the families and victims. I am aware of what the Deputy said regarding …

My sense is that Members want this to be a debating chamber, not a legislative chamber. If we look at what has happened-----

I have request after request for statements on this and statements on that, debate on this, debate on that, but to hell with the legislation, we do not want legislation. Deputy Collins does not want to be crammed in on a Friday afternoon.

We have offered three hours on Friday, not about debating endlessly about something-----

-----but about doing something in legislation to improve the admission situation for children with special needs.

That is what we want to do. I know Deputy Collins-----

Through the Chair, I am making the point that this is a legislative assembly, first and foremost.

Its objective is to pass laws. On the idea of nine Bills being appalling, to me, that is a sign of production, productivity, getting work done and getting legislation through.

Some emergency legislation is required. That is nothing new. It has happened from time immemorial in terms of emergency legislation being required. However, instead of just having endless debates, we want action as well. We need action in terms of admissions to schools, for fully inclusive principles around children with special needs being admitted to schools, so we do not have a situation where certain schools are doing all the heavy lifting in respect of special needs admissions to our schools.

We need to make up our minds. Deputy Pringle talks about the Business Committee. Invariably, on the Order of Business, there are calls for statements, statements, debates, debates, debates in a very precious timeframe because we do not have an expanded timeframe. This week, we have Friday.

We do not normally sit on a Friday but it seems that the preference is debate, debate, debate, and we push back legislation all of the time.

That balance has to be readjusted. I am saying that from the Government side of the House. I have always consistently, since I was elected to this House, seen it primarily as a legislative assembly. That means we get things done, as opposed to just playing to the gallery all of the time. I am not saying that is what you are all doing from time to time, but there is an element of it, I am afraid. Deputy Collins wins first prize in that regard.

First, as I said earlier this morning and have said consistently, I find this legislation, and the decision by the UK Government to legislate unilaterally in regard to the protocol, to be regrettable and unacceptable. This is a trend within the current British Government towards aspects of the Good Friday Agreement, be it the protocol, legacy issues or, most recently, its action on human rights. There is an unacceptable trend towards unilateralism. The steps we intend to take are to work absolutely in consort with …

Yes, the law of the land must be applied, and it must be applied evenly and uniformly across the country. In my view, individual hospitals cannot exclude themselves from the operation of the Act and need to take all actions to ensure it is fulfilled. What has happened in Roe v . Wade cannot happen here, in my view, given the fact we had a referendum and, through the mechanism of that referendum, we decided as a people to amend our Constitution and subsequently to bring in legislation on foot of that decision by the…