First, Government officials have been meeting and co-ordinating in respect of the Russia-Ukraine crisis on contingency planning on a number of fronts in the context of potential repercussions from the escalation of the crisis and the resulting impact on fuel supplies, cost and so forth. In terms of peat, that was not a Government decision. The courts decided what was going on was not legally valid or correct.

The courts made a decision. We cannot just keep going on with illegality. The courts were very clear on that.

We have, however, developed alternative approaches and the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, as the Deputy is aware, has plans-----

-----in terms of utilising bogs of a certain size to source the peat for-----

-----our natural resources.

First, I assure the Deputy that the Minister, Deputy Foley, wants this resolved and is anxious and supportive of the talks process. The Minister, Deputy McGrath, wants it resolved also. Both of them have given this considerable momentum since the formation of the Government. As I said to the Deputy or another Member who raised the issue last week, there have been intensive discussions at the WRC from September of last year. Progress was made. The Department has moved to shift the pay rates of school secretaries to …

That is easier said than done. I fully accept the Deputy's frustrations, by the way.

The budget is there. I take the Deputy's point but there are negotiations going on. We have to get value for the taxpayer but we do have to get a service for the public as well. Those talks are continuing and they need to be brought to a resolution.

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. He tends to be very alert to these issues on the ground, as I know from previous questions he has asked. At the moment, across the NDLS front office network, there are approximately 76,220 appointment slots in total across a six-week period. Of these, 43,715 are booked, with the remaining slots available. Nearly 30,000 slots are available to be booked. A person who is late for an appointment can always be accommodated and so on. The Deputy is right about Covid restrictions…

We are fully in accordance with international regimes in terms of taxation and in terms of the European Union's capital and financial markets.

We are regulated by the European system as a country. In respect of the IFSC, special purpose vehicles have been established there that are used in securitisations and structured finance transactions. That includes services that----

-----have been provided to some Russian entities.

The Government has taken steps to deal with these issues.

They include making changes to tax laws in the Finance Acts. That has happened. Last year, significant changes were made to anti-money laundering legislation. The Finance Act 2021 saw the completion of our transposition of the anti-tax-avoidance directive, which is ahead of many other member states across Europe. The Act also introduced the authorised OECD approach for the transfer pricing of branches and it contains the process of introducing new tax transparency measures-----

-----that Ireland has played an active role in developing at the OECD and European Union.

I agree with the broad principle that Airbnb and short-term lettings are injurious to the housing market. Housing, as I have said consistently, is the number one issue. It is the biggest social crisis facing the country. We need to deal with it with all of the weapons at our disposal. That is what Housing for All is and is what the delivery mechanism at the heart of Government is about. It involves looking at every single opportunity to create housing supply and to get houses built. That may mean the rezoning of la…

I did not quite grasp it. I am sorry, Deputy.

I genuinely admire the Deputy’s advocacy for Shannon Airport on a consistent basis. I will investigate that to see what the issue is. I am not quite clear at this stage whether it will make the agenda in any potential meeting with President Biden.

The roll-out of the contract that was agreed with NBI some years ago continues. My understanding is that approximately 6.7 million m of fibre cable have been installed across the length and breadth of Ireland. Some 54,000 premises are currently ready for service across 22 counties. This means that homeowners, businesses and farms can now order and pre-order through a retail service provider to connect to a high-speed National Broadband Plan, NBP, network. NBI has advised that as of 11 February, over 157,000 premise…

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. I am aware that the matter has been under review by the Minister along with other issues relating to local authority tenancies. There is a broad range of issues there. I will relay the Deputy’s points to the Minister along with the Deputy’s specific recommendations.