The suggestions to provide legislation to create offences in respect of both of those merit the most serious consideration. Again, I will engage with the Minister for Justice. These are issues that might be pursued through the relevant Oireachtas committee in some detail because they are very important issues in respect of that wider debate. We should have a wide-ranging legislative provision to ensure there are no escape routes or hiding places for people who engage in such violence.

We need to assess these reports and do a little more analysis of them. The Oxfam report claims that the wealth of Ireland's nine billionaires has increased by €18 billion to €49 billion since the start of the pandemic. The report admits that as Oxfam does not have data on individual wealth holdings, it makes estimates. It starts by making estimates of aggregate wealth based on measures like GDP, stock market values and national savings. These measures are very unlikely to produce reliable figures on wealth for Irel…

We have put a tax on wealth here but Sinn Féin has opposed it. Sinn Féin has opposed the property tax.

The Deputy raises a very reasonable point. He has outlined those who are benefitting. My understanding is that, subject to further clarification, if contracted by the HSE they will be entitled to that payment of €1,000 as well.

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. It was raised earlier as well but Deputy Griffin has had a consistent interest in this. It is the intention of the Government to introduce a vacant property tax next year. The Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) Act 2021 introduced by the Minister for Finance has enabled Revenue to collect certain information on vacant properties in the local property tax, LPT, return forms submitted by residential property owners last month in respect of the new LPT valuation period 2…

I spoke earlier with Deputy Murnane O'Connor and indeed I referenced the Deputy in terms of her campaign for a refuge centre in Carlow. With the Ministers involved, we will work on that to follow it through. On the LPT, my understanding is that local authorities would be able to retain the surplus but I can get further clarification for Deputy Hourigan on that. On Deputy Sherlock's question, I have met Ms Ryan and have been engaged on an ongoing basis. I have written to President Biden in respect of this. Most rece…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 7, inclusive, together. The parliamentary liaison unit in my Department assists the Government in its relationship with the Oireachtas. It works with the Office of the Government Chief Whip on issues that arise at the Business Committee and the Committee on Standing Orders and Dáil Reform, including Dáil reform proposals and amendments to Standing Orders. The unit supports the Office of the Government Chief Whip in the implementation of the Government's legislation programme. I…

I will address the last point. In situations like this, perhaps it might be better if the Deputy spoke to the Minister directly.

The Deputy will then know that what he said regarding the Minister not being directly involved in this matter was not true.

I do not want to have a row about this because it is an important matter and very serious issues are at stake, not least the capacity to get Richard O'Halloran back home to Ireland, which is my objective and that of the Minister and the Government. There has been state-to-state engagement on this at all levels. People at all levels of this State have communicated with their counterparts at all levels of the Chinese Government. Unprecedented measures have been taken by the Government, through the Minister for Foreig…

I will follow that up and come back to the Deputy. On Deputy Paul Murphy's point, the Garda initiates its own investigations. Politicians do not tell it to do so, nor should they. The Government certainly should not be involved in how the law works. We do not engage in the operational activities of the Garda. Increasingly, we hear clarion calls that the Garda should do this and arrest this or that person. That is not the remit of the political world, nor should it be. I do not believe a politician should be going d…

I know people can report, but then it is a matter for the Garda to decide. Eighteen months on, people are telling the Garda what it should do.

I just think that is an issue. On the issue raised by Deputy Paul Murphy, as I said, the people involved have said what they did was wrong, and it was wrong. It should not have happened and was clearly in breach of guidelines. There is no question about that.

I know but the people have put their hands up-----

-----and apologised for what was an impromptu gathering, it seems to me. They were there in anticipation of a second vote in the Security Council. Ireland won on the first count. The previous Government had been campaigning for a seat on the Security Council and apparently on the first count Ireland was elected. The anticipation was there would be a lot of work required for the second count, in terms of working the phones to secure our place. That is my understanding but the Minister is prepared to go before the Oi…

-----in terms of giving greater choice to the students. That happened last August. A change has been made in the timing of the oral examinations and practicals to preserve another week for the schools. There is a meeting tomorrow between the stakeholders and there will be further engagement with the Minister and partners in education. The Deputy suggested there should not be competition for places. We have one of the highest per capita participation rates in third level across Europe and one of the highest second l…

Deputy Cian Ó Callaghan spoke on the lack of places. I dealt with that earlier and agree with him. We need to provide more places and a better system to do it.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 8 to 13, inclusive, together. I briefly spoke by phone on Thursday, 2 December with the First Minister, Paul Givan, to discuss the evolving Covid situation North and South and the additional measures we had announced in light of the emergence of the Omicron variant. We agreed on the importance of ongoing North-South co-operation and communication in this area. In November, I spoke by phone with the deputy First Minister as part of a series of calls with the Northern Ireland party le…

I thank all the Deputies for raising those issues. Deputy Richmond raised the issue of the North-South Ministerial Council. I agree with him. He also spoke about the need for co-ordination of the vaccination programme and around the whole Covid issue. I wish to make clear that such co-ordination is continuing between our Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Tony Holohan, and his counterpart in the North, Dr. Michael McBride. There is also co-ordination between the health services, which are sharing experiences and trying to …

I propose to take Questions Nos. 14 and 15 together. The Government co-ordination committee last met on Monday and it is scheduled to meet again next Monday, 24 January. The committee reviews the activity of Cabinet committees and the agenda for the week's Government meeting, discusses political priorities and reviews implementation of a specified element of the programme for Government. I am a member of the committee along with the Tánaiste and the leader of the Green Party. The Secretary General to the Government…