We have-----

Sorry but I did not interrupt the Deputy. She has always had an inability to allow other people to speak because she does not like the truth.

All I am saying is that we know people are under pressure.

That is why we introduced the €750 million package.

That is why we introduced the €2 billion-----

-----social protection package to protect pensioners and workers who needed support.

We will do more, and we will do more in the next budget, just as we did in previous budgets.

I thank the Deputy for raising what is an extremely important issue. There is a child poverty unit within my Department which actually had a significant impact on the last budget but everybody attacked it because it just targeted those most in need. I hope the Deputy will agree with me that what was done with the child support payment was going in the right direction to deal with poverty among children. It is. Others want universality everywhere but we do need to target and make choices if we do want to reduce cons…

I disagree. It was a decision to bring forward the date so parents and schools would have ample time. It has transpired that parents of many children who were in mainstream classes have applied for special classes. The Deputy is now acknowledging that we are spending money but some weeks ago she was saying we were cutting back on SNAs.

That is what the Deputy said last week, knowing full well-----

No, sorry. A rule of thumb is that if SNAs are not required in any school in any given year, they should not be there. There should always be regular checking.

No, it is not. I get that when in opposition, politicians have to do what is required but the bottom line, I take it, is that the Deputy is not opposing the increase in SNAs.

I thank the Deputy for raising an important issue, particularly for his constituents in County Laois. We have a National Ambulance Service. I am sure the Deputy will appreciate I cannot run the National Ambulance Service from here but I will engage with the issues he raised and I will talk to the Minister for Health about them. The National Ambulance Service will always defend the model it has, and it has consistently defended it over time. Notwithstanding that, we have heard illustrations, observations or commenta…

Regarding the spring-October statement, the general Government balance is in surplus but all of that money is being used. There is an Exchequer deficit of €1.1 billion. The rest goes into the funds, which we have provided for. Nobody is commenting on that. That €10 million is not hanging around somewhere to be used. The bulk of it has been allocated to the funds and it is being invested in the economy, housing, infrastructure, wind energy and so on. If we look at the ambulance service over a ten, 15 or 20-year peri…

Arrears?

First, let us deal with that issue. The spin all along has been that we have taken in more from the VAT increase than we have given in reductions. That is not true. The bottom line is that because of the measures we took on 13 April, the percentage of the taxation component of the price of a litre of Euro-Super 95 petrol is set to fall to 44% compared with 58% at the end of March. The measures we have brought in have de facto significantly reduced the tax component of the price of fuel. Our overall package was abou…

It is an important point. We have put forward a very significant package to get down the cost; there is no question about that. The figures are there in terms of how substantial the reduction is compared to what the tax component was. We will work out the package for farmers and contractors, and we will be in a position to outline those shortly. We have also provided a range of other supports to people more generally across other sectors of the economy.

Have you costed it?

How much?

No, that is not the way-----