I propose to take Questions Nos. 8 to 11, inclusive, together. The Cabinet committee on the environment and climate change last met on 9 November 2020 and is scheduled to meet again on 7 December 2020. The members of the committee are the Taoiseach; the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Employment and Trade; the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications; the Minister for Finance; the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform; the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media; t…

It was not meant to be personal.

Just as a point of clarity, I have no issue with campaigning or campaigns, but I am always reminded that, when Deputy Barry was elected in 2016, he made a very clear statement of his philosophy. He said that there was a saying in Paris, namely, that which parliament does, the street undoes. That sums up the difference in our philosophies. I am a committed parliamentarian and I believe in parliamentary democracy. I get the sense that, where any issue emerges, there is an orchestration to use it to build an electoral…

That is the way politics works, and that is the way it has worked. That is what the Deputies are at.

The Deputy instanced correctly the War of Independence as being a campaign, but what about comparing that to whether we should replace the RTÉ licence fee with another charge? That is the point I am getting at. The Deputies will still believe that it will become a big, unjust tax and they will run a big campaign and big protests around it. The point is: Parliament and decision-makers have to make decisions. On climate change, the Deputies will again oppose everything that we bring about to get our carbon emissions …

Yes, the Deputies will.

They will do everything they possibly can to resist what this Government, including the Green Party, has proposed in different iterations. For example, on the Oireachtas committee in the previous Dáil, a majority of parties decided on a course of action to try for a reduction. That involved a carbon tax and to utilise that money to protect against fuel poverty and to deal with retrofitting, but also to deal with alternative farming so that we could increase and enhance our biodiversity on our farms and recalibrate …

As we discovered during our programme for Government discussions, trying to bring levels down by an average of 7% over the next ten years will be very challenging, but we are committed to doing it as a Government. The climate change Bill is a good Bill. It has a whole range of commitments. It establishes a 2050 emissions target. It introduces a system of successive five-year economy-wide carbon budgets, starting in 2021. It will strengthen the role of the Climate Change Advisory Council in proposing carbon budgets.…

-----and he will do so in a constructive manner. His main aim is to improve the Bill if people come forward with workable improvements. The Bill in itself is a major advance on what we have had and is something that commends itself to the House. He is open to amendments, of course, given the detailed examination that has taken place. In the House, Members may come forward on that. In relation to the climate data centre, I will have a look at that. I will talk to the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, about that. I accept…

It has been nearly nine months since the threat of an unprecedented global pandemic became a reality. Since then, Ireland and every country in Europe and throughout the world have had to take dramatic action to contain the terrible toll that this virus can take. Every aspect of social, economic and cultural life has been upended as we have worked to shield those most at risk and to limit the damage. There have been many ups and downs and the second wave of the virus, which has hit Europe in the past two months, has…

I am not shaking my head.

Let them get the job done, for God's sake.

Of course not but let them get the work done.

I am all for it.

First of all, I have taken questions on this issue as Taoiseach. I took them yesterday and I am taking questions right now. The Deputy is asking questions and I am going to take them. The Deputy's question was very interesting. At the outset, I must say that her assertion that there was horse trading involved in the appointment of Paul Gallagher as Attorney General and some connection to the appointment of Mr. Justice Woulfe to the Supreme Court is an untruth and a false assertion. She should withdraw it because it…

Sinn Féin has a habit of continually repeating a claim and then asserting that it is the truth. What the Deputy has just said is an untruth. It is not verifiably true that there was horse-trading involving the position of Attorney General. Stop misleading the House in that regard and deliberately creating a story that has no foundation in fact. The Deputy should withdraw that claim because I know that there was absolutely no relationship between the appointment of the Attorney General, Paul Gallagher, and the appoi…

Last week's announcement by the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, on the urban regeneration and development fund allocation of €80.6 million, involving a total package of €110 million, with €30 million committed by the Department of Transport, is a major shot in the arm to the south east. It is essentially a game changer for the city and the region. It demonstrates real intent by the Government in delivering on its programme for Government commitments for balanced regional…

Unity is strength. The technological university for the south east must be seen in that context. However, Waterford has also grown extremely well in recent decades and it has created its own niche, as has IT Carlow, in different faculties. Each institute of technology has significant strengths. If we talk to people in industry, they all identify the role of institutes of technology as being critical to their growth and to economic and industrial development in the regions. That is a fact. If we look at our life sci…

I thank the Deputy for raising these issues, but I did not get the name of that estate.

To be frank, if that is a health risk, and from the data, the Deputy is suggesting that it is a health risk, there should be no excuse for not sorting that out. We are conscious of the need for Irish Water to get additional capital, and, to be fair, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Michael McGrath, gave additional funding to Irish Water in the July stimulus package and in the budget. Something like this issue should be dealt with. I know there are many challenges, and Irish Water has many chal…