On the general point she raised regarding the need to continue to invest in road safety schemes, the Minister for Transport is committed to doing that, as is the Minister of State, Deputy Lawless. We will continue to ensure that features in the budget.

I have engaged with the Minister of State with responsibility for this area. Neither he nor I played any role in the decision on the bike shed. It was made at official level. I entirely understand and appreciate the anger in regard to it. No Ministers were involved in that particular decision. On our receipt of a report the chairman of the OPW is preparing on this issue, we will look at what steps can and should be taken in this regard.

God.

The summer economic statement demonstrates the Government’s ongoing commitment to provide for high-quality public services and better societal outcomes in a manner that is consistent with the safe management of our public finances. It is another key milestone in our budgetary timetable, setting out our strategy for the year ahead and providing an outline of the resources that are available for budget 2025. Total voted expenditure is set to grow by €6.9 billion, or 6.9%, to a gross voted expenditure ceiling of €105.…

Last year's budget represented the highest level of funding that has ever been provided to the Department of Health. At that point, more than €6 billion of additional funding was provided to it, compared with where we were in 2019. What has happened since is that the level of additional health expenditure in the first half of this year exceeded any expectations that I could have had. This was driven by a number of factors, not least of which has been the continued attendance of a high number of older patients in pa…

Deputy Conway-Walsh made a call for more capital spending, more money for the health service and more money for social protection. They are just three of the items she listed. All of those would very considerably add to the size of the overall budget package, which already proposes spending growth of 6.9% compared with a year ago. The bigger the Deputy makes the package, in the way she proposes, the greater the risk that we begin to fund permanent increases in expenditure out of tax receipts that I am convinced wil…

Deputy Boyd Barrett refers to a figure of only €1.4 billion. He should take a step back and listen to what he said. Is that all he can offer? He says it is only €1.4 million more. Do his words not feel hollow to him? What we are doing is proposing to increase by more than 10% the amount of capital spending we have within the year compared with where we are at the moment. The economy is at full employment. The construction sector is struggling to get and keep the people it needs to turn higher spending into more hom…

You are capable of a few of them yourself.

We would get to that point in the same way as we do with many other targets. We would do it step by step. Despite Deputy Boyd Barrett's best hopes and ambitions, we do not live in a centrally planned economy. We do not live in an economy in which there is only one thing in respect of which we have to make progress. We have to build more homes. We also have to build more schools. We also have to build better infrastructure, better gas, better electricity and better water to allow more homes to be built.

How are we going to do that? We are going to do it step by step. How are we not going to do? By means of the type of explosion that Deputy Boyd Barrett appears to be proposing, funded by the very companies and individuals he rails against all the time, he would look to do it all in a single go. Can he accept that there is merit in doing this step by step? He might state that it will take time to get there. I accept that it will, but we would get to it in a way we are confident we can afford without leading to the l…

Give me an example of a country that successfully implemented a wealth tax.

Give me an example of a country that has successfully implemented a wealth tax.

Nice flourish but no answer. I asked Deputy Boyd Barrett to give me-----

At least you are admitting in the answer back that it has never been done. At least you are admitting that. What you are offering as a solution to the housing crisis is a solution from a taxation perspective, which you admit has never been done.

You know well-----

They are your own words. The Deputy knows well that we have taxes on property, most of which he wants to get rid of. He wants to get rid of the property tax, which is the main form of taxation we have for wealth that is held in the form of property.

Yes, but if we were to increase it, you would be against that as well. All you have to offer is a solution that you admit has not been done before. As the Housing Commission says, this needs to be done in phases and this is what we will do. As I have said already, we have shown our ability to increase capital investment in such a way that is the reason, while acknowledging the great difficulty that so many face in looking for a home, we have seen housing commencement and housing output, in particular during the fir…

I thank Deputy Conway-Walsh. On 7 May last, the Government agreed in principle to the recommendation of the expert advisory committee which conducted the review of the governance and culture of RTÉ to assign the Comptroller and Auditor General as auditor of RTÉ. The Minister Deputy Catherine Martin, in a statement accompanying the publication of the expert advisory committee review, confirmed she would begin work immediately to implement the recommendations which require action by her Department. As part of this, s…

The Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, and I are engaging with one another on the future funding of RTÉ. The aim of the Government is to reach a decision on the matter before the end of this month. With regard to the enhanced oversight arrangements, as I said in my answer a moment ago, my understanding is that the Minister will bring forward the legislation to implement this recommendation, but it will take a little longer. The general scheme will be brought forward in the autumn of this year. That will be a signif…

The Government is committed to bringing forward enhanced accountability. I have just informed the Dáil of the timeline for the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, to bring forward that legislation. On the Deputy's view and that of her party on the abolition of the television licence, I do not understand the argument that the funding gap that is currently in RTÉ will be improved by the abolition of a licence that the majority of people still pay for. I cannot understand the logic of that.