Twice.

This is characteristic of the Fine Gael part of the Government. It promises a wall and then, when people ask where it is, it says that three blocks of the wall are in place. The people then say they were told they would get a wall but that there is no wall at the moment. The Minister of State mentioned 2,000 homes being protected by flood defences. There was a report in 2021 which stated that 70,000 homes are in danger of flooding, but the Minister of State is offering protection to 2,000 homes in response. The cos…

County Meath is blessed with many internationally recognised heritage and historic sites, including Trim Castle, Bective Abbey, the Hill of Tara, Donaghmore Round Tower, Slane Castle, Slane Hill, and Brú na Bóinne, including Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth, our own valley of the kings in this country. We also have the Battle of the Boyne site, Mellifont Abbey and Drogheda. This does not even include the likes of Slieve na Calliagh, which is a neolithic tomb site in its own right, yet most of the tourism that happens in…

Walking and cycling tourism, which I imagine would be supported by the Minister, is becoming exceptionally popular throughout the world. The Santiago de Compostela walk is a perfect example of where people can actually visit cultural and religious heritage sites and walk in the beautiful landscape of Galicia in northern Spain. I believe that this type of tourism will help County Meath. It would mean that tourists are in the county for seven or eight days rather than staying in a Dublin hotel and just tipping up on …

The Hill of Tara is of enormous significance historically and heritage wise in this country, yet when people go to the Hill of Tara, it is actually very badly managed. Most people are slipping and sliding in muck there and potentially doing damage to the monuments that exist up there. The parking and all of the services are very poor and there definitely needs to be far more work in the development of that. Slieve na Calliagh, is the site of neolithic tombs and is situated outside Oldcastle in Loughcrew. The last t…

The number of gardaí has fallen every year since the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, has been in office. Gardaí have been retiring and resigning in bigger numbers than ever before. They are being attacked every day. Recruitment is on the floor. Rape, sexual assault, violent crime and domestic violence are all increasing significantly. The number of gardaí in the traffic corps has fallen by 40% in just 12 years, leading to a spike in road deaths. Prisons are jammed at the moment and the criminal justice system…

Why is the Minister not engaging with senior Garda management and Garda representatives, either formally or informally?

It is-----

The Minister snubbed the GRA

She refused the invitation.

Why is she not forcing engagement?

She is refusing to engage.

I am not saying that she should not-----

Last week, the Taoiseach made a full commitment to supporting Ukraine's sovereignty. In the same week, he made an argument for Ireland to cede sovereignty to the European Union in the EU migration pact. Sovereignty is no small thing. It means that the people of this country can self-determine the laws that govern us, they can influence the elected representatives and hold them to account. When decisions are made in Brussels or Berlin, Irish people find it very hard to influence those decisions and we certainly cann…

We do but we do not want to cede any more sovereignty.

That is a weakness

The people with the Taoiseach's political background probably said in 1921 that it was fanciful for a small country like ours to go it alone and be sovereign. This is the key issue here. The point is-----

I asked the Taoiseach how much it would cost the State to sign into the EU migration pact and he stated, in front of the Dáil, that he does not know. That is an absolutely disgraceful answer from a Government that has already made a political commitment to sign up to that pact. It is an incredible situation. This is potentially the Taoiseach's first blank cheque with respect to the cost to the country. Given that we are already paying fines to beat the band for failure to meet commitments the Government cannot hold…

-----that have not worked a day because someone forgot to put in the planning application for them. Now, the Government is saying to the people of Ireland-----

-----that it does not know how much it will cost. That is an absolute disgrace. How much will it cost the citizens to pay for the EU migration pact in the future?