Did they, Minister? I do not have much time.

Okay, thanks.

In September, I understand the Minister was given a communiqué on the 3,000 tonnes, which I understand he ignored.

I also understand that the Minister said it was legal. The Minister went to the December Council and, having discussed it with the Spanish, came home with 1,500 tonnes, half the number that was offered. Is this the miracle of the loaves and fishes in reverse, where we start out with less fish than we were offered?

From the Danish offer?

What does the 25% equate to in tonnage?

In that case, with the figures I started off with, the long-term effect is true.

I have a final question. Time has been taken off me by elongated questions.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an nGrúpa Réigiúnach agus leis an Teachta Matt Shanahan ach go háirithe as an obair atá déanta aige ar an mBille seo, agus le Cáit Nic Amlaoibh freisin a thug tacaíocht a thabhairt don ghrúpa chun an Bille seo a chur chun cinn. The Government presides over a two-tiered economy, in that it has rolled out the red carpet for the FDI sector but has left the indigenous enterprise sector as the poor relation. FDI is good and we need a healthy, functioning FDI sector, but indigenous enterprise is act…

In 2016, as Minister for Health, the Taoiseach said the national children's hospital would be built in 2020 for €700 million and, short of an asteroid, it would happen by 2020. Obviously, this was untrue. It was costly rubbish, to be honest. The cost of the national children's hospital has risen to more than €2.2 billion and there is no specific date for its opening. There is an overrun in the budget of €1.5 billion and thousands of children in the interim are suffering significantly owing to the lack of treatment …

The overruns are a waste of money.

Great stuff

It is a pity the Tánaiste is not in the Chamber for this debate. He is the senior Minister responsible and is not here to listen to different voices. I welcome the restoration of the Executive. The past two years have been a disaster for ordinary people in the North of Ireland. They have suffered significantly due to the lack of proper, functional institutions. I will mention the role of the public service unions, which was massive in forcing the DUP back into the assembly. I thank all the people, including the man…

One of the great weaknesses of this Government has been its inability to deliver infrastructural projects. There are numerous infrastructural projects in this country that are well over time and well over budget. Flood defences are an example of this. Flood defences in Midleton, County Cork, were discussed and promised as far back as 2017 but despite the devastating floods that have happened there in recent times, the date for planning permission for Cork County Council has not even been decided. Worse than that, t…

If we could use studies, reports and commitments to stop water coming into houses, we would be well set because the Government has plenty of them. However, we are not seeing the jobs being started to fix the flood defences around the country. When I ask the Minister of State about these flood defences, he can give loads of excuses. The Minister of State is actually fluent in excuses. If excuses were a language, he would be able to teach it to people. The truth of the matter is we need more than excuses in terms of …

One of the major problems the people of Midleton have in terms of the flooding is that when it happened, they had politicians arrive at the location, some of them wearing boots and topcoats, offering tea and sympathy and guaranteeing there would be speedy help. One of the promises was that humanitarian assistance would be given. However, many of those families still cannot obtain humanitarian assistance for the situation they are in. It is an incredible situation. There is confusion over how the humanitarian assist…

I was not talking about the staff.

There is a common theme running through the questions here today and it is the level of public service delivery falling well short of demand. GP services are another example of that. The number of GPs is at a crisis level. There are approximately 4,300 in the State, which is 2,000 fewer than what is considered safe to run the health service, and 1,000 GPs are going to retire within the next five years. Last year, 442 GPs out of a class of 725 emigrated to work in other countries. Thousands of people cannot get onto…

Gabhaim míle buíochas leis an gCeann Comhairle. Ba mhaith liom mo chomhbhrón a ghabháil freisin do mo chomhghleacaithe inniu mar gheall ar bhás John Bruton. Is cailliúint ollmhór í dá chlann, do Pháirtí Fine Gael, agus do Chontae na Mí freisin. I give my deepest sympathies on behalf of my party and myself to the family of John Bruton on his passing. These days will be very tough days for John's wife Finola, his son Matthew and daughters Juliana, Emily and Mary-Elizabeth, for his brother and our colleague Richard, a…

Only if you have gardaí.