The Tánaiste has not given a date or a commitment that these will be closed completely. The "RTÉ Investigates" programme was of great value but there was one problem with it. The Minister for children was invisible in that show. Tusla is not operating in a vacuum. Tusla is a product of the Tánaiste's Government. It is a responsibility of the Government's Minister. The lack of funds and the lack of social workers is a policy choice by the Government. This scandal is unfolding in Tusla. It ranks up there with many of…

It is a sanitised response.

No date, Tánaiste.

It is interesting that this Bill is being discussed in the Dáil in the middle of a fuel crisis for so many people. The Bill will focus on air pollution while many family businesses and small business will struggle simply to keep their houses warm in this fuel crisis. I received an email from a constituent during the week. She is a carer. She called in to see one of her clients, an elderly gentleman. He was sitting in front of his electric oven to keep warm because he had run out of oil and sticks to be able to heat…

While Fianna Fáil wallows in never-ending dysfunction, older people in this country struggle to keep warm. The country cannot wait for Fianna Fáil to get its act together. I agree with many of the Fianna Fáil backbenchers, in that Micheál Martin has to go. All of these decisions the Government is involved in have significant consequences. Some of those consequences are unexpected. I agree that we must become a country with far cleaner air. No one wants to see individuals lose their lives prematurely due to poor air…

It is about fuel prices, the M50, traffic congestion and public transport, which are all reasonable and important issues. I am told a freedom of information, FOI, request was submitted to the Department of Transport. This was reported in The Sunday Times this year. The FOI asked whether more public transport capacity would be provided in the Department’s budget this year. That report said that there would be no extra capacity in public transport this year despite the level of funding going into it. A lot of people …

Stable. Show me the stable government.

One of the most controversial elements of the omnishambles of last week was the threat of the Garda and the Army. The Government was actually calling in the Army when TDs like me were trying to negotiate a peaceful resolution of the situation. There is also chaos within the Government. The Minister, Deputy O’Callaghan, spoke to the Tánaiste and Taoiseach about utilising the Army for Whitegate refinery on Wednesday, 8 April. The next day, the Minister made public that a request was being made to the Defence Forces. …

It was not-----

You are not telling the truth.

There is a weakness in your argument. If you cannot tell the truth, then it is a weakness.

It is not that I do not like the answer; it is untrue.

It is not the truth.

The Taoiseach is asking me a question.

There are nearly 1 million people on the hospital waiting lists.

We negotiated-----

Did the public know?

The Government would be lost without it.

The Government was forced

The Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Government is a government of chaos. It has done more damage to fuel prices in this country than the war in Iran. The intransigence of Micheál Martin and Simon Harris has actually brought this country to a standstill. Their stubbornness has seen petrol pumps run dry for the first time since the 1980s and I have never seen as much political stress on the streets since the right to water protests. The Government should not forget that its democratic authority comes from the citizens with…