There was a delay in the context of Russian planes.

The opposite policy.

The Russian spy issue.

What is happening in Ukraine is an absolute disaster. Watching the ominous pictures of columns of military vehicles heading towards Kyiv is deeply chilling and Ireland should, obviously, do everything it can to help the people of Ukraine. I refer to everything in economic, financial and diplomatic terms to deploy pressure on Russia. I welcome much of what the Government has done and I do not want this debate to be unnecessarily fractious but some critique in the Government's approach is warranted. The Ukrainian amb…

Kifca McNamee is a woman from County Meath who is in her early 40s. She has a neurodegenerative disorder. She was living independently in her own home. Like many others, she caught Covid and was brought into hospital. Instead of being discharged from hospital, she was given no care package and had to remain in hospital. She was not on her own. Information that I have received has shown that there are 536 people who have been clinically discharged from hospital but who remain in hospital. Some of them have been ther…

I extend my deepest sympathies, thoughts and prayers to the families named in the Police Ombudsman report on collusion. The British state murdered citizens of that state and then covered up its actions to protect the perpetrators. The information revealed in those documents is incredible. On 5 February 1992, the UDA murdered five nationalists and wounded another nine in Sean Graham bookmaker's shop on the Lower Ormeau Road in Belfast. Two men wearing boiler suits and balaclavas pumped 44 shots into their victims. T…

Utility bills are going through the roof right across the country. People are seeing gas bills coming through the door of €600 and €700. People are paying well over €1,000 to fill their oil tanks at the moment. These are eye-watering figures. These are amounts of money that people simply do not have. Many people are going into debt to try to cover these costs. I know of one woman in Meath who saw her natural gas bill travel from €187 to €628 in the space of two bills. I saw one SSE Airtricity bill leap from €209 to…

The Government imposed the longest and most severe Covid restrictions in the EU. It shut schools, businesses, building sites, healthcare facilities and society for longer than any other country in the EU. In many ways, the scars of the shutdown are only becoming apparent. My question is to find out the total value of the wage subsidies provided between 2020 and 2021.

I agree that the funds provided by the Government have been absolutely necessary. There is no question about that. If a government is going to shut down a business and prevent its owner from making a living, it has to provide an income to that owner so he or she can live. If a government is going to tell workers they are not allowed to work, it has a responsibility to provide them with an income to pay for the costs arising for their families. The Government had many choices to make but took an outlier position, a …

We sought the use of antigen testing when the Government pooh-poohed it and refused to use it. We, like many other countries, knew antigen testing was a better way of stopping Covid from entering the hospitality sector and that the sector could be kept open through its use. We sought air filters in schools and extra hospital capacity so people's lives would be protected without having to shut down to the extent we did. We sought the proper management of nursing homes and hospitals. The majority of people who died a…

A quarter of a trillion euro.

That is utter rubbish.

No.

It has stabilised at a quarter of a trillion euro.

A quarter of a trillion euro has a phenomenally significant impact within society. That money is owed as a State, in large part because of the decisions that have been made. On another related issue, what efforts is the Government making to recoup wage subsidies and supports that were paid to firms that made profits and paid dividends in this period of time? Again, all of this money comes out of society's ability to deal with the major projects and challenges that we have in the future, including to pay for housing…

No.

The Minister knows that is not the case. I have already said that.

The outlier restrictions.

The outlier restrictions

There are 1.4 million houses in the State in need of insulation and, according to the Construction Industry Federation, 130,000 non-residential buildings in need of same. In 2012, I detailed a costed plan that would have seen the deep retrofit of these homes. It would have cost €14 billion in 2012 to do so. It would have brought the energy efficiency up to a C1 rating. At the time, an investment of €10,000 into a home, according to IIEA, would have brought the average household a saving of €1,496 per year and have …