The Minister of State is new in the brief but I have heard nothing from him that is new. The one factor that is constant in all of this is that people are being ripped off. Motor insurance has increased by 12% since 2022. I am sure the Minister of State knows all about the increases from having to insure his house. A significant number of people are seeing their insurance premium go up, and not only by €300, €400 or €500. What is happening in the insurance industry is ridiculous. Insurance brokers argue that it is …

If we have the same objective, then the Government should allow the legislation that I have drafted to proceed. It passed Second Stage here about three years ago. The Government is stopping that legislation from being passed. All of the major insurance companies here are the same ones that operate in Britain, where they have to account for whether the reduced costs that the changes in the legislation there are supposed to have resulted in have been passed on. If the Minister of State is genuinely sincere in what he…

I am asking the serious questions. I am asking the Minister of State if he is asking serious questions, and if he will stop blocking my legislation.

This is about the reduction of the VAT rate for the hospitality sector. The Minister will be well aware that Sinn Féin was the only party to call for the 9% VAT rate for the hospitality sector in the general election. The Minister campaigned for a rate of 11%, and Fianna Fáil wished to keep the higher rate. There is a commitment in the programme for Government to reduce the rate. It has been reported that it will be 9% but the programme for Government is vague on the percentage. Can the Minister confirm the Governm…

Can the Minister offer clarification to the House and, more importantly, to the thousands of businesses across the State and the 130,000 people dependent on jobs in the hospitality sector? That sector is under pressure. We have seen 700 businesses close down since the Government increased the VAT rate to 13.5%. According to CSO employment figures released in June, the hospitality sector saw the largest drop of any sector, namely 0.9%. Is there a reason the Minister is not committing to a rate of 9%? Everybody belie…

I am very concerned about what the Minister just said. I say that because I have been in premises and spoken with hoteliers and restaurateurs. They opened up their books to me in some cases. They are expecting a reduction to 9%. They are talking to their accountants and figuring whether they can hang on. They are also talking in some cases to their bank managers. The Government was saying it would be 9%. It is not clear now whether it will be 9%. Is there a reason the Minister is not saying what everybody else said…

This question is on the OECD pillar 2. Obviously, for those of us who support the OECD process and the outcomes of that the decision by the American Administration to withdraw from it has caused serious questions about the implementation not only of pillar 1, which was stalled, but also the practicality of pillar 2. As this is transposed into domestic legislation it includes the provision of the undertaxed profits rule, UTPR, which could potentially see this State applying top-up tax to American companies. It was r…

I thank the Minister. I am going to park pillar 1 because it never came into effect anyway and we have not transposed it into legislation. If we look at it from a financial point of view it was not in our interests and if we look at it from a global point of view it was good to have an agreement internationally. Pillar 2 is a serious problem for us because it is now in our domestic law and companies are preparing for the 15% minimum effective tax rate, which I completely and utterly support. Those companies are pro…

I thank the Minister. I agree it is early days and we will have to see. President Trump has made statements that seem to be a negotiation stance, so we definitely need to have those engagements at a European level and a domestic level to see how this will play out. Obviously pillar 1 and pillar 2 had a net reduction in our corporation tax. The implementation of those reduced the corporation tax the State would bring in and therefore the non-application of it would have the reverse effect, but there could be other c…

This is an issue we have raised on numerous occasions. My colleague has legislation before the House that has, unfortunately, been blocked by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael in the face of a genocide. The question asks for the current total number and value of State investments in companies that derive profit from their activities in illegal Israeli settlements, the total number of such investments, the Minister's view on whether such investments help entrench and sustain Israel’s illegal occupation and run contrary to r…

My colleague, Deputy Daly, has outlined clearly and in detail the activities of some of these companies in which Ireland is investing. I will put the issue to the Minister again. We have raised it numerous times during meetings of the finance committee where we have tried to pursue the legislation. What the Minister has told the House is that millions of euro of taxpayers' money are invested in companies that derive their profits from the illegal Israeli settlements. That is repugnant to hundreds of thousands of pe…

The State is making profit from illegal settlements.

Is fíor a rá gur chaith Rialtais Fhianna Fáil agus Fhine Gael go holc le ceantair tuaithe ar fud an Stáit thar na blianta. Léiríonn an dóigh ar láimhseáil an Rialtas an stoirm is déanaí an cás seo arís. Le rudaí a dhéanamh níos measa, tá na bodaigh mhóra i mBord Soláthair an Leictreachais anois ag rá go gcaithfidh gnáthdhaoine na tíre seo, daoine a bhí fágtha gan leictreachas, billí níos airde a íoc chun an damáiste a chóiriú. Caithfear stop a chur leis seo. It is fair to say that both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Gov…

It is not a case of whether the ESB will be gouging people in the future. The ESB has been gouging customers for years. People in the Tánaiste's constituency, in my constituency and right across this State pay among the highest electricity costs in Europe. The ESB made profits of €898 million in the last calendar year we have available. That is a significant amount of profit. In the first 18 months, €1.3 billion has been transferred by individuals paying their electricity bills to the ESB. There are serious amounts…

Does the Tánaiste accept that the Government and, indeed, the Government of which he was in charge during the previous term has a serious problem with the waste of public money? Those in government are serial wasters. That is what we are seeing over and over again. The Tánaiste talks about accountability. Name the person who was held accountable for the overspend on the national children's hospital. Name the person who was held accountable for the bike shed, the security hut or the wall that cost an arm and a leg. …

There is a serious issue here. We cannot go through another RTÉ phase 2. We need all the information and Ministers need to tell us what the Department knew, who knew, whether the Department of public expenditure knew and whether the Department of the environment knew.

He did it deliberately.

He did. The Taoiseach took advantage of the fact-----

He was taking advantage.

He took advantage of the fact that the Ceann Comhairle does not have Irish and it is disgraceful. He should withdraw the comment.