Anybody watching the debate here in the Dáil today must be scratching their head when they hear the Taoiseach talk about wind and solar. Does the Taoiseach know that there are turbines turned off in wind farms across this country because the electricity grid is not there? Does he know that offshore renewable energy policy is just not there? There is no strategy there. It is not happening. That is the reality. People need help now. We need an emergency budget now. The Government cannot expect the Opposition to agree…

People need money in their pockets now with this crisis.

We have been without this crucial Derry-Dublin airlink for 16 years. It was removed by the Government at the time. If we look at the map of Ireland, we see there is no motorway or train link directly to Derry, Donegal and the north west. The restoration of this airlink is key. I welcome that it has been agreed to by the Government but we need clear timelines.

I thank the Minister for his response. Obviously, I will have many back-and-forth battles with the Government but this is welcome news for the north west. It is a tribute to both Letterkenny Chamber and Derry Chamber. They work together for the region. A total of 40% of the passengers who use the City of Derry Airport come from Donegal. For people elsewhere in Ireland, sometimes that geography can be lost. Essentially, Derry serves the entire region, including north Donegal. It is a crucial link. We have been devas…

I welcome the Minister’s firm commitment today. It is good news for the City of Derry Airport. I also commend Derry City and Strabane District Council and Donegal County Council. They created the vision of the north-west city region. They speak with one voice. This is good news for Donegal, Derry, Tyrone and the wider north-west region. I will leave it at that. I appreciate the firm commitment.

Sounds good.

Jesus Christ.

Which ones?

The 35th anniversary of the murder of County Donegal councillor Eddie Fullerton on 25 May 1991 is just weeks away. For all these years, Eddie's family have campaigned for truth and justice. They have been badly failed by An Garda Síochána and the State. An Garda Síochána has been aware of the names of all those who murdered Eddie since late 1993. It had most of the killers names in late 1991. One of those killers went on to oversee 17 murders, including the massacres at Castlerock and Greysteel in 1993. He was a se…

The Taoiseach will receive it.

Those of us in the west of Ireland have endured the inequality and injustice of seeing, rightly, 100% redress for 3,000 families in Dublin and north Leinster under the pyrite scheme, but nothing like 100% redress in the west of Ireland. We will now have people on the east coast who are also victims of injustice. We will have people who are victims of injustice and who live miles apart being treated unfairly and unequally. That is utterly wrong. I appeal to the Minister to listen to us. We told him that if he had a …

The Tánaiste at the weekend was talking about his Department officials looking at more heat pumps. How out of touch can you be? People need money in their pockets now. We need statements on an emergency mini-budget. Sinn Féin has put forward proposals, including a permanent cut to the USC, a restoration of the energy credit and a cut to fuel and diesel at the pumps. We need this House to represent what people are going through out there. We need a reality check on Government. I am calling for statements on an emerg…

I am going to focus my comments on the challenge in our coastal communities and, to be quite frank, the neglect of our coastal communities. Today, in the fisheries committee, we dealt with seaweed harvesting and the applications that are coming in from major corporations. I asked a question of the traditional seaweed harvesters. I asked whether anybody from Government agencies had engaged with them directly to establish and vindicate their rights that have been there for generations and the answer was "No." We had …

The former leader of Fine Gael let the cat out of the bag in recent days. He said out loud what has been whispered by senior Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael personnel for many years - this divide-and-conquer approach between urban and rural Ireland. People in rural Ireland see the carbon tax as a penalisation of them for choices they do not get to make. They have to heat their homes with home heating oil. They need to use petrol and diesel to get by in rural Ireland. I want clarity from the leaders of Fine Gael and Fiann…

Nasty Taoiseach.

You wanted Michael Lowry. The Healy-Raes just left you.

Not agreed.

Absolutely not agreed. It has been three weeks now since the Taoiseach was accountable to these Houses - 20 days this Dáil did not sit and he would not reconvene the Dáil when we asked him to deal with this crisis, to have this place sitting. He would not do it. Arrogance and entitlement seems to be the mentality here of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. Will the Taoiseach start listening, will he do his job and will he stick with the original schedule and take Leaders' Questions, Questions on Policy or Legislation and Ta…

Will he just do his job?

On a point of order.