Respect the Chair.

COP27 was a meeting of about 137 world leaders, representing 90% of global forest cover, committed to halting and reversing forest loss by 2030. Last week here in the Dáil we saw at first hand the gallop out to COP27 while the forest farmers in this country are on their knees to keep going. They remain on their knees. There has been no funding here for the forest farmers affected by ash dieback. Forestry would be a quick win for Ireland. The growing of trees can dramatically reduce carbon, yet there is nothing to h…

One for agriculture and one for forestry.

And never delivered on ash dieback. Fair play.

The Government does not want transition; it just wants tax. Every time someone turns, it is tax. In the Minister's last address to us here on COP, he mentioned the trillions of euro made by fossil fuel companies. However, he forgot to say that it was great because we are charging people 50% tax on that fossil fuel in this country without transition. The Minister wears glasses and I wear glasses for driving. When I come to Dublin, I stay outside Dublin. I come in here every morning and the Minister for Tourism, Cult…

Yes. That is what he thinks of this country. He talks about forestry. His other failure is that in 2012 we knew there was a problem with ash dieback. The Government was told but it did nothing about it. What did it do? It let all the forests with ash dieback fail. It said it would give people €1,000 to clear the land. That is what it did. It was another failure of the Minister. When we add all of the Minister's failures to his resumé when he finishes, I hope everyone in this country understands that the Green Party…

Where people had public transport.

Only those with a haulage licence.

It was only for those who had a haulage licence. He is telling lies.

Tax.

Tax.

The Minister spoke for only two minutes and 40 seconds. Is that as much as he could give to rural Ireland?

As the proposed next Taoiseach of this country, I want the Tánaiste to sort out the mess in University Hospital Limerick, UHL. He appointed the management of this hospital and he has a duty of care to the people of Limerick and the mid-west region to get it sorted. Many people who attend UHL do not have the option of private healthcare and are unable to commute to other counties for healthcare. When contacting our offices, constituents have said they would rather die than go to this hospital. That is how serious it…

I see that the Tánaiste has a minute and half left to speak. He could not even complete the three or four minutes he was allocated. Some €23 billion has been allocated for health. How much has been spent on cover-ups and non-disclosure agreements? There are 70 health professionals and doctors who have come to the Government but who have now been silenced. How many people are out sick because of the issues in UHL? Will the Tánaiste look at the number of staff who are leaving the hospital? I do not want to name and b…

It is coming shortly and it will all be here. I have asked for help for years and the Government stopped it.

We will say "allegedly" for the moment but, if the Tánaiste will agree to meet with me personally, I may be able to update him further.

Before the vote on the Impaired Farm Credit Bill was taken last night, I emailed the Tánaiste's office, the Taoiseach's office, the office of the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, and the Whips, Deputies Chambers and Griffin, asking if a free vote could be given to their party members last night on that Bill. Did Fine Gael offer a free vote to the rural Deputies in the party or were they under the whip?

What about rural Deputies?

On 19 November, some 13 years after the publication of the Ryan report, the Taoiseach confirmed that a further inquiry will now be set up to examine allegations of abuse at one of the country's leading private schools, Blackrock College. The inquiry should cover other schools about which allegations have emerged in recent weeks. Complaints have been made about abuses in other Spiritan-run schools including St. Mary's College and St. Michael's College in Dublin, Rockwell College in Tipperary and many more schools ar…

I believe the Minister of State believes that farmers are going to rush into forestry to save the planet. Sorry, but that is not going to happen. The confidence is gone in the industry. Farmers were never compensated for ash dieback and, in fact, no one is even applying currently for licences for felling or thinning. This year less than 2,000 ha were set. If we were ever to reach carbon neutrality by 2050 we must have a minimum of 18% of our land under forestry. In real terms, this means that we need to be setting …