I will return to the amendment.

I will finish and allow other Deputies in.

I turn to the issue of the medical advice we have been given about ventilation in schools. I was the first person to ask for ventilation systems to be installed. That is on the record of the Dáil. I handed the Government the programmes but I was laughed at and told that the Government would look into it. The Government is looking at it now nine months later after we have had children in classrooms with the windows open and the temperature down to 8° Celsius. They are being told that, because their schools are not b…

Can the Taoiseach explain to every household in Ireland why, in the middle of a pandemic and a national fuel crisis, the Government has raised taxes on fuel and is now getting €1 per litre? Why were taxes on fuel not capped in order that, if there were a fuel increase, people would only be paying for the increase and not any extra tax? We are paying an extra 19 cent per litre in tax in the past 12 months, which means every household in Ireland is paying €10.75 in tax out of every €100 of fuel. The farmers and peopl…

The Government needs to cap the tax and get rid of the percentage it is charging.

The tax must be capped. We will pay a fuel increase but we will not pay a tax on the fuel increase.

The tax was also increased.

How are they going to get to work to pay it?

This health insurance Bill is about looking at the risk equalisation scheme for all health insurance providers. This is one of the many Bills that have been brought forward so the amount of money paid to the health insurance companies by way of credits can be reduced. These risk credits are paid on the basis of age and gender. Risk needs to be spread so newer entrants coming into the market also bear the cost of risk. The money paid into the equalisation fund comes from a stamp duty paid from every policy sold. The…

No. I have been in business all my life and the one thing I have always said is that you have to have a management structure. I want to know why the hospital system has changed so much. When I was in Barrington's Hospital as a young lad, which is now a private hospital, a patient was released no later than 11 a.m. If that patient was not well enough to be released by then, he or she stayed in. The structure of the bed system meant the patient stayed in until the following morning when rounds were done by doctors an…

Yesterday, there was a protest here by the Irish Truckers and Haulage Association against Fuel Prices and SMEs. Last night, I was informed those involved are planning a second protest that will include farmers, SMEs throughout the country and other organisations coming to the capital to highlight the national emergency because of the inflated cost of fuel, which is interfering with every household in Ireland. These are front-line workers. This morning I emailed the Tánaiste's office, the Taoiseach's office and the …

Will the Tánaiste agree to an emergency meeting?

The Government controls 23% of those costs and 2% of it was voted in this House on a carbon tax.

The Government has a further 19% at its disposal.

Seven or eight months ago, when we were in the convention centre, I was the first Deputy to hand over a booklet to the Government and to the head of the Oireachtas about purifier air systems for schools. I asked for some of them to be put into Leinster House so we could return to this Chamber. I was the first person to do this and I have not yet received any feedback from the Government or the Oireachtas on those machines. Now in some schools, temperatures have gone down to 7°C or 8°C in classrooms because of venti…

I also pass on my best wishes to the Ceann Comhairle for a speedy recovery. Inflation is at a 14-year high thanks to the rise in energy costs, supply shortages and increased demand following the post-Covid reopening. The Central Statistics Office has confirmed that the rise in prices in October was the largest seen since April 2007. The squeeze on the household budget is due to the Government over-exhausting and crippling the PAYE sector, particularly those living in rural areas. I am going to make it very simple. …

The Taoiseach's answer to the people was to put a 2% increase on fuel. Who pays the most? The Government is taking 45% of a wage. I have asked the Taoiseach today about the rural person because there is no infrastructure. The Taoiseach mentioned infrastructure two or three times in his deliberations. If I was living in the city I could choose the Luas, the train, the DART, the bus or I could cycle or walk. There is none of that outside the city boundaries and the Government's failure to introduce infrastructure out…

The Rural Independent Group is behind everything that can be done to reduce emissions but it will not accept a carbon tax that is being foisted on the Irish people. Irish people will pay the highest rate of carbon tax anywhere in the world at €41 per tonne following budget 2022, with a statutory target of a staggering €100 per tonne by 2030. Like everyone else, we want the planet to be sustainable. However, it is not an accident that the haulage, farming and taxi industries are going to the streets on the issue of …

Hear, hear.

My constituency includes Newcastle West, with 7,000 people, and Abbeyfeale, with more than 2,000 people. They are currently in the throes of having a bypass made for their town. This is welcome for the people who have been in traffic queues from Limerick to Kerry, and from any other part of the country. However, it can be traumatic for an individual owning a house, farm or a business, as I am sure people will agree. People have significant anxiety and more needs to be done to manage people's expectations, given the…