I do not need this sort of lecture from the Deputy.

I do not blame the Opposition for any of the challenges the country faces. I just blame it for its hypocrisy. The Deputy gave out there about the one-off payments. Last year, I asked her interim leader to name one of them he did not want. I will ask Deputy Whitmore the same as well. Is it the parents in Greystones and Delgany who should not have got a double child benefit payment? Did the Deputy not want that? Did she not want the one-off additional payments to the pensioners in County Wicklow? None of the Deputies…

I offer Deputy Whitmore that chance again. Tell me which one-off payment in the social welfare code last year she is against and that the Social Democrats do not want. Was it the child benefit payment? Was it the carer's payment? Was it the fuel allowance? Just let us know because the Social Democrats would not last year. They were happy to vote in favour of them all and their offices were happy to assist people in getting information on all of them as well. We have this thing about a united Opposition going on - o…

Deputy Doherty is-----

It is different, okay. There is talk of a united Opposition. They are all out there on the plinth-----

Sorry, the way this works is I am asked a question and I get a chance to answer, please. A united Opposition-----

I am allowed answer the question, am I not?

We all know our roles. That is useful. The main Opposition party has asked for universal one-off measures. The Social Democrats have asked us not to do that and to do targeted measures. I am telling the House that this Government will deliver a budget in October. We will set out the parameters of that budget in the summer economic statement, which I expect to be published next week. There will then be an opportunity to debate how best to get the composition of that right. I agree with Deputy Whitmore on this. We ne…

I do not agree with that analysis at all. Absolutely, we have seen a significant increase in public spending and that has provided record numbers of new school places, record numbers of special schools and record numbers of-----

-----people working in our public services. It has provided record levels of investment in the public service and the things Deputy Whitmore talked about.

There is a constant attempt to interrupt. We had it the first time I answered the question and are having it the second time. I am trying to answer the question. I have one minute available. We are investing in public services and have put that money to good use. It is seen in communities across the length and breadth of our country. I have stood beside the Deputy at many a ribbon-cutting in County Wicklow where that money has gone.

In constituencies across the country, we have seen the benefit: new schools, Garda stations, new healthcare facilities, primary care services, expanded public transport. We have invested lots of money but we have more to do, including getting to 300,000 more homes; investing in our health, particularly infrastructure around elective hospitals; and access to therapy services. The decision my ministerial colleague, Deputy McEntee, has taken to set up a new national education therapy service will be transformational. …

I do not, but I do not particularly think it is a good idea that Sinn Féin chairs the Joint Committee on Defence and National Security either. Sometimes that is way things work out in terms of the division of responsibility.

Am I allowed to have a view?

What is scandalous about me having the view that I would rather Sinn Féin did not hold that position? What is wrong with that?

As Deputy O'Gorman will know, I am allowed to have a political view.

I have no-----

I have no intention-----

I do not believe Sinn Féin should chair a committee on national security. It is not a shocking position for the leader of Fine Gael to hold that I do not think Sinn Féin should be anywhere near national security. I will continue to hold that view and I will work day and night to make sure it never is.

That point I am making to Deputy O'Gorman is this. I understand the rapporteur positions on European parliamentary committees are divided up, if not quite by a d'Hondt system, by a system reflecting the various strengths of parties in the Parliament. Fine Gael only has one MEP, I think, on the environment committee. It is Seán Kelly, who is a substitute member. I also understand there was a procedural vote on the issue, rather than a substantive vote. With the greatest of respect for committee rapporteurs, we need …